US Clean Air Act associated with increased average lifetime earnings of $21,400

Early exposure to airborne lead has long-term outcomes on employment, disability and lifetime earnings, and the passage of the US Clean Air Act in 1970 has had an estimated US $4.23 trillion in benefits through its impact on airborne lead levels and the resulting increase in labor market outcomes, according to a new study published November 15 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Spencer Banzhaf of North Carolina State University and Melissa Ruby Banzhaf of the US Census Bureau.