Economy
Why Residents of 'Black ZIP Codes' Can't Breathe
Your location determines your risk of asthma more than any other factor, new research finds
Asthma is a lifelong affliction—crippling and expensive to manage. But it doesn’t affect everyone the same. The disease is much more prevalent among black and Puerto Rican children.
A new working paper, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, demonstrates that it’s the characteristics of places, not people, that are largely responsible for that disparity. So while a slew of related factors—income and education, birthweight, disparate access to health care—play a role in the prevalence of asthma, they may often be a reflection of where a person lives.