China's rapid industrialization has led to a severe deterioration in water quality in the country's lakes and rivers. By exploiting variation in pollution across China's river basins, I estimate ...that a deterioration of water quality by a single grade (on a six-grade scale) increases the digestive cancer death rate by 9.7 percent. The analysis rules out other potential explanations such as smoking rates, dietary patterns, and air pollution. Estimates using 2SLS with rainfall and distance from the river's headwaters as instruments also indicate a strong relationship. I estimate that doubling China's levy rates for firm dumping of untreated wastewater would save roughly 17,000 lives per year but require an additional 500 million dollars in annual spending on wastewater treatment, implying a cost of roughly 30,000 dollars per averted death. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Cognitive performance during high-stakes exams can be affected by random disturbances that, even if transitory, may have permanent consequences for long-term schooling attainment and labor market ...outcomes. We evaluate this hypothesis among Israeli high school students who took a series of high stakes matriculation exams between 2000 and 2002. As a source of random (transitory) shocks to high-stakes matriculation test scores, we use exposure to ambient air pollution during the day of the exam. First, we document a significant and negative relationship between average PM^sub 2.5^ exposure during exams and student composite scores, post-secondary educational attainment, and earnings during adulthood. Second, using PM^sub 2.5^ as an instrument, we estimate a large economic return to each point on the exam and each additional year of post-secondary education. Third, we examine the return to exam scores and schooling across sub-populations, and find the largest effects among boys, better students, and children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. The results suggest that random disturbances during high-stakes examinations can have longterm consequences for schooling and labor market outcomes, while also highlighting the drawbacks of using highstakes examinations in university admissions.
Prior to 1996, Israelis in collective communities (kibbutzim) shared the costs of raising children equally. This paper examines the impact of the privatization of kibbutzim on fertility behavior ...among members. We find that fertility declined by 6-15 percent following the shift to privatization. In light of the massive change in financial costs associated with childbearing due to privatization, our results suggest that financial considerations may be a more modest factor in fertility decisions than generally regarded. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of prenatal exposure to total suspended particulates (TSP) on infant health outcomes. We exploit variation in coal use patterns in China induced by government ...regulations that provided free home heating north of the Huai River. We demonstrate that cities north of the Huai River have persistently higher TSP levels, and the difference is most severe during cold winters. By exploiting within-city variation in weather over time, we find that average birth weight is 14 grams lower for each additional 100 µg/m^sup 3^ of prenatal TSP exposure. We also find that the impact is largest among births already at risk of being low birth weight, such as births to lower educated mothers. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
High ratios of males to females in China have concerned researchers (Sen 1990, Yi et al. 1993) and the recent increase has alarmed policymakers worldwide. This paper presents an analysis of China’s ...census data that indicates that the "missing girls" phenomenon is causally linked to enforcement of the One Child Policy. Fertility is lower and sex ratios are higher among those under stricter fertility control, and the overall increase in the sex ratio is driven by an increase in the prevalence of sex selection among first and second births. By exploiting regional and temporal variation in fines levied for unauthorized births, I find that higher fine regimes discourage fertility, but are associated with higher ratios of males to females.
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