A BEJEAP Contributions article.

Abstract

Childhood lead exposure can lead to psychological traits that are strongly associated with aggressive and criminal behavior. In the late 1970s in the United States, lead was removed from gasoline under the Clean Air Act. I use the state-specific reductions in lead exposure that resulted from this removal to identify the effect of childhood lead exposure on crime rates. The elasticity of violent crime with respect to childhood lead exposure is estimated to be 0.8, and this result is robust to numerous sensitivity tests. Mixed evidence supports an effect of lead exposure on murder rates, and little evidence indicates an effect of lead on property crime. Overall, I find that the reduction in childhood lead exposure in the late 1970s and early 1980s was responsible for significant declines in violent crime in the 1990s and may cause further declines in the future. Moreover, the social value of the reductions in violent crime far exceeds the cost of the removal of lead from gasoline.

Submitted: May 10, 2007 · Accepted: September 25, 2007 · Published: October 17, 2007

Recommended Citation

Reyes, Jessica Wolpaw (2007) "Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 (Contributions), Article 51.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol7/iss1/art51

Related Files

Reyes Lead Crime Appendix Oct 2007.pdf (467 kB)
Reyes Appendix: Additional Tables and Description of Data