Environmental Air Quality and Health: Evidence from Trade Liberalization

Authors

  • Amirhooshang Navaei Omid Financial Group
  • Farhad Farnoud Mahtaabsazan Iranian Charity Foundation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18034/ajtp.v8i1.508

Keywords:

Trade Liberalization, Pollution, Air Quality, Health, Fetal Origin Hypothesis, Birth Outcomes, Panel Data, Environmental Health

Abstract

This paper explores the potential externality of trade liberalization between the US and China on air pollution and infants’ health outcomes. Exploiting the differential impact of tariff reductions due to trade liberalization across industries combined with compositional variations of industry-specific employment across counties as the main source of identification strategy and using the universe of birth records in the US over the years 1990-2017 (over 97 million observations), we document substantial improvements in birth outcomes of mothers residing in counties with higher exposure to trade policy change. The exposed counties experienced sharp drops in employment specifically for manufacturing industries and revealed sharp reductions in a wide array of pollutants. A 1 percent reduction in tariff rates is associated with an 11.5 and 12.7 percentage point reduction in the likelihood of low birth weight and preterm birth, respectively.

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Author Biographies

Amirhooshang Navaei, Omid Financial Group

Fundamental Analyst, Omid Financial Group, 15th floor, Sayeh Tower, Valiasr St., Tehran, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-5697

Farhad Farnoud, Mahtaabsazan Iranian Charity Foundation

Chief Operating Officer, Mahtaabsazan Iranian Charity Foundation, Unit 5, No. 3, Nader Alley, South Bahar St.,
Sadr Highway, Tehran, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7051-2843

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Published

2021-02-25

How to Cite

Navaei, A. ., & Farnoud, F. (2021). Environmental Air Quality and Health: Evidence from Trade Liberalization. American Journal of Trade and Policy, 8(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.18034/ajtp.v8i1.508

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Research Articles