Chernobyl's Subclinical Legacy: Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout and School Outcomes in Sweden
[link to www.nber.org]

In a comprehensive data set of 562,637 Swedes born 1983-1988, we find that the cohort in utero during the Chernobyl accident had worse school outcomes than adjacent birth cohorts, and this deterioration was largest for those exposed approximately 8-25 weeks post conception. Moreover, we find larger damage among students born in regions that received more fallout: students from the eight most affected municipalities were 3.6 percentage points less likely to qualify to high school as a result of the fallout.

Our findings suggest that fetal exposure to ionizing radiation damages cognitive ability at radiation levels previously considered safe.