PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Vyas, Sangita
TI  - The Child Health Impacts of Coal
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0320-10784R2
DP  - 2025 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 496--537
VI  - 60
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/60/2/496.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/60/2/496.full
AB  - What are the health and human capital consequences of the developing world’s coal power expansion? Using variation in coal plant capacity within place across cohorts in India, a large coal consumer, I find that children born exposed to a median-sized coal plant are 0.1 standard deviations shorter than unexposed children. Supporting air pollution as a channel, effects are larger among children living closer to coal plants. Changes in coal capacity do not predict changes in other local socioeconomic factors, demographics, employment, or infrastructure. Effects are similar by socioeconomic status, but richer households live closer to coal plants.