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The Psychosocial Effects of the Flint Water Crisis on School-Age Children

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Trejo
  • Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado
  • Brian Jacob

Abstract

Lead poisoning has well-known impacts for the developing brain of young children, with a large literature documenting the negative effects of elevated blood lead levels on academic and behavioral outcomes. In April of 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was changed, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city’s drinking water. In this study, we use Michigan’s universe of longitudinal, student-level education records, combined with home water service line inspection data containing the location of lead pipes, to empirically examine the effect of the Flint Water Crisis on educational outcomes of Flint public school children. We leverage parallel causal identification strategies, a between-district synthetic control analysis and a within-Flint difference-in-differences analysis, to separate out the direct health effects of lead exposure from the broad effects of living in a community experiencing a crisis. Our results highlight a less well-appreciated consequence of the Flint Water Crisis – namely, the psychosocial effects of the crisis on the educational outcomes of school-age children. These findings suggest that cost estimates which rely only on the negative impact of direct lead exposure substantially underestimate the overall societal cost of the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Trejo & Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado & Brian Jacob, 2021. "The Psychosocial Effects of the Flint Water Crisis on School-Age Children," NBER Working Papers 29341, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29341
    Note: CH ED LS PE
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    Cited by:

    1. Gust, Sarah, 2023. "Going to School During Climate Change: The Effect of Natural Disasters and Student Achievement," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277653, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Aggarwal, Khushboo & Barua, Rashmi & Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, 2024. "Still Waters Run Deep: Groundwater Contamination and Education Outcomes in India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    3. Akhtar, Shahzad & Khan, Zafar Iqbal & Ahmad, Kafeel & Nadeem, Muhammad & Ejaz, Abid & Hussain, Muhammad Iftikhar & Ashraf, Muhammad Arslan, 2022. "Assessment of lead toxicity in diverse irrigation regimes and potential health implications of agriculturally grown crops in Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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