IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1905.04417.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Particulate Air Pollution, Birth Outcomes, and Infant Mortality: Evidence from Japan's Automobile Emission Control Law of 1992

Author

Listed:
  • Tatsuki Inoue
  • Nana Nunokawa
  • Daisuke Kurisu
  • Kota Ogasawara

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of the Automobile NOx Law of 1992 on ambient air pollutants and fetal and infant health outcomes in Japan. Using panel data taken from more than 1,500 monitoring stations between 1987 and 1997, we find that NOx and SO2 levels reduced by 87% and 52%, respectively in regulated areas following the 1992 regulation. In addition, using a municipal-level Vital Statistics panel dataset and adopting the regression differences-in-differences method, we find that the enactment of the regulation explained most of the improvements in the fetal death rate between 1991 and 1993. This study is the first to provide evidence on the positive impacts of this large-scale automobile regulation policy on fetal health.

Suggested Citation

  • Tatsuki Inoue & Nana Nunokawa & Daisuke Kurisu & Kota Ogasawara, 2019. "Particulate Air Pollution, Birth Outcomes, and Infant Mortality: Evidence from Japan's Automobile Emission Control Law of 1992," Papers 1905.04417, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2019.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1905.04417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1905.04417
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    2. Currie, Janet & Neidell, Matthew & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2009. "Air pollution and infant health: Lessons from New Jersey," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 688-703, May.
    3. Greenstone, Michael, 2004. "Did the Clean Air Act cause the remarkable decline in sulfur dioxide concentrations?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 585-611, May.
    4. Li, Zhengtao & Folmer, Henk & Xue, Jianhong, 2014. "To what extent does air pollution affect happiness? The case of the Jinchuan mining area, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 88-99.
    5. Maximilian Auffhammer & Ryan Kellogg, 2011. "Clearing the Air? The Effects of Gasoline Content Regulation on Air Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2687-2722, October.
    6. Iwata, Kazuyuki & Arimura, Toshi, 2008. "Economic Analysis of a Japanese Air Pollution Regulation: An Optimal Retirement Problem under Vehicle Type Regulation in the NOx–Particulate Matter Law," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-15, Resources for the Future.
    7. Janke, Katharina, 2014. "Air pollution, avoidance behaviour and children's respiratory health: Evidence from England," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 23-42.
    8. Coneus, Katja & Spiess, C. Katharina, 2012. "Pollution exposure and child health: Evidence for infants and toddlers in Germany," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 180-196.
    9. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Shimshack, Jay P., 2011. "School buses, diesel emissions, and respiratory health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 987-999.
    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. Ziebarth, N. R. & Schmitt, M. & Karlsson, M., 2013. "The short-term population health effects of weather and pollution: implications of climate change," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 13/34, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Margaryan, Shushanik, 2021. "Low emission zones and population health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Deokrye Baek & Duha T. Altindag & Naci Mocan, 2015. "Chinese Yellow Dust and Korean Infant Health," NBER Working Papers 21613, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Liu, Ziheng & Chen, Xi & Lu, Qinan, 2023. "Blowin' in the Wind of an Invisible Killer: Long-Term Exposure to Ozone and Respiratory Mortality in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 15981, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Chen, Shiyi & Jiang, Lingduo & Liu, Wanlin & Song, Hong, 2022. "Fireworks regulation, air pollution, and public health: Evidence from China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Kong, Dongmin & Liang, Junwei & Liu, Chenhao, 2022. "Invisible enemy: The health impact of ozone," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Clifford Afoakwah & Son Nghiem & Paul Scuffham & Quan Huynh & Tom Marwick & Joshua Byrnes, 2020. "Impacts of air pollution on health: evidence from longitudinal cohort data of patients with cardiovascular diseases," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(7), pages 1025-1038, September.
    8. Zhang, Ming & Zhao, Yingxue, 2023. "Does environmental regulation spur innovation? Quasi-natural experiment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Wang, Linfeng & Shi, Tie & Chen, Hanyi, 2023. "Air pollution and infant mortality: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    10. Thomas Stoerk, 2017. "Compliance, Efficiency and Instrument Choice: Evidence from air pollution control in China," GRI Working Papers 273, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    11. Puja Singhal, 2018. "Environmental Regulations: Lessons from the Command-and-Control Approach," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 124, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Ye, Bing & Lin, Ling, 2020. "Environmental regulation and responses of local governments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Kang, Cheolmin & Ota, Mitsuru & Ushijima, Koichi, 2024. "Benefits of diesel emission regulations: Evidence from the World's largest low emission zone," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    14. Xiaojing Jia & Xin Luo, 2023. "Residents’ Health Effect of Environmental Regulations in Coal-Dependent Industries: Empirical Evidence from China’s Cement Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Babak Jahanshahi & Brian Johnston & Mark E. McGovern & Duncan McVicar & Dermot O’Reilly & Neil Rowland & Stavros Vlachos, 2024. "Prenatal exposure to particulate matter and infant birth outcomes: Evidence from a population‐wide database," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 2182-2200, September.
    16. Puja Singhal, 2018. "Are Emission Performance Standards Effective in Pollution Control? Evidence from the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1773, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Boggiano, Barbara & Williams Higgins, Melisa & Matheson, Jesse & Jenkins, David & Oggioni, Marco R., 2024. "The contemporaneous healthcare cost of particulate matter pollution for youth and older adult populations," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Li, Pei & Lu, Yi & Wang, Jin, 2020. "The effects of fuel standards on air pollution: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Ainhoa Aparicio, 2014. "Newborn Health and the Business Cycle," CINCH Working Paper Series 1402, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    20. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:1905.04417. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.