Michael Greenstone, Kenneth Lee, Harshil Sahai
In Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, there is relatively little information on indoor air pollution and how it varies by socioeconomic status (SES). Using indoor air quality monitors (IAQMs), we find that winter levels of household air pollution exceed World Health Organization standards by more than 20 times in both high- and low-SES households. We then evaluate a field experiment that randomly assigned monthlong IAQM user trials across medium- and high-SES households but suffered from significant survey non-response. Among respondents, IAQMs did not affect take-up of subsidized air purifier rentals or other defensive behavior.