Download This PaperIs Fish Brain Food or Brain Poison? Sea Surface Temperature, Methyl-mercury and Child Cognitive Development
77 Pages Posted: 13 Apr 2020 Last revised: 27 Feb 2026
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Is Fish Brain Food or Brain Poison? Sea Surface Temperature, Methyl-Mercury and Child Cognitive Development
Date Written: April 2020
Abstract
We exploit variation in the composition of local fish catches around the time of birth using administrative and census data on adult cognitive test scores, schooling attainment, and occupation among coastal populations in Colombia to estimate the causal effects of early-life consumption of methylmercury (MeHg) and DHA, elements contained in fish, on cognitive development. Using an IV strategy based on an equilibrium model of fish supply that exploits time-series variation in oceanic SST anomalies on both coasts of Colombia from 1950 to 2014 as instruments, we find that net of cohort and municipality fixed effects increases in high-(low-)MeHg fish catches around a cohort’s birth negatively (positively) affect the cohort’s verbal and math test scores upon exiting high school and their likelihood of continuing their schooling, while increasing (decreasing) the likelihood the cohort is disproportionally represented in manual-labor occupations.
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Yale University - Cowles Foundation
Box 208281
New Haven, CT 06520-8281
United States
Rafael J. Santos
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia - Department of Economics ( email )
Carrera 1a No. 18A-10
Santafe de Bogota, AA4976
Colombia