IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i10p1817-d233377.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of the Impacts of a Phone Warning and Advising System for Individuals Vulnerable to Smog. Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Study in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Kaddour Mehiriz

    (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Public Administration and Development Economics, P.O. Box: 200592, Zone 70, Al Tarfa Street Al-Daayen, Doha, Qatar)

  • Pierre Gosselin

    (Institut National de la Santé Publique and Ouranos, 945 Avenue Wolfe, Québec, QC G1V 5B3, Canada)

Abstract

Smog warning systems are components of adaptation strategies that are adopted by governments around the world to protect their citizens from extreme episodes of air pollution. As part of a growing research stream on the effectiveness of these systems, this article presents the results of a study on the impacts of an automated phone warning and advising system for individuals vulnerable to air pollution. A sample of 1328 individuals were recruited and randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. The treatment group received smog warning while the control group did not. Data were collected via three phone surveys, two before and one after issuing the smog warning. The comparison between treatment and control groups indicates that exposure to a smog warning improved information on the occurrence of smog episodes ( n = 484, OR = 5.58, p = 0.00), and knowledge on protective behaviors. Furthermore, members of treatment group were more likely to avoid exposure to smog episodes by spending more time inside with the windows closed than usual ( n = 474, OR = 2.03, p = 0.00). Members of treatment group who take medication in the form of aerosol pumps also kept these devices on themselves more frequently than those of control group ( n = 109, OR = 2.15, p = 0.03). The system however had no discernible effects on the awareness of air pollution risks, reduction of health symptoms related to smog and the use of health system services. The absence of health benefits could be related to the lower actual exposure to air pollution of such vulnerable groups during winter.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaddour Mehiriz & Pierre Gosselin, 2019. "Evaluation of the Impacts of a Phone Warning and Advising System for Individuals Vulnerable to Smog. Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Study in Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:10:p:1817-:d:233377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1817/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1817/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaddour Mehiriz & Pierre Gosselin & Isabelle Tardif & Marc-André Lemieux, 2018. "The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Graff Zivin, Joshua & Neidell, Matthew, 2009. "Days of haze: Environmental information disclosure and intertemporal avoidance behavior," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 119-128, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Annabelle Workman & Penelope J. Jones & Amanda J. Wheeler & Sharon L. Campbell & Grant J. Williamson & Chris Lucani & David M.J.S. Bowman & Nick Cooling & Fay H. Johnston, 2021. "Environmental Hazards and Behavior Change: User Perspectives on the Usability and Effectiveness of the AirRater Smartphone App," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-19, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janet Currie & Joshua Graff Zivin & Katherine Meckel & Matthew Neidell & Wolfram Schlenker, 2013. "Something in the water: contaminated drinking water and infant health," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 791-810, August.
    2. Wang, Fei & Yuan, Yu & Lu, Liangdong, 2021. "Dynamical prediction model of consumers’ purchase intentions regarding anti-smog products during smog risk: Taking the information flow perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 563(C).
    3. Koichiro Ito & Shuang Zhang, 2020. "Willingness to Pay for Clean Air: Evidence from Air Purifier Markets in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(5), pages 1627-1672.
    4. Luis Sarmiento, 2020. "I Am Innocent: Hourly Variations in Air Pollution and Crime Behavior," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1879, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Mariano J. Rabassa & Mariana Conte Grand & Christian M. García-Witulski, 2021. "Heat warnings and avoidance behavior: evidence from a bike-sharing system," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(1), pages 1-28, January.
    6. Zahran, Sammy & Iverson, Terrence & McElmurry, Shawn P. & Weiler, Stephan & Levitt, Ryan, 2019. "Hidden Costs of Blight and Arson in Detroit: Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Devil's Night," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 266-277.
    7. Liu, Zhaoyang & Hanley, Nick & Campbell, Danny, 2020. "Linking urban air pollution with residents’ willingness to pay for greenspace: A choice experiment study in Beijing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. Guerrero Santiago, 2012. "Who is Selling You Chiquilitros of Gasoline? Evidence From a Public Disclosure Policy," Working Papers 2012-04, Banco de México.
    9. Tu, Meng & Zhang, Bing & Xu, Jianhua & Lu, Fangwen, 2020. "Mass media, information and demand for environmental quality: Evidence from the “Under the Dome”," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. Deschenes, Olivier, 2014. "Temperature, human health, and adaptation: A review of the empirical literature," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 606-619.
    11. Lagravinese, R. & Moscone, F. & Tosetti, E. & Lee, H., 2014. "The impact of air pollution on hospital admissions: Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 278-285.
    12. Shrader, Jeffrey, 2014. "Forecasts and Adaptation," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170626, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Hannibal, Bryce & Portney, Kent, 2020. "The impact of water scarcity on support for hydraulic fracturing regulation: A water-energy nexus study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Holladay, J. Scott & Price, Michael K. & Wanamaker, Marianne, 2015. "The perverse impact of calling for energy conservation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-18.
    15. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2017. "Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 2958-2989, October.
    16. Gellman, Jacob & Walls, Margaret & Wibbenmeyer, Matthew, 2022. "Wildfire, smoke, and outdoor recreation in the western United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    17. Sun, Cong & Kahn, Matthew E. & Zheng, Siqi, 2017. "Self-protection investment exacerbates air pollution exposure inequality in urban China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 468-474.
    18. Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Locke, Stephen L. & Singh, Amarjeet, 2017. "Information strategies for energy conservation: A field experiment in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 215-227.
    19. Luechinger, Simon, 2014. "Air pollution and infant mortality: A natural experiment from power plant desulfurization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 219-231.
    20. Alison L. Sexton Ward & Timothy K. M. Beatty, 2016. "Who Responds to Air Quality Alerts?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(2), pages 487-511, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:10:p:1817-:d:233377. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.