Energy Boom to Doom: The Impact of Fracking on Deaths of Despair (thesis)

Abstract

Since 1999, 'deaths of despair' -- deaths from drug overdoses, alcoholic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, and suicide -- have driven increases in mortality for middle-age white Americans (Case and Deaton 2017). While the shale oil and gas boom in the early 2000s generally created positive short-term employment and income effects at the local level in shale communities, the boom has been associated with increased rates of crime, binge drinking, and exposure to pollutants. To the best of my knowledge, no study has investigated the relationship between fracking and deaths of despair. Using the fracking boom as a shock to local labor markets, I employ a difference-in-difference-in-differences model that compares changes in deaths of despair mortality in shale counties before and after the boom to the changes experienced by non-shale counties. I find that oil and gas producing shale counties in the post-2011 boom period experienced significantly higher deaths of despair mortality rates relative to the pre-2011 boom period, compared to those experienced by non-producing, non-shale counties. These findings support the traditional boomtown model and suggests that individuals, especially males between the ages of 25 and 54, in fracking communities are affected by non-pollution related mortality, which necessitates further research and policy attention.