Middle-income countries host the majority of the world’s population exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, and the majority of this population lives in urban environments. This study investigates the impact of information provision on household behavior in connection with indoor and outdoor air pollution in a middle-income country’s major urban center — Tbilisi, Georgia. The study implemented a randomized controlled trial to assess whether providing households with different levels of pollution information changes their knowledge of air pollution and avoidance behavior with respect to air pollution, and improves their health outcomes. The study evaluates three treatments: a pamphlet with general information on pollution, the pamphlet combined with daily text messages about local outdoor pollution, and the pamphlet with messages about both indoor and outdoor pollution levels, supplemented with an indoor air pollution monitor. The findings show that while the pamphlet alone did not lead to behavioral change, daily text messages significantly enhanced knowledge about pollution, led to increased avoidance behaviors, and improved health outcomes. The study also examined infiltration rates throughout the city and document three facts: indoor air pollution levels are generally higher than outdoor ones, infiltration rates are high on average, and their variation is driven primarily by behaviors.
Authors
Baquié, Sandra, Behrer, A. Patrick, Du, Xinming, Fuchs, Alan, Nozaki, Natsuko K.
- Citation
- “ Baquié, Sandra ; Behrer, A. Patrick ; Du, Xinming ; Fuchs, Alan ; Nozaki, Natsuko K. . 2024 . Know Thy Foe: Information Provision and Air Pollution in Tbilisi . Policy Research Working Paper; 10852 . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41903 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Policy Research Working Papers
- DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10852
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34365335
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34365335
- Pages
- 40
- Published in
- United States of America
- Region country
- Georgia
- RelationisPartofseries
- Policy Research Working Paper; 10852
- Report
- WPS10852
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
- UNIT
- EFI-ECA-POV-Poverty and Equity (EECPV)
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41903
- date disclosure
- 2024-07-18
- region administrative
- Europe and Central Asia
- theme
- Inclusive Growth,Mitigation,Gender,Human Development and Gender,Economic Policy,Economic Growth and Planning,Environment and Natural Resource Management,Disease Control,Pandemic Response,Labor Market Policy and Programs,Climate change,Adaptation,Macroeconomic & Structural Policy Modelling,Labor Market Institutions,Structural Transformation and Economic Diversification
Files
Table of Contents
- Sandra Baquié A. Patrick Behrer 1
- Xinming Du Alan Fuchs 1
- Natsuko K. Nozaki 1
- Know Thy Foe Information Provision and Air Pollution in Tbilisi 3
- 1 Introduction 4
- 2 Context and Design 7
- 2.1 Air pollution in Tbilisi 7
- 2.2 Experimental design 8
- 2.3 Balance test 10
- 3 Empirical strategy 11
- 3.1 Information treatment 11
- 3.2 Measuring infiltration 12
- 4 Results 13
- 4.1 Effectiveness of informational treatments 13
- 4.2 Infiltration Rates 16
- 5 Conclusion 18
- 6 Figures 20
- 7 Tables 22
- References 25
- Table of Contents 27
- Appendix 1 Census block household selection process 27
- Appendix 2 Survey implementation details 27
- Appendix 3 Creation of outcome indices 28
- Appendix 4 PurpleAir data cleaning 30
- Appendix 5 Additional tables 30
- Appendix 6 Additional figures 35
- Appendix 7 Air pollution informational leaflet 40
