NBER Paper on Environmental Behaviour

Discontinuous Behavioral Responses to Recycling Laws and Plastic Water Bottle Deposits 

W. Kip Viscusi, Joel Huber, Jason Bell, Caroline Cecot NBER Working Paper No. 15585* Issued in December 2009 This article examines the effects of recycling and deposit laws on consumer recycling of plastic water bottles using a nationally representative sample of 2,550 bottled water users. Economic theory predicts individual behavior that gravitates toward extremes—either diligent recycling or no recycling at all. This pattern is borne out in actual recycling behavior. Both water bottle deposits and recycling laws foster recycling behavior through a discontinuous effect that converts reluctant recyclers into diligent recyclers. More stringent recycling laws have a greater effect on recycling rates. The efficacy of these interventions is greatest for those who would not already recycle and especially for those in lower income groups or who do not consider themselves to be environmentalists.

Toxic Waste and Infant Health

Janet Currie and Johannes F. Schmieder have a new NBER working paper: "Fetal Exposure to Toxic Releases and Infant Health" (abstract below). Professor Currie will be visiting Geary in the new year; details below.

NBER Abstract:

Every year, millions of pounds of toxic chemicals thought to be linked to developmental problems in fetuses and young children are released into the air. In this paper we estimate the effect of these releases on the health of newborns. Using data from the Toxic Release Inventory Program and Vital Statistics Natality and Mortality files, we find significant negative effects of prenatal exposure to toxicants on gestation and birth weight. We also find that several developmental chemicals increase the probability of infant death. The effect is quite sizeable: the reported reductions in cadmium, toluene, and epichlorohydrin releases during the 90s could account for about 3.9 percent of the overall decrease in infant mortality. Our results are robust to several specification checks, such as comparing developmental to non-developmental chemicals, and fugitive air releases to stack air releases.

Geary Seminar: February 21st 2009, Janet Currie, (Columbia University). "Childhood Health Inequalities".