Laura Alcocer Quiñones

Abstract:  Policy evaluation for emerging pollutants is challenging because monitoring is limited and data are sparse and censored. This paper demonstrates that failure to account for interval censoring can lead to misguided policy conclusions and proposes a method to overcome this challenge. I study this in the context of stricter state regulations for PFAS, a suite of emerging harmful water pollutants. A main obstacle is that water quality tests are interval censored, so we only observe bounds on the distribution of PFAS concentration. I first show that without further assumptions, treatment effects are not generally point-identified and applying standard approaches that ignore this issue can lead to contradictory policy conclusions. I overcome this challenge using a parametric approximation to recover the latent cumulative distribution function through censored maximum likelihood. I implement the changes-in-changes approach using the recovered distribution of concentration to estimate the impact of tightening regulatory standards on water quality. For existing facilities, I cannot conclude that notification level changes had an impact on water quality across the distribution. I find suggestive evidence of investment in the form of new and retrofitted treatment plants to address PFAS after regulations became more stringent. The methods implemented allow for policy evaluation under interval censoring in other settings in economics.

Infant Health in the Age of Megafires: Evidence from U.S. Wildfire Smoke Exposure with J. Hansen-Lewis (UCD)

Abstract: We quantify the impact of wildfire smoke on infant health across the United States. Climate change and historical fire suppression have dramatically increased wildfire frequency and severity in recent decades. We assemble a county-month panel dataset from 2006 to 2017 of birth records and gestational smoke exposure. Our results imply that smoke has a much more muted effect on infant health overall than the findings of existing estimates that rely on more limited settings and fewer outcomes. Additional results illustrate how the salience of smoke plays a significant role in mitigating adverse health effects. Overall, our findings underscore the potential value of information interventions and adaptation to reduce future damages from smoke.

Behavioral Responses to Information on PFAS in Water Supplies
with J. Hadachek (UW-Madison) and W. Troske (UCD)

Monitoring Forever Chemicals in Rural Water Supplies: Data Analytic Tools to Predict Water Pollution Using Existing Data with D. Ghanem (UCD), K. Jessoe (UCD)