Agricultural support and contaminated spillovers: The effects of agricultural water pollution on adult health in China

Abstract Using rich longitudinal data combined with administrative water quality data from China, we examine the causal impact of agricultural water pollution on adult health outcomes. To obtain exogenous variation in agricultural water pollution, we use a quasi‐experimental design and exploit a series of agricultural support policies enacted in China in the mid‐2000s. We find that agricultural water pollution worsens health outcomes through increased incidence of morbidity and lower body mass index. We additionally find these adverse health effects largely operate through contaminated drinking water and are thus primarily born by those without access to water treated at a water plant.