RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Child Health Impacts of Coal
JF Journal of Human Resources
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 496
OP 537
DO 10.3368/jhr.0320-10784R2
VO 60
IS 2
A1 Vyas, Sangita
YR 2025
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/60/2/496.abstract
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.