Economic Impact of Air Pollution
from Agricultural Residue Burning
on Human Health
Surender Kumar and Parmod Kumar
Abstract This paper measures the value of health effects of air pollution for the
Indian rural Punjab, where air pollution problem occurs from crop residue burning.
Consumer choice model is used to get the monetary estimates of reduced air pollution level to the safe level. The paper uses data of 625 individuals collected from a
household level survey conducted in three villages in Indian Punjab for 150
households. To obtain the monetary values, Tobit and Poisson models are used to
estimate mitigation expenditure and workdays lost equations, respectively. Total
annual welfare loss in terms of health damages due to air pollution caused by the
burning of rice straw in rural Punjab amounts to INR 76 millions. If one also
accounts for expenses on averting activities, productivity loss due to illness,
monetary value of discomfort and utility and additional fertilizer, pesticides and
irrigation, the losses would be much higher.
Keywords Air pollution Á Residue burning Á Mitigation expenditure Á Workdays
lost Á Rural Punjab
Jel Classification Q510 Á Q520 Á Q530
1 Introduction
Epidemiological studies show that the contamination of air quality increases
adverse health impacts (Ostro et al. 1995). Air pollution contributes to the respiratory diseases like eye irritation, bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, etc., which not
S. Kumar (&)
Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,
Delhi, India
e-mail: skumar@econdse.org
P. Kumar
Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Nagarbhavi PO,
Bangalore 560072, India
e-mail: pkumar@isec.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
S. Nautiyal et al. (eds.), Climate Change Challenge (3C)
and Social-Economic-Ecological Interface-Building, Environmental Science,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31014-5_17
297
from Agricultural Residue Burning
on Human Health
Surender Kumar and Parmod Kumar
Abstract This paper measures the value of health effects of air pollution for the
Indian rural Punjab, where air pollution problem occurs from crop residue burning.
Consumer choice model is used to get the monetary estimates of reduced air pollution level to the safe level. The paper uses data of 625 individuals collected from a
household level survey conducted in three villages in Indian Punjab for 150
households. To obtain the monetary values, Tobit and Poisson models are used to
estimate mitigation expenditure and workdays lost equations, respectively. Total
annual welfare loss in terms of health damages due to air pollution caused by the
burning of rice straw in rural Punjab amounts to INR 76 millions. If one also
accounts for expenses on averting activities, productivity loss due to illness,
monetary value of discomfort and utility and additional fertilizer, pesticides and
irrigation, the losses would be much higher.
Keywords Air pollution Á Residue burning Á Mitigation expenditure Á Workdays
lost Á Rural Punjab
Jel Classification Q510 Á Q520 Á Q530
1 Introduction
Epidemiological studies show that the contamination of air quality increases
adverse health impacts (Ostro et al. 1995). Air pollution contributes to the respiratory diseases like eye irritation, bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, etc., which not
S. Kumar (&)
Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,
Delhi, India
e-mail: skumar@econdse.org
P. Kumar
Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Nagarbhavi PO,
Bangalore 560072, India
e-mail: pkumar@isec.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
S. Nautiyal et al. (eds.), Climate Change Challenge (3C)
and Social-Economic-Ecological Interface-Building, Environmental Science,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31014-5_17
297