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The health benefits of air pollution control in India

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Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the health benefits of controlling ambient air pollution in India. We answer five questions: First, how high is ambient air pollution in different parts of India? Second, what are the morbidity and mortality consequences of ambient and household air pollution? Third, what are the health costs of pollution-related morbidity and mortality? Fourth, what are the primary sources of ambient air pollution in India and what are their implications for policies to control air pollution? Finally, what are the health benefits and costs of reducing air pollution from coal-fired power plants?

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Fig. 1

Source: World Bank (2022)

Fig. 2

Source: Members of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Air Pollution Collaborators (2021)

Fig. 3

Source: Author’s calculation from Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network (2021)

Fig.4

Source: Author’s calculation

Fig.5

Source: Author’s calculation

Fig. 6

Source: Members of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Air Pollution Collaborators (2021)

Fig. 7

Source: Author’s calculation

Fig. 8

Source: World Bank (2022)

Fig. 9

Source: World Bank (2022)

Fig. 10

Source: World Bank (2022)

Fig. 11

Source: Cropper et al. (2021b)

Fig. 12

Source: Cropper et al. (2021a)

Fig. 13

Source: Cropper et al. (2021a)

Fig. 14

Source: Cropper et al. (2019)

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  1. Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Maureen Cropper

  2. Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Yongjoon Park

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Indian Economic Review public lecture, delivered on September 28, 2022 by Maureen Cropper, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland and Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future.

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Cropper, M., Park, Y. The health benefits of air pollution control in India. Ind. Econ. Rev. 57, 245–263 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41775-022-00149-6

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