ItemArticle

Are Indians Willing to Pay for Air Quality? Findings from a Contingent Valuation Study

Title
Are Indians Willing to Pay for Air Quality? Findings from a Contingent Valuation Study
Creator
Sengupta, Debarun; Mukherjee, Deep; Saha, Sarani
Description
This paper aims to study individual preferences towards ambient air quality improvements in India, through the willingness to pay (WTP) measure. Contingent valuation method is employed to elicit individual WTP for air quality improvements via closed-end double bound questioning technique. Bivariate probit model is estimated based on the data coming from 539 in-person interviews to find key determinants of WTP. Estimation results suggest that place of residence, education, consciousness regarding air pollution, and household income are the key determinants of individual WTP for air quality improvements. Random probit model estimated based on the same data finds the presence of shifting and anchoring anomalies, leading towards bias in the mean WTP estimation from the Bivariate probit model. After correcting those anomalies, the estimated mean WTP is ?255.69 (or $3.09) per month. This is the first study estimating the bias-corrected WTP for air quality enhancements, covering a vast region of India. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Indian Econometric Society 2026.
Source
Journal of Quantitative Economics;
Date
01-01-2026
Publisher
Springer
Subject
Ambient air pollution; Anchoring effect; Closed-end Double-bound; Contingent valuation; India; Probit; Shifting effect
Coverage
Sengupta D., Department of Economics, Christ University, Bengaluru, India; Mukherjee D., School of Economics and Public Policy, RV University, Bengaluru, India; Saha S., Department of Economic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India
Rights
Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library
Relation
ISSN: 9711554;
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Sengupta, Debarun; Mukherjee, Deep; Saha, Sarani, “Are Indians Willing to Pay for Air Quality? Findings from a Contingent Valuation Study,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 18, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/22083.

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