Radioactive decay, health and social capital: Lessons from the Chernobyl experiment *

We exploit the random variation in health patterns across European regions that resulted from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to provide new quasi-experimental evidence on the causal effect of health patterns on social capital. Our instrumental variable estimations show that the radioactive fallout is positively associated with an increase in hospital dis-charges after treatment for neoplasms almost thirty years later, the magnitude of the effect being in line with other studies investigating the health effects of low-dose radiation ex-posure. An increased incidence of neoplasms in the local area of residence induced by the radioactive fallout, and the resulting perception of higher risks of contracting potentially deadly diseases among the healthy population, generates a sizeable impoverishment of so-cial capital and a reduction in social interactions, altruism and happiness. Our findings suggest that health care and prevention policies may have additional returns in terms of a significant increase in communities' social capital. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study utilizes the random variation in health patterns across European regions caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to examine the causal effect of health patterns on social capital. The results show that radioactive fallout is positively associated with an increase in hospital discharges after neoplasm treatment almost thirty years later, consistent with previous studies on the health effects of low-dose radiation exposure. The increased incidence of neoplasms and the resulting perception of higher risks of contracting potentially deadly diseases among the healthy population lead to a significant impoverishment of social capital and a reduction in social interactions, altruism, and happiness. These findings suggest that healthcare and prevention policies may have additional benefits in terms of increasing social capital in communities.