CLARKSVILLE, TN – New research by an assistant professor at Austin Peay State University found that a U.S. air-quality initiative from the early 2000s resulted in healthier newborns. Dr. Nahid Tavassoli, the study’s author, made the discovery by analyzing birth records from 1995 to 2008.
In a news release shared at the time of publication, Health Economics highlighted important implications for public health policy and environmental regulations.
“The research evaluates the Nitrogen Oxide Budget Trading Program (NBP), a cap-and-trade system launched in the early 2000s to reduce ozone pollution from power plants and major industrial sources across the eastern United States. By analyzing every U.S. birth record from 1995 to 2008, the study finds that babies whose mothers breathed cleaner air during pregnancy were born healthier.
Full exposure to the NBP reduced the incidence of low birth weight by about 5.5% and very preterm birth (babies born before 28 weeks of gestation) by 13%, while increasing average birth weight by nearly 20 grams. The health gains were especially large among Black mothers, low-educated mothers, and single mothers, groups more likely to live near pollution sources.
Tavassoli found significant benefits among Black families and other over-exposed communities, which reduced racial gaps in newborn health.
“Environmental policy can be a powerful form of social policy,” Tavassoli said. “These policies don’t just cut pollution—they make our communities more equal.”
Dr. Tavassoli is an assistant professor of economics in the College of Business at Austin Peay State University. Her research includes environmental economics, policy analysis, health economics, women’s empowerment, and economics of education.
Visit https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.70047 to read the full study, “New Beginnings: The NOx Budget Trading Program and Infant Health.”