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Awareness and the Demand for Environmental Quality: Drinking Water in Urban India

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  • Jyotsna Jalan
  • E. Somanathan
  • Saraswata Choudhuri

Abstract

The demand for environmental quality clean air, potable water, sanitation, safe food is presumed to be low in developing countries due to poverty. However, individuals in developing countries often lack the necessary information to make good decisions about environmental hazards in their day-to-day lives. Even if households can afford to take private measures to improve environmental quality, very often they choose not to do so, because they are not aware of the health risks associated with inferior environmental quality. A key policy question is whether increasing awareness about the adverse health effects of environmental pollution will increase demand for a cleaner environment? In this paper, a household survey from urban India is used to estimate the effects of awareness and wealth on household decisions to purify home water. Average costs of different home purification methods are used to get estimates on willingness to pay for better drinking water quality in Delhi. It is found that measures of awareness such as schooling and exposure to mass media have statistically significant effects on adoption of different home purification methods and therefore, on willingness to pay. The interesting result is that these effects are similar in magnitude to wealth effects - this suggests that lack of awareness may be as important as poverty in influencing demand for clean water.

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  • Jyotsna Jalan & E. Somanathan & Saraswata Choudhuri, "undated". "Awareness and the Demand for Environmental Quality: Drinking Water in Urban India," Working papers 32, The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:snd:wpaper:32
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jalan, Jyotsna & Somanathan, E., 2008. "The importance of being informed: Experimental evidence on demand for environmental quality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 14-28, August.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. Armand Totouom & Sostaine Romuald Fouéka Tagne & Jonas Ngouhouo Poufoun, 2018. "Determinants of the avoidance behaviour of householdsto cope with unsafe drinking water: case study of Doualaand Yaoundé in Cameroon," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 99(2), pages 121-148.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Mahanta, Ratul & Chowdhury, Jayashree & Nath, Hiranya K., 2016. "Health costs of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Assam, India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 30-42.
    10. Jyotsna Jalan & E.Somanathan, 2004. "Being informed matters: Experimental evidence on the demand for environmental quality," Discussion Papers 04-08, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    11. 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.
    12. Gauri Khanna, 2008. "The Impact on Child Health from Access to Water and Sanitation and Other Socioeconomic Factors," IHEID Working Papers 02-2008, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised Jan 2008.
    13. Mukherjee, Sacchidananda & Chakraborty, Debashis, 2009. "Is there any relationship between Environmental Quality Index, Human Development Index and Economic Growth? Evidences from Indian States," MPRA Paper 17207, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Devi, P. Indira, 2009. "Pesticide Application and Occupational Health Risks Among Farm Workers in Kerala-An Analysis Using Dose Response Function," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 64(4), pages 1-16.
    15. 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.
    16. Chaikumbung, Mayula & Doucouliagos, Hristos & Scarborough, Helen, 2019. "Institutions, Culture, and Wetland Values," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 195-204.
    17. 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.
    18. M. Genius & E. Hatzaki & E. Kouromichelaki & G. Kouvakis & S. Nikiforaki & K. Tsagarakis, 2008. "Evaluating Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Potable Water Quality and Quantity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1825-1834, December.
    19. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental awareness; drinking water quality; health risks; willingness to pay.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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