New Research Finds a Link Between Fires, Children's Health and Gross Domestic Product
Setting fires to clear land for planting crops, or crop burning, is a common practice in many places around India. And as you can imagine, this kind of burning emits terrible air pollution.
My guest today, Prachi Singh, has uncovered a link between that kind of air pollution and the height of children who are born to mothers who were impacted by that air pollution while pregnant.
Prachi Singh is an associate fellow at the Brookings Institution, India Center and a PhD candidate at Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. Her research analyzed height and weight ratios of children who were exposed, in utero, to air pollution events like crop burning and forest fires. She finds a significant correlation between low weight and low height ratios and exposure to this pollution.
But her research goes further than that. She demonstrates how low height and weight ratios stemming from this exposure impacts India's entire economy, includi…
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