IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v27y2018i6p956-983.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The health implications of unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania

Author

Listed:
  • Lizhong Peng
  • Chad Meyerhoefer
  • Shin‐Yi Chou

Abstract

We investigate the health impacts of unconventional natural gas development of Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2013 by merging well permit data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection with a database of all inpatient hospital admissions. After comparing changes in hospitalization rates over time for air pollution‐sensitive diseases in counties with unconventional gas wells to changes in hospitalization rates in nonwell counties, we find a significant association between shale gas development and hospitalizations for pneumonia among the elderly, which is consistent with higher levels of air pollution resulting from unconventional natural gas development. We note that the lack of any detectable impact of shale gas development on younger populations may be due to unobserved factors contemporaneous with drilling, such as migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Lizhong Peng & Chad Meyerhoefer & Shin‐Yi Chou, 2018. "The health implications of unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 956-983, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:27:y:2018:i:6:p:956-983
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3649
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.3649?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    3. John Gibson & David McKenzie & Steven Stillman, 2011. "The Impacts of International Migration on Remaining Household Members: Omnibus Results from a Migration Lottery Program," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1297-1318, November.
    4. Jonathan Meer & Jeremy West, 2016. "Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 500-522.
    5. Jeffrey R Kling & Jeffrey B Liebman & Lawrence F Katz, 2007. "Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(1), pages 83-119, January.
    6. Hill, Elaine L., 2018. "Shale gas development and infant health: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 134-150.
    7. Eduardo Cavallo & Sebastian Galiani & Ilan Noy & Juan Pantano, 2013. "Catastrophic Natural Disasters and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1549-1561, December.
    8. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    9. Jeffrey B. Liebman & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2015. "Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 275-299, February.
    10. Marian Ryan & Jose A Suaya & John D Chapman & William B Stason & Donald S Shepard & Cindy Parks Thomas, 2013. "Incidence and Cost of Pneumonia in Older Adults with COPD in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-1, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mayank Aggarwal & Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Chirantan Chatterjee, 2023. "Movies, stigma and choice: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    2. Beleche, Trinidad & Cintina, Inna, 2018. "Fracking and risky behaviors: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 69-82.
    3. Boslett, Andrew & Hill, Elaine, 2022. "Mortality during resource booms and busts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    4. Alison M. Bamber & Stephanie H. Hasanali & Anil S. Nair & Sharon M. Watkins & Daniel I. Vigil & Michael Van Dyke & Tami S. McMullin & Kristy Richardson, 2019. "A Systematic Review of the Epidemiologic Literature Assessing Health Outcomes in Populations Living near Oil and Natural Gas Operations: Study Quality and Future Recommendations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Hill, Elaine L., 2018. "Shale gas development and infant health: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 134-150.
    6. Blundell, Wesley & Kokoza, Anatolii, 2022. "Natural gas flaring, respiratory health, and distributional effects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. Angela K. Werner & Cate M. Cameron & Kerrianne Watt & Sue Vink & Paul Jagals & Andrew Page, 2017. "Is Increasing Coal Seam Gas Well Development Activity Associated with Increasing Hospitalisation Rates in Queensland, Australia? An Exploratory Analysis 1995–2011," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, May.

    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. Jeffrey B. Liebman & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2015. "Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 275-299, February.
    2. Lizhong Peng & Jie Chen & Xiaohui Guo, 2022. "Macroeconomic conditions and health‐related outcomes in the United States: A metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area‐level analysis between 2004 and 2017," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, January.
    3. Pedro Carneiro & Kai Liu & Kjell G Salvanes, 2023. "The Supply of Skill and Endogenous Technical Change: Evidence from a College Expansion Reform," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 48-92.
    4. Anil Kumar & Che-Yuan Liang, 2024. "Labor Market Effects of Credit Constraints: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Ham, Andrés & Michelson, Hope C., 2018. "Does the form of delivering incentives in conditional cash transfers matter over a decade later?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 96-108.
    6. Abrahams, Scott, 2024. "Downward minimum wage rigidity: Evidence from a temporary four-month increase in St. Louis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 30-47.
    7. Wei Tian & Seojeong Lee & Valentyn Panchenko, 2023. "Synthetic Controls with Multiple Outcomes," Papers 2304.02272, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2024.
    8. Nicolaj N. Mühlbach, 2020. "Tree-based Synthetic Control Methods: Consequences of moving the US Embassy," CREATES Research Papers 2020-04, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    9. Bruno Ferman & Cristine Pinto & Vitor Possebom, 2020. "Cherry Picking with Synthetic Controls," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 510-532, March.
    10. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    11. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    12. DeMalach, Elad & Schlosser, Analia, 2024. "Short- and Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool: Evidence from the Arab Population in Israel," CEPR Discussion Papers 18781, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    14. Bibek Adhikari & Romain Duval & Bingjie Hu & Prakash Loungani, 2018. "Can Reform Waves Turn the Tide? Some Case Studies using the Synthetic Control Method," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 879-910, September.
    15. Irene Botosaru & Bruno Ferman, 2019. "On the role of covariates in the synthetic control method," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 22(2), pages 117-130.
    16. Billings, Stephen B. & Johnson, Erik B., 2012. "A non-parametric test for industrial specialization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 312-331.
    17. Zhang, Ming-ang & Lu, Shuling & Zhang, Sihan & Bai, Yanfeng, 2023. "The unintended consequence of minimum wage hikes: Evidence based on firms' pollution emission," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    19. Fitzsimons, Emla & Malde, Bansi & Mesnard, Alice & Vera-Hernández, Marcos, 2016. "Nutrition, information and household behavior: Experimental evidence from Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 113-126.
    20. Emily Beam & Priya Mukherjee & Laia Navarro-Sola, 2022. "Lowering Barriers to Remote Education: Experimental Impacts on Parental Responses and Learning," Working Papers 2022-030, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:hlthec:v:27:y:2018:i:6:p:956-983. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.