FASS Brown Bag Seminar by Dr Martin Mattsson | Why Don’t Households in Severely Polluted Cities Adopt and Use Air Purifiers?
![[Zoom] Dr Martin Mattsson 3 Oct 2024 [Zoom] Dr Martin Mattsson 3 Oct 2024](https://fass.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Zoom-Dr-Martin-Mattsson-3-Oct-2024.png)
Dear all,
You are cordially invited to the third session of the FASS Brown Bag Seminar Series in Semester 1 of AY24/25. Dr Martin Mattson (NUS Economics) will be presenting on “Why Don't Households in Severely Polluted Cities Adopt and Use Air Purifiers?”.
Date: 3 Oct, 12pm – 1pm
Register: Zoom
Why Don't Households in Severely Polluted Cities Adopt and Use Air Purifiers?
Air pollution levels are dangerously high in many South Asian cities, often exceeding WHO guidelines by more than ten times. We provide air monitors and air purifiers to households in Dhaka, Bangladesh in a field experiment with more than a thousand households. We show that households underestimate the air pollution inside their homes and rarely use the purifiers even when we compensate them for the electricity consumed by the purifiers. We show that air monitors partially correct the biased beliefs about air pollution and substantially increase purifier usage. Despite this, monitors do not increase willingness to pay for air purifiers among those who have never used one. However, using an air purifier together with a monitor increases households' valuation of the purifier. This indicates that practical experience with purifiers coupled with informed awareness about indoor pollution levels are both crucial in encouraging air purifier adoption.
Martin Mattsson, is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore. He holds a PhD from Yale University. His research focuses on how government institutions shape socio-economic outcomes. Currently, he is working on a research agenda investigating how to reduce the health harms of air pollution in South Asia.