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Awareness and the demand for environmental quality: survey evidence on drinking water in urban India

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  • JALAN, JYOTSNA
  • SOMANATHAN, E.
  • CHAUDHURI, SARASWATA

Abstract

The demand for environmental quality is often presumed to be low in developing countries due to poverty. Less attention has been paid to the possibility that lack of awareness about adverse health effects of environmental pollution could also keep the demand low. We use a household survey from urban India to estimate the effects of schooling, exposure to mass media, and other measures of awareness on home water purification. We find that these measures of awareness have statistically significant effects on home purification and, therefore, on willingness to pay. These effects are similar in magnitude to the wealth effects. Average costs of different home purification methods are used to generate partial estimates of willingness to pay for better drinking water quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jalan, Jyotsna & Somanathan, E. & Chaudhuri, Saraswata, 2009. "Awareness and the demand for environmental quality: survey evidence on drinking water in urban India," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(6), pages 665-692, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:14:y:2009:i:06:p:665-692_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Totoum, Armand & Fouéka Tagne, Sostaine Romuald & Ngouhouo Poufoun, Jonas, 2018. "Determinants of the avoidance behaviour of households to cope with unsafe drinking water: case study of Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 99(2), April.
    2. Service Opare, 2017. "Practising the past in the present: using Ghanaian indigenous methods for water quality determination in the contemporary era," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 2217-2236, December.
    3. Dendup, Ngawang & Arimura, Toshi H., 2019. "Information leverage: The adoption of clean cooking fuel in Bhutan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 181-195.
    4. Chaikumbung, Mayula & Doucouliagos, Hristos & Scarborough, Helen, 2019. "Institutions, Culture, and Wetland Values," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 195-204.
    5. E. Somanathan, 2010. "Effects of Information on Environmental Quality in Developing Countries," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 275-292, Summer.
    6. Satarupa Chakravarty & Sukanya Das & Saudamini Das, 2021. "Unreliable Public Water Supply and Coping Mechanisms of Low-Income Households in Delhi," IEG Working Papers 448, Institute of Economic Growth.
    7. Li, Fan & Zhou, Tao, 2020. "Effects of objective and subjective environmental pollution on well-being in urban China: A structural equation model approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    8. Rajapakshe, Sisira & Termansen, Mette & Paavola, Jouni, 2022. "Valuing Water Service Improvements through Revealed Preference: Averting Behaviour Method," MPRA Paper 115623, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Xiaoyu Li & Lan Xu, 2021. "Human development associated with environmental quality in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, February.
    10. Jessoe, Katrina, 2013. "Improved source, improved quality? Demand for drinking water quality in rural India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 460-475.
    11. Yusep Suparman & Henk Folmer & Johan H.L. Oud, 2016. "The willingness to pay for in-house piped water in urban and rural Indonesia," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 407-426, June.
    12. Samrat B. Kunwar & Alok K. Bohara, 2019. "Water Quality Avoidance Behavior: Bridging the Gap between Perception and Reality," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(02), pages 1-33, November.
    13. Totouom Fotue Luc Armand & Sostaine Romuald Foueka Tagne & Jonas Ngouhouo Poufoun, 2018. "Demand For Improved Water Quality: An Analysis of Averting Actions by Cameroonian Households," Working Papers 345, African Economic Research Consortium, Research Department.
    14. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Water Quality," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(1), pages 44-62, Winter.

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