Publication
Troesken, W., Tynan, N., & Yang, Y. (2021). What are the health benefits of a constant water supply? Evidence from London, 1860–1910. Explorations in Economic History, 81, 101402.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2021.101402
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Abstract: What are the benefits of moving from intermittent water delivery (which limits user access to less than 24 hours per day) to constant service? To address this question, we study the transition from intermittent to constant water supply in London. Between 1871 and 1910, the proportion of London households with access to a constant water supply (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) rose from less than 20 to 100 percent. Idiosyncratic delays in the negotiation process between companies and property owners generated random variation in the timing of the transition across London districts. Exploiting this variation, we find that a one percentage point increase in a local population with access to constant service decreased deaths from waterborne diseases by as much as 0.4 percent and explains approximately a fifth of the late nineteenth century decline in waterborne disease mortality. Results are robust to the inclusion of controls for population density, concerns regarding the reporting of cause-of-death, district-specific time trends, district demographics and spatial autocorrelation.​​
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Work in Progress
Assessing Health Impact of Long-term Afforestation in China
with Ruixue Li (Columbia University)
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Localized Incentives for Charitable Giving to Environmental Public Goods: A Randomized Experiment​
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Electricity Price Shocks and Demand in Electric Vehicles: Evidence from Switzerland
with Armin Schmutzler (University of Zurich) and Benjamin Riva (University of Zurich)
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Greenwashing in Denmark: Does Information Transparency Motivate Real Sustainable Behaviors in Manufacturing Firms?
with Daniela Scur (Cornell University) and Morten Bennedsen (University of Copenhagen)
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​Corporate Waste Governance and Responses to Environmental Regulations
with Hans B. Christensen (University of Chicago), Kasper Regenburg (Copenhagen Business School) and Morten Bennedsen (University of Copenhagen)​
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