Toxic Metal Injustice? Socioeconomic status at birth and exposure to airborne pollution
结合瑞典新生儿行政数据与高分辨率污染数据，发现高社会经济地位儿童因居住在城市而更多暴露于空气有毒金属，表明瑞典不存在环境不公。
We combine administrative data on socioeconomic status (SES) with high-resolution data on residential locations, local pollution levels, industrial facilities, as well as land cover information to investigate whether exposure to airborne toxic metals (arsenic, lead, and mercury) is unequally distributed within the population of newborn children in Sweden. We find that the spatial distribution of SES among newborns weakly correlates with the distribution of toxic metals at the national level and in the largest cities, indicating negligible sorting in this dimension. If anything, high SES children are disproportionately more exposed, residing in urban areas with higher levels of traffic and industrial activities. This leads us to conclude that environmental injustice regarding airborne arsenic, lead, and mercury exposure is not a major concern in Sweden.