IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i11p1987-d237182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California

Author

Listed:
  • Jingjing Li

    (Department of Geosciences and Environment, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA)

  • Xiaohan Zhang

    (Department of Economics and Statistics, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA)

Abstract

The United States (U.S.) Clean Water Act triggered over $1 trillion in investments in water pollution abatement. However, treated sewage discharge and untreated runoff water that are contaminated by fecal matter are discharged into California beach waters daily. Warnings are posted to thwart the public from contacting polluted coastal water, according to the California Code of Regulations (CCR). This paper evaluated the current policy by empirically examining the productivity loss, in the form of sick leave, which is caused by fecal-contaminated water along the California coast under the CCR. The findings of this study showed that Californians suffer productivity losses in the amount of 3.56 million sick leave days per year due to recreational beach water pollution. This paper also empirically examined the pollution-to-sickness graph that Cabelli’s classic study theoretically proposed. The results of the research assure that the existing water quality thresholds are still reasonably safe and appropriate, despite the thresholds being based on studies from the 1950s. The weakness of the CCR lies in its poor enforcement or compliance. Better compliance, in terms of posting pollution advisories and increasing public awareness regarding beach pollution effects on health, would lead to a significant decrease in sick leaves and a corresponding increase in productivity. Therefore, this study advocates for stronger enforcement by displaying pollution advisories and better public awareness of beach pollution effects on health.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingjing Li & Xiaohan Zhang, 2019. "Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1987-:d:237182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1987/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1987/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schaller, Jessamyn & Stevens, Ann Huff, 2015. "Short-run effects of job loss on health conditions, health insurance, and health care utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 190-203.
    2. Dwight, R.H. & Baker, D.B. & Semenza, J.C. & Olson, B.H., 2004. "Health Effects Associated with Recreational Coastal Water Use: Urban Versus Rural California," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(4), pages 565-567.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elira Kuka, 2020. "Quantifying the Benefits of Social Insurance: Unemployment Insurance and Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 490-505, July.
    2. Lídia Farré & Francesco Fasani & Hannes Mueller, 2018. "Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Jessamyn Schaller & Mariana Zerpa, 2019. "Short-Run Effects of Parental Job Loss on Child Health," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 8-41, Winter.
    4. Silvia Loi & Peng Li & Mikko Myrskylä, 2022. "At the intersection of adverse life course pathways: the effects on health by nativity," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-018, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Ritter, Joseph A., 2018. "Measuring the Health Cost of Prolonged Unemployment: Evidence from the Great Recession," Miscellaneous Publications 280435, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    6. Mörk, Eva & Sjögren, Anna & Svaleryd, Helena, 2019. "Consequences of Parental Job Loss on the Family Environment and on Human Capital Formation: Evidence from Plant Closures," IZA Discussion Papers 12559, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Pinar Mine Gunes & Magda Tsaneva, 2022. "Labour market conditions and adult health in Mexico," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 106-137, February.
    8. Bíró, Anikó & Elek, Péter, 2020. "Job loss, disability insurance and health expenditure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Everding, Jakob & Marcus, Jan, 2020. "The effect of unemployment on the smoking behavior of couples," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 154-170.
    10. Mukhopadhyay, Sankar, 2022. "The Effects of Medicaid Expansion on Job Loss Induced Mental Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 15150, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Amélie Adeline & Ismaël Choinière Crèvecoeur & Raquel Fonseca & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2019. "Income Volatility, Health and Well-Being," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 1906, Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux économiques intergénérationnels / Research Chair in Intergenerational Economics.
    12. Stefania Marcheggiani & Emilo D'Ugo & Camilla Puccinelli & Roberto Giuseppetti & Anna Maria D'Angelo & Claudio Orlando Gualerzi & Roberto Spurio & Linda K. Medlin & Delphine Guillebault & Wilfried Wei, 2015. "Detection of Emerging and Re-Emerging Pathogens in Surface Waters Close to an Urban Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, May.
    13. Devillanova, Carlo & Raitano, Michele & Struffolino, Emanuela, 2019. "Longitudinal employment trajectories and health in middle life: Insights from linked administrative and survey data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 40, pages 1375-1412.
    14. Srikant Devaraj & Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Creative destruction and regional health: evidence from the US," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 573-604, April.
    15. Bryan A. Stuart, 2022. "The Long-Run Effects of Recessions on Education and Income," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 42-74, January.
    16. Pierre-Jean Messe & François-Charles Wolff, 2019. "Healthier when retiring earlier? Evidence from France," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(47), pages 5122-5143, October.
    17. Diogo G. C. Britto & Paolo Pinotti & Breno Sampaio, 2022. "The Effect of Job Loss and Unemployment Insurance on Crime in Brazil," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1393-1423, July.
    18. Berniell, Inés & Bietenbeck, Jan, 2020. "The effect of working hours on health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    19. Younghwan Song, 2018. "Job displacement and subjective well-being: findings from the American Time Use Survey Well-Being Modules," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 52(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Inés Berniell & Jan Bietenbeck, 2019. "The E↵ect of Working Hours on Health," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4210, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1987-:d:237182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.