[COLUMBUS] A recently published study reveals a connection between cumulative lead exposure and reduced academic achievement. Co-author Alex Hollingsworth, Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State, and team studied how lead exposure impacts learning in elementary school using a natural experiment where two major racing organizations, NASCAR and ARCA, switched from leaded to unleaded fuel in 2007.
Despite being banned for on-road use, leaded gasoline is still widely used in the United States. Exemptions allow for leaded fuel to be used for both aviation and automotive racing. According to Hollingsworth, these continued exemptions are a major threat to public health as they expose broad segments of the population to unsafe levels of lead. More than 500,000 gallons of leaded aviation fuel are combusted each day in the United States and an unknown amount of racing fuel is combusted across the country.
“A single three-hour automotive race using leaded fuel can emit more lead than the total annual emissions of 70 percent of US lead-emitting industrial facilities tracked, and as much lad as the average airport in an entire year,” explained Hollingsworth. “We provide robust evidence that leaded gasoline use decreases test scores for all students, even for older children.”
When NASCAR and ARCA switched from leaded to unleaded fuel, the team identified a test score improvement at a nearby elementary schools that did not take place in schools farther away from the tracks. This allowed them to identify the damage of lead exposure, finding that the average student living near a racetrack when leaded fuel was in use lost $5,200 of future income in present-value terms. This effect is similar to increasing a class size by 50% or decreasing school spending by $750 per pupil.
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Authors:
- Alex Hollingsworth, Associate Professor, Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Ohio State
- Ivan Rudik, Associate Professor, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
- Nicholas J. Sanders, Associate Professor, Brooks School of Public Policy & Department of Economics, Cornell University
- Jiafang Mike Huang, PhD Student, Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Citation: Alex Hollingsworth & Jiafang Mike Huang & Ivan Rudik & Nicholas J. Sanders, 2025. "A Thousand Cuts: Cumulative Lead Exposure Reduces Academic Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 60(3), pages 950-976.