Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass

Janet Currie, W. Reed Walker

NBER Working Paper No. 15413
Issued in October 2009, Revised in April 2012
NBER Program(s):Children, Environment and Energy Economics, Health Economics, Public Economics

We exploit the introduction of electronic toll collection, (E-ZPass), which greatly reduced both traffic congestion and vehicle emissions near highway toll plazas. We show that the introduction of E-ZPass reduced prematurity and low birth weight among mothers within 2km of a toll plaza by 10.8% and 11.8% respectively relative to mothers 2-10km from a toll plaza. There were no immediate changes in the characteristics of mothers or in housing prices near toll plazas that could explain these changes. The results are robust to many changes in specification and suggest that traffic congestion contributes significantly to poor health among infants.

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w15413

Published: Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2011. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 65-90, January. citation courtesy of