
Open access
Author
Date
2016-03Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Environmental pollution adversely affects children’s probability to survive to adulthood, reduces thus parental expenditures on child quality and increases the number of births necessary to achieve a desired family size. We argue that this mechanism will be intensified by economic inequality because wealthier households live in cleaner areas. This is the key mechanism through which environmental conditions may impose a growth drag on the economy. Moreover, the adverse effect of inequality and pollution on children’s health may be amplified, if the population group that is least affected decides about tax-financed abatement measures. Our theory provides a candidate explanation for (1) the observed positive correlation between inequality and the concentration of pollutants at the local level, and (2) the hump-shaped evolution of child mortality ratios between cleaner and more polluted areas during the course of economic development. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010613892Publication status
publishedJournal / series
Economics Working Paper SeriesVolume
Publisher
ETH Zurich, Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH)Subject
Endogenous growth; Endogenous fertility; Inequality; Mortality; PollutionOrganisational unit
02120 - Dep. Management, Technologie und Ökon. / Dep. of Management, Technology, and Ec.03635 - Bretschger, Lucas / Bretschger, Lucas
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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