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Seeing, believing, and behaving: Heterogeneous effects of an information intervention on household water treatment

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  • Brown, Joe
  • Hamoudi, Amar
  • Jeuland, Marc
  • Turrini, Gina

Abstract

Providing information about environmental health risks only sometimes induces protective action. This raises questions about whether and how risk information is understood and acted upon, and how responses vary across contexts. To characterize such variation, we stratified a randomized experiment related to household water quality across two periurban areas in Cambodia. When we showed specific evidence of water contamination to lower-SES households who were initially more optimistic about water safety, they altered their beliefs about health risk and increased their demand for a treatment product. However, demand for the treatment product among higher and initially more pessimistic SES households did not change significantly. These findings highlight the importance of better understanding heterogeneity in the specific drivers of responses to health risk information.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, Joe & Hamoudi, Amar & Jeuland, Marc & Turrini, Gina, 2017. "Seeing, believing, and behaving: Heterogeneous effects of an information intervention on household water treatment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 141-159.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:86:y:2017:i:c:p:141-159
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2016.08.005
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    2. Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda & Arimura, Toshi H. & Katayama, Hajime & Sakudo, Mari & Yokoo, Hide-Fumi, 2021. "Subjective probabilistic expectations, household air pollution, and health: Evidence from cooking fuel use patterns in West Bengal, India," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Christopher Cotton & Ardyn Nordstrom & Jordan Nanowski & Eric Richert, 2020. "Community Campaigns to Improve Attitudes towards Girls' Education Can Increase Math Scores and Enrollment," Working Paper 1426, Economics Department, Queen's University.
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    5. Yokoo, Hide-Fumi & Arimura, Toshi H. & Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda & Katayama, Hajime, 2023. "Subjective risk belief function in the field: Evidence from cooking fuel choices and health in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Jack, B. Kelsey, 2017. "Environmental economics in developing countries: An introduction to the special issue," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-7.
    7. Sarah Wairimu Kariuki & Vivian Hoffmann, 2022. "Can information drive demand for safer food? Impact of brand‐specific recommendations and test results on product choice," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(3), pages 454-467, May.
    8. Hasan, Syed M. & Akram, Agha Ali & Jeuland, Marc, 2021. "Awareness of coping costs and willingness to pay for urban drinking water service: Evidence from Lahore, Pakistan," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Alexandra K. Shannon & Faraz Usmani & Subhrendu K. Pattanayak & Marc Jeuland, 2019. "The Price of Purity: Willingness to Pay for Air and Water Purification Technologies in Rajasthan, India," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(4), pages 1073-1100, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    C93; D10; I12; I15; O13; Q53; Health risk; Health-seeking behavior; Water-borne disease; Environmental health; Risk information; Randomized intervention; Cambodia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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