Clean living pays off IN THE debate over climate change, policies to reduce pollution are often seen

as detrimental to economic growth. But this need not always be the case. As we pointed out last month, policies such as cutting fossil fuel subsidies can both cut carbon emissions and boost growth. A new paper! suggests another measure to curb pollution that may have had beneficial long term economic impacts for individuals. The paper"s authors, Adam Isen, #aya $ossin %later and $eed &al'er, compared the adult labour mar'et outcomes of those born in counties in America where air pollution decreased as the result of the ()*+ ,lean Air Act to those born in areas where pollution did not fall in this period. They found that those who were born in counties that were forced to cut air pollution as a result of the legislation earned more by their thirties than they would have otherwise- gaining appro.imately /0,1++ each in e.tra income over their lives. At first, this result may seem a little strange. As dirty industries closed in many affected areas as a result of the ,lean Air Act, one would e.pect incomes to fall as the result of increased unemployment. 2et the authors of the paper found the opposite- the long term benefits of better childhood health on adult incomes outweighed the other negative immediate economic effects that may have resulted from the legislation. The impact of air pollution while growing up is not the only factor that affects adult outcomes, economists rec'on. %upporters of the so called 3fetal origins hypothesis4 have long been convinced that being conceived or born during a famine or an economic depression can reduce your adult life e.pectancy, and increase the chance of having conditions such as heart disease and diabetes in old age. And, according to this paper, e.posure to pollution when young may affect you for the rest of your life. #ore evidence, it seems, that the long term benefits of environmental proposals5and not 6ust those that materialise in the immediate future5need to be considered with more care by politicians. ! 7A. Isen, #. $ossin %later and $. &al'er, 7Every breath you ta'e5every dollar you8ll ma'ethe long term conse9uences of the ,lean Air Act of ()*+7, NBE$ wor'ing paper ():;:, <anuary =+(0. The Economist, 3,lean living pays off3

>ivot u cisto6 sredini se isplati ? raspravi o'o 'limats'ih promena, strategi6e @a sman6en6e @agad6en6a smatra6u se stetnim po privredni rast. Ali to ne mora uve' biti sluAa6. Bao sto smo naglasili proslog meseca, planovi 'ao sto su sman6ivan6e i@nosa subvenci6a @a fosilna goriva mogu i sman6iti emisi6u ugl6en dio'sida i pobol6sati privredni ra@vo6. Novo istraCivan6e predla@e drugu meru sman6en6a @agad6en6a ugl6en dio'sidom 'o6a 6e, na du@e sta@e, mogla e'onoms'i povol6no uticati na po6edinca. Autori te'sta, Adam Isen, #a6a $osin %le6ter i $id Do'er, uporedili su @arade na trCiEtu rada @a odrasle onih 'o6i su rod6eni u o'ru@ima u Americi gde se @agad6en6e va@duha sman6ilo 'ao re@ultat >a'ona o cistom va@duhu i@ ()*+. sa onima 'o6i su rod6eni u mestima gde se @agad6en6e ni6e sman6ilo u ovom periodu. Fosli su do @a'l6uc'a su da su oni 'o6u su rod6eni u o'ru@ima gde 6e @agad6en6e va@duha regulisano ovim @a'onom, @aradili vise do svo6e tridesete godine @ivota nego sto bi inace @aradili- sva'o od n6ih 6e @aradio o'o 01++ dolara pre'o standardnih prihoda. ? prvi mah, ova6 ishod moCe delovati pomalo cudno. Gosto su mnoge industri6e 'o6e

@agad6u6u o'olinu u pogod6enim regi6ama prestale sa radom 'ao re@ultat >a'ona o cistom va@duhu, oce'ivalo bi se da se prihodi sman6e usled povecan6a stope ne@aposlenosti. Ali, autori te'sta su ot'rili sasvim suprotno- dugorocna po@itivna de6stva @dravi6eg detin6stva na prihode odraslih prevagnula su nad drugim, neposrednim negativnim e'onoms'im posledicama 'o6e su mo@da proi@isle i@ @a'ona. E'onomisti smatra6u da de6stvo @agad6en6a va@duha to'om odrastan6a ni6e 6edini fa'tor 'o6i utice na re@ultate odraslih. Gristalice ta'o@vane Hhipote@e fetalnog pore'la3 su bile dugo ubed6ene da se, a'o ste @aAeti ili rod6eni to'om gladi ili e'onoms'e 'ri@e, vas oce'ivani @ivotni ve' mo@e s'ratiti, a sanse @a ra@vi6an6e obol6en6a poput srcanog obol6en6a ili di6abetesa 'ad ostarite povecati. I 'a'o ova6 te'st navodi, i@lagan6e @agad6en6u u mladosti na vas mo@e delovati to'om citavog @ivota. ,ini se da 6e sve vise do'a@a,da bi politicari dugorocne prednosti e'olos'ih predloga I i to ne samo onih ostvarivih u s'ori6o6 buducnosti morali pa@l6ivi6e da ra@motre. Gopovic And6ela ((+()1