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Something in the Pipe: Flint Water Crisis and Health at Birth

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Listed:
  • Wang, Rui

    (Tulane University)

  • Chen, Xi

    (Yale University)

  • Li, Xun

    (Wuhan University)

Abstract

Flint changed its public water source in 2014, causing severe water contamination. We estimate the effect of in utero exposure to polluted water on health at birth using the recent Flint water crisis as a natural experiment. Matching vital statistics birth records with various sources of data, we employ a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach as well as a Synthetic Control Method (SCM) to identify its causal impact on key birth outcomes. Our results suggest that the crisis modestly increased the rate of low birth weight (LBW) by 1.1-1.8 percentage points but had little effect on length of gestation or prematurity. The effects are larger for black or less educated mothers. Children born to disadvantaged mothers demonstrated 1.2-2.0 percentage points (or 10.4-17.4 percent) and 0.2- 0.6 percentage points (or 9.5-28.6 percent) rise in LBW and VLBW, respectively. We find little evidence that the Crisis increased fetal death, suggesting that the scarring effect in utero may dominate the channel of mortality selection. These results survive a rich set of placebo and falsification tests. Finally, our results lend support to three mechanisms at work linking water contamination and birth outcomes, i.e. biological effect, maternal stress, and avoidance actions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Rui & Chen, Xi & Li, Xun, 2019. "Something in the Pipe: Flint Water Crisis and Health at Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 12115, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12115
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel S. Grossman & David J.G. Slusky, 2019. "The Impact of the Flint Water Crisis on Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2005-2031, December.
    2. Olukorede Abiona & Joseph B. Ajefu, 2023. "The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1333-1362, July.
    3. Irene Mosca & Anne Nolan, 2022. "The Long-Term Effects of In-Utero Exposure to Rubella," Economics Department Working Paper Series n314-22.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    4. Shooshan Danagoulian & Daniel Grossman & David Slusky, 2022. "Health Care Following Environmental Disasters: Evidence from Flint," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1060-1089, September.
    5. Jessica Sauve‐Syed, 2024. "Lead exposure and student outcomes: A study of Flint schools," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 432-448, March.
    6. Dave, Dhaval M. & Yang, Muzhe, 2022. "Lead in drinking water and birth outcomes: A tale of two water treatment plants," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    low birth weight; Flint infants; lead exposure; water pollution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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