Perception of Health Risk and Averting Behavior: An Analysis of Household Water Consumption in Southwest Sri Lanka

Celine Nauges and Caroline van den Berg

No 09-139, TSE Working Papers from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Abstract: Using household data from surveys made in Sri Lanka, we provide original results regarding i) factors driving the perception of risk related to water consumption and ii) the role of perceived risk on household’s decision to treat water before drinking it. First, we find evidence that water aesthetic attributes (taste, smell, and color), household’s education and information about hygiene practices drive household’s assessment of safety risk. Second, we show that a higher perceived risk increases the probability that households boil or filter water before drinking it.

Keywords: water consumption; risk perception; averting behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tse:wpaper:22256

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