Calendrier du 15 décembre 2023
Casual Friday Development Seminar - Brown Bag Seminar
Du 15/12/2023 de 13:00 à 14:00
R1-09
LEPAULT Claire (PSE)
Is Urban Wastewater Treatment Effective in India? Evidence from Water Quality and Infant Mortality
In developing countries, untreated sewage exposes people to alarming water pollution levels, yet there is limited knowledge about the effectiveness of wastewater treatment investments. I evaluate the effect of wastewater treatment on water quality and downstream infant mortality in India, exploiting the staggered introduction of urban sewage treatment plants over the period 2010-2020. I match granular data on sewage treatment plants, river water quality, as well as child births and deaths using the hydrological network. I show that after starting wastewater treatment, levels of fecal coliforms – a commonly used measure of fecal contamination in water –decreased by 50%. Mortality under the age of six months declined by 20% downstream of the plants, with larger effects for boys and children from the bottom wealth quintiles. The results are consistent across several estimators robust to heterogeneous treatment effects, are not driven by selective migration, and are only found downstream of the plants, which rules out confounding effects from other local policies. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that starting wastewater treatment earlier – from 2010 – in urban areas later selected into treatment – after 2020 – would have prevented over 40,000 child deaths in downstream sub-basins.
PSE Internal Seminar
Du 15/12/2023 de 12:00 à 13:00
TZINTZUN Iván (PSE)
ZUCMAN Gabriel(PSE)
EU Regulations to Fight Nutrient Surpluses: the Case of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones
Over the last 10 years, governments have launched major initiatives to reduce international tax evasion. These efforts include the creation of a new form of international cooperation – an automatic, multilateral exchange of bank information in force since 2017 – and an international agreement on a global minimum tax for multinational corporations, endorsed by more than 140 countries and territories in 2021. Yet despite the importance of these developments, little is known about the effects of these new policies. Is global tax evasion falling or rising? Are new issues emerging, and if so, what are they? This report addresses these issues thanks to an unprecedented international research collaboration and major data improvements. Prepared by the staff of the EU Tax Observatory – a research laboratory created in 2021 with unique expertise on international tax issues – this report summarizes work conducted by more than 100 researchers all over the world, often in partnership with tax administrations................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Nutrient balance indicators can act as a signal for the potential environmental impact of agriculture on water and air. This article estimates the impact of the designation of nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ) in the European Union (EU), the most comprehensive regulation for curbing water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources in the EU mandated by the Nitrates Directive. Using the OECD agri-environmental indicators database on nutrient balances covering 47 countries and a set of policy variables constructed from EU official documents, we leverage the timing of NVZ designation across EU countries to identify sharp sustained reductions of 12%–18% in Nitrogen pollution, and 20%-25% in Phosphorus. The impacts of the NVZ policy are mainly explained by reductions in fertilizer use. The results are robust to numerous robustness checks. They suggest a successful policy tool for tackling Nutrient surpluses.