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Hidden Costs of the Great London Smog: Evidence from Missing Births

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  • Alastair Ball

    (Birkbeck, University of London)

Abstract

This article measures the effect of the Great London Smog on fetal loss by testing for missing births in the subsequent nine months, using newly available data. Results show the five day smog resulted in a 3.5% reduction in the size of the cohort affected in the third trimester, and a 1.5% reduction in the size of the cohort affected in their first trimester.

Suggested Citation

  • Alastair Ball, 2018. "Hidden Costs of the Great London Smog: Evidence from Missing Births," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 1823-1830.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00224
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2018/Volume38/EB-18-V38-I4-P169.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Karen Clay & Werner Troesken, 2011. "Did Frederick Brodie Discover the World's First Environmental Kuznets Curve? Coal Smoke and the Rise and Fall of the London Fog," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Climate Change: Adaptations Past and Present, pages 281-309, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Sanders, Nicholas J. & Stoecker, Charles, 2015. "Where have all the young men gone? Using sex ratios to measure fetal death rates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 30-45.
    3. Janet Currie & Joshua Graff Zivin & Jamie Mullins & Matthew Neidell, 2014. "What Do We Know About Short- and Long-Term Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Pollution?," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 217-247, October.
    4. Seema Jayachandran, 2009. "Air Quality and Early-Life Mortality: Evidence from Indonesia’s Wildfires," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    5. W. Walker Hanlon, 2024. "London Fog: A Century of Pollution and Mortality, 1866–1965," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(4), pages 910-923, July.
    6. Brian Beach & W. Walker Hanlon, 2018. "Coal Smoke and Mortality in an Early Industrial Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(615), pages 2652-2675, November.
    7. Whitney K. Newey & Kenneth D. West, 1994. "Automatic Lag Selection in Covariance Matrix Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(4), pages 631-653.
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    Cited by:

    1. von Hinke, Stephanie & Sørensen, Emil N., 2023. "The long-term effects of early-life pollution exposure: Evidence from the London smog," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

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