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Title: Lead Exposure and Racial Disparities in Test Scores

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: We consider a new source of racial disparities in test scores: African American students' disproportionate exposure to environmental toxins, and, in particular, lead. Using a unique individual-level dataset of children's preschool lead levels linked with future educational outcomes for children in Rhode Island, we document significant declines in racial disparities in child lead levels since 1997, due in part to state policies aimed at reducing lead hazards in homes. Exploiting the change in child lead levels as a result of the policy, we generate causal estimates of the impact of preschool lead levels on reading and math test scores through grade eight in an IV framework. We find that a 5 ug/dl increase in child lead levels (the threshold at which the CDC recommends intervention) reduces test scores by 49-74 percent of a standard deviation, depending on the specification. The effects are strongest in the lower tail of the test score distribution and do not fade over time. We calculate that the decline in racial disparities in lead explains between 37 and 76% of the decline in racial disparities in test scores witnessed over the past decade in RI.

Url: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/Aizerelal2015l.pdf

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Authors: Aizer, Anna; Currie, Janet; Simon, Peter; Vivier, Patrick

Publisher: Brown University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Other, Race and Ethnicity

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