Awareness and the demand for environmental quality: Drinking water in urban India

Jyotsna Jalan, E. Somanathan and Saraswata Chaudhuri

Discussion Papers from Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi

Abstract: The demand for environmental quality is often presumed to be low in developingcountries due to poverty. Less attention has been paid to the possibility that lack of awareness about the 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 awareness and wealth on home water purification. Average costs of different home purification methods are used to derive get estimates of lower bounds on willingness to pay for better drinking water water quality in Delhi. We find 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. These effects are similar in magnitude to the wealth effects.

Keywords: Environmental awareness; drinking water quality; health risks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2003-09
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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