Conference Agenda

Mining-related lead pollution poses substantial health risks worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. However, the public preferences regarding its health risks have not been well investigated yet, as it is not always possible to assume that the local population perceive the health risks of lead, which mostly as non-acute symptoms, such as long-term cognitive effects. This study targets a prominent case of mining-related lead contamination caused by an untreated dumpsite in Kabwe, Zambia. Though a large-scale survey of about 900 households representing the city’s population, it systematically investigates the public awareness of the lead problem among the local population and elicits the residents’ willingness to pay for reducing the pollution through remediation measures. The survey is composed of a discrete choice experiment regarding a hypothetical cleanup project financed collectively by residents and the national government. We identified that most city residents had awareness and knowledge about the local lead pollution problem and found that they had the willingness to pay for remediation of lead contamination, at a level corresponding to 113 Kwacha per month (about 6 USD per month) for a hypothetical project to reduce 50% of health risks and environmental pollution levels. This estimation of subjective willingness to pay could serve as reference information to be compared with assessments of economic burden of lead-related illnesses. Also, it points to a potential policy approach to site remediation involving the residents’ own contribution, given the local reality that initiatives for pollution containment have so far been stalled due to lack of public finance.

This paper examines how early-life radiation exposure affects adult fertility. Employing a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, we analyze 18 cohorts of women born between 1976 and 1993 across Italian municipalities. We construct a radiation exposure indicator at the municipality level and we combine it with comprehensive administrative datasets covering all hospitalizations from 2004 to 2016 and birth certificates from 2002 to 2019. This allows us to investigate the impact of early-life and childhood radiation exposure on the incidence of thyroid complications, radiation-related cancers, spontaneous abortions, and stillbirths among individuals aged 20 to 40. Our findings reveal increased rates of thyroid complications and cancer among women who were in utero or up to five years old during the fallout. Additionally, those exposed at a young age show higher incidences of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths. Finally, using historical census and election data, we find that municipalities with high agricultural employment, where self-produced food was prevalent, experienced more severe fallout effects. However, our analysis reveals no significant impact of political beliefs on adherence to protective measures during the fallout or on the resulting health consequences.

Irrigation schemes are one of the most important policy responses designed to reduce poverty, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Concomitantly, they facilitate the propagation of waterborne parasitic diseases endemic in many developing countries, which are both drivers and consequence of poverty. I present a novel theoretical framework which shows how the joint dynamics of disease dynamics, river

and mobility networks and the production decisions of farmers create Pareto-inferior endemic Nash equilibria, and how the wealth-dependent disease reproduction rate (the R0) can generate poverty traps. A stochastic extension of the model shows how this rate controls the probability flow between the system attractors. Local disease and poverty conditions are shown to be transported on the network generated

by human mobility. Social optima require deviations from separable allocations proportional to the disease burden on the maximized utility paths. Complete information on the feedback between wealth and disease can potentially allow farmers to escape the poverty trap. I focus on the case of schistosomiasis in Burkina Faso, and using both mobility and river networks I map the areas at risk of disease-driven poverty traps.

Malaria still poses significant risks, especially in India. In addition to averting behaviors, forests may help reduce mosquitoes and, thus, the malaria incidence and mortality. However, the evidence is still scarce about the magnitude and value of this ecosystem service. To address this gap, we use a panel dataset for 2013-2015 and evaluate the impact of forest loss on malaria morbidity in India’s rural areas. We find that on average, the loss of 1 km2 of forest resulted in 0.16 additional deaths per 100,000 people. This translates into marginal values of forests for reducing malaria mortality of, at least, $1.26-85.9/ha/year in 2015 USD. Our results suggest that combining forest conservation and traditional anti-malaria policies like indoor spraying and insecticide-treated nets may be an effectual way to mitigate the malarial burden in India and elsewhere and offer insights about the value of potential payments for ecosystem services.