Full Title: Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India
Author(s): Michael Greenstone and Rema Hanna
Publisher(s): Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Publication Date: December 1, 2013
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Description (excerpt):
Using the most comprehensive developing country dataset ever compiled on air and water pollution and environmental regulations, the paper assesses India’s environmental regulations with a difference-in-differences design. The air pollution regulations are associated with substantial improvements in air quality. The most successful air regulation resulted in a modest, but statistically insignificant decline in infant mortality. In contrast, the water regulations had no measurable benefits. The available evidence leads us to cautiously conclude that higher demand for air quality prompted the effective enforcement of air pollution regulations, indicating that strong public support allows environmental regulations to succeed in weak institutional settings.