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Environment
Sacrificing consumption to mitigate catastrophic risks
Many scientists agree that the probability of a rare environmental disaster increases as the stock of greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. This column asks how much consumption current generations should be willing to sacrifice to reduce the risk of such a future catastrophe. If there were a way of immediately eliminating the risk of all future catastrophes, society should be willing to sacrifice 16% of its consumption in perpetuity to achieve this. A sacrifice of 5.8% of annual consumption could bring about a 30% reduction in emissions, in line with the reductions contemplated in agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.
Indian Climate Early Warning System
This project involves the development of a spatially-disaggregated Indian Climate Early Warning System. For any given current weather realisation, the Early Warning System will produce maps that display locations of risks across India in various economic sectors.
Demand for environmental quality information and household response to information: Evidence from Bihar
Groundwater contaminated with arsenic is a serious public health threat in rural India. This column presents results from a field experiment conducted in Bihar to assess the demand for fee-based testing of wells for arsenic, and to study the behavioural responses of households to well-specific arsenic information.
Happy Seeder: A solution to agricultural fires in north India
It is believed that much of the pollution in Delhi in November every year originates in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana where farmers burn their fields to dispose of crop residue. This column discusses a simple, practical and cost-effective solution to deal with the problem.
Solar micro-grids in India: A reality check
Much of India’s strategy to reduce the use of fossil fuels relies on a transition to solar energy. Based on a survey of potential solar micro-grid customers in Bihar, this column highlights the challenges associated with solar electricity becoming a sustainable and scalable solution, and the need for a new approach.
The hidden productivity benefits of energy-saving technology: Evidence from LEDs in Indian factories
Energy-efficient technologies are an increasingly relevant policy priority, given growing consensus on the need to tackle climate change. This column examines the productivity benefits of adopting one such technology – LED lighting – for manufacturing firms in India. It finds that improved productivity resulting from LED lighting’s lower heat emissions makes adopting such technology far less costly than previous anticipated, particularly for labour-intensive firms in hot climates.
How much will people pay for clean air? Evidence from China
Policymakers in emerging economies such as India and China are ramping up efforts to confront pollution. A new study of the air purifiers market in China finds that people are willing to pay a lot to get rid of pollution, but the amount varies widely depending on a person’s income. This sort of metric can enable policymakers to assign values to their policies and guide their decisions.
Improved cooking stoves in India: Evaluating long-run impacts
Improved cooking stoves are increasingly seen as an important technology to address indoor air pollution. While laboratory experiments have shown that they could have big effects on smoke exposure and emissions, this column finds limited long-run health and environmental impacts of an improved cooking stove programme in Odisha. This indicates the importance of testing interventions in real-world conditions taking into account willingness to pay, usage, and changes over time.
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