Workshop on Human Potential (Sandra Black, UT-Austin)

Sandra Black, Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs and Professor, University of Texas at Austin will present, "This is Only a Test? Long-Run Impacts of Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout."

This workshop session is co-sponsored with the Demography Workshop and will take place during the Demography Workshop's regular time: Thursday, 12-1:20pm.

Abstract: Research increasingly shows that differences in endowments at birth need not be genetic but instead are influenced by environmental factors while the fetus is in the womb.  In addition, these differences may persist well beyond childhood.  In this paper, we study one such environmental factor – exposure to radiation—that affects individuals across the socio-economic spectrum.  We use variation in radioactive exposure throughout Norway in the 1950s and early 60s, resulting from the abundance of nuclear weapon testing during that time period, to examine the effect of nuclear exposure in utero on outcomes such as IQ scores, education, earnings, and adult height. At this time, there was very little awareness in Norway about nuclear testing so our estimates are likely to be unaffected by avoidance behavior or stress effects. We find that exposure to nuclear radiation, even in low doses, leads to a decline in IQ scores of men aged 18. Moreover, radiation exposure leads to declines in education attainment, high school completion, and wages among men and women. These results are robust to the choice of specification and the inclusion of sibling fixed effects.

Bio: Sandra Black currently holds the Rapoport Chair in Economics at the University of Texas at Austin.  She received her B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1997.  Prior to her position at UT Austin, she was a Professor of Economics at UCLA and worked as a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  Her primary research focus is on the effect of family background and childhood experiences on the long-run outcomes of children.  She has published in most of the major general interest journals and all of the major journals in the fields of labor and education.  Black currently serves as the Editor of the Journal of Human Resources and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and IZA.

This event is 
co-sponsored with the Demography Workshop.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential is one of the core intellectual activities of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. It is an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students, post docs, and faculty whose work concerns behavior, health, and well-being across the lifespan and the ways in which technology and public policy shape human potential and achievement. The Workshop/Working group has active members in the areas of the social, behavioral, health, and policy sciences.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.