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
Baquie,Sandra, Behrer,Arnold Patrick, Du,Xinming, Fuchs Tarlovsky,Alan, Nozaki,Natsuko Kiso
- DOI
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10852
- Disclosure Date
- 2024/07/16
- Disclosure Status
- Disclosed
- Doc Name
- Know Thy Foe : Information Provision and Air Pollution in Tbilisi
- Originating Unit
- Off of Sr VP Dev Econ/Chief Econ (DECVP)
- Pages
- 40
- Product Line
- Advisory Services & Analytics
- Published in
- United States of America
- Rel Proj ID
- GE-Program For Poverty Reduction In Georgia -- P178693
- Series Name
- Policy Research working paper; PROSPERITY;
- TF No/Name
- TF0B7986-Georgia evidence-based policies and programs for poverty and equity
- Unit Owning
- EFI-ECA-POV-Poverty and Equity (EECPV),DEC-Sustainability & Infrastruct (DECSI),EFI-MNA-POV-Poverty and Equity (EMNPV)
- Version Type
- Final
- Volume No
- 1
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
