Conference Agenda

In August 2006, 528 cubic meters of hazardous waste were illegally dumped across seventeen sites in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, affecting over 100,000 people. This paper examines the long-term causal impacts of toxic exposure on women's health behaviors, labor supply, fertility, and education.

Using 2021--2022 Demographic and Health Survey data, we compare women who lived within 3 kilometers of dumping sites in 2006 to those 7--20 kilometers away, employing inverse probability weighting. Fifteen to sixteen years after the crisis, exposed women are 13.7 percentage points more likely to use modern contraceptives (p = 0.075) and to have been tested for HIV (p = 0.059). We find suggestive evidence of 12--14 percentage point increases in employment (p = 0.094--0.107). However, we find no significant effects on fertility, healthcare utilization, or education.

The pattern---significant health behavior changes without detectable fertility or education effects---suggests the crisis generated lasting shifts in health consciousness rather than altering ultimate outcomes. Findings are consistent with post-crisis interventions expanding contraceptive and HIV testing access in underserved areas, combined with economic coping strategies that increased female labor supply.