The Psychosocial Effects of the Flint Water Crisis on School-Age Children. Working Paper 29341
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| Title: | The Psychosocial Effects of the Flint Water Crisis on School-Age Children. Working Paper 29341 |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Trejo, Sam, Yeomans-Maldonado, Gloria, Jacob, Brian, National Bureau of Economic Research |
| Source: | National Bureau of Economic Research. 2021. |
| Availability: | National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Publication Date: | 2021 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | Institute of Education Sciences (ED) |
| Contract Number: | R305B140009 R305B170015 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Early Childhood Education Elementary Education Kindergarten Primary Education Elementary Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Water Quality, Hazardous Materials, Outcomes of Education, Longitudinal Studies, Brain, Cognitive Development, Public Schools, Biochemistry, Student Records, School Districts, Attribution Theory, Child Health, Kindergarten, Elementary Secondary Education |
| Geographic Terms: | Michigan (Flint) |
| Abstract: | Lead poisoning has well-known impacts for the developing brain of young children, with a large literature documenting the negative effects of elevated blood lead levels on academic and behavioral outcomes. In April of 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was changed, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. In this study, we use Michigan's universe of longitudinal, student-level education records, combined with home water service line inspection data containing the location of lead pipes, to empirically examine the effect of the Flint Water Crisis on educational outcomes of Flint public school children. We leverage parallel causal identification strategies, a between-district synthetic control analysis and a within-Flint difference-in-differences analysis, to separate out the direct health effects of lead exposure from the broad effects of living in a community experiencing a crisis. Our results highlight a less well-appreciated consequence of the Flint Water Crisis -- namely, the psychosocial effects of the crisis on the educational outcomes of school-age children. These findings suggest that cost estimates which rely only on the negative impact of direct lead exposure substantially underestimate the overall societal cost of the crisis. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| IES Funded: | Yes |
| Entry Date: | 2021 |
| Access URL: | https://www.nber.org/papers/w29341 |
| Accession Number: | ED615386 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Lead poisoning has well-known impacts for the developing brain of young children, with a large literature documenting the negative effects of elevated blood lead levels on academic and behavioral outcomes. In April of 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was changed, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. In this study, we use Michigan's universe of longitudinal, student-level education records, combined with home water service line inspection data containing the location of lead pipes, to empirically examine the effect of the Flint Water Crisis on educational outcomes of Flint public school children. We leverage parallel causal identification strategies, a between-district synthetic control analysis and a within-Flint difference-in-differences analysis, to separate out the direct health effects of lead exposure from the broad effects of living in a community experiencing a crisis. Our results highlight a less well-appreciated consequence of the Flint Water Crisis -- namely, the psychosocial effects of the crisis on the educational outcomes of school-age children. These findings suggest that cost estimates which rely only on the negative impact of direct lead exposure substantially underestimate the overall societal cost of the crisis. |
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