TY  - JOUR
AU  - Greenstone,Michael
AU  - Hanna,Rema
TI  - Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17210
PY  - 2011
Y2  - July 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17210
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17210.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael Greenstone
MIT Department of Economics
50 Memorial Drive, E52-359
Cambridge, MA 02142-1347
Tel: 617/452-4127
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: mgreenst@mit.edu

Rema Hanna
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-1140
Fax: 617/496-5747
E-Mail: Rema_Hanna@hks.harvard.edu
AB  - Using the most comprehensive data file ever compiled on air pollution, water pollution, environmental regulations, and infant mortality from a developing country, the paper examines the effectiveness of India’s environmental regulations.  The air pollution regulations were effective at reducing ambient concentrations of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.  The most successful air pollution regulation is associated with a modest and statistically insignificant decline in infant mortality.  However, the water pollution regulations had no observable effect. Overall, these results contradict the conventional wisdom that environmental quality is a deterministic function of income and underscore the role of institutions and politics.
ER  -