School of Public Policy

ABOUT THE SEMINAR: Despite the well-known health consequences of lead exposure, an estimated 9.2 million lead service lines still deliver drinking water to homes throughout the US. Disadvantaged communities are disproportionately exposed to lead service lines, contributing to health and human capital disparities. This paper studies the effects of public lead service line replacements on households using address-level data on children's blood lead levels, home sales, and public service line installations from Rhode Island. Replacements significantly reduced child blood lead levels by about 0.4 ug/dL, increased property values by 7-8 percent, and increased the probability of moving among renters.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Dr. Michelle Marcus is an applied microeconomist. Her research broadly focuses on determinants of child health and well-being, with a particular focus on environmental exposures and the effectiveness of regulation. Some of her recent research seeks to quantify the direct health impacts of important sources of pollution, such as leaking underground storage tanks, lead service lines, and drinking water contamination. Other work measures the effectiveness of regulation and the role of behavioral responses, focusing on maritime emission regulation and public notification requirements, for example.

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