More Than Hot Air? Low Emission Zones, Air Pollution, and Infant Health
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper investigates the effect of low emission zones on birth outcomes and air quality in Germany. The staggered introduction of the policy measure creates a credible natural experiment and a natural control group for births and air pollution measurements in cities that enact low emission zones. I show that the introduction of the most restrictive type of low emission zone decreases average levels of fine particulate matter by about 5 percent. However, these reductions are too small to translate into significant improvements in infant health. My results are not driven by changes in maternal or city specific characteristics, and are robust to variations in specification and to the choice of control group.
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