The Value of Clean Water: Experimental Evidence from Rural India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Burlig, Fiona; Jina, Amir; Sudarshan, Anant
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Warwick
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282; 1944-7981
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20250278
• 发表日期: 2026-03
• 页码: 1148-1187
• 关键词: willingness-to-pay; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-TRIAL; RESOLVING DIFFERENCES; drinking-water; accept; differ; acceptability; diarrhea; taste

摘要

Over 2 billion people lack clean drinking water. Existing solutions face high costs (piped water) or low demand (point-of-use chlorine). Using a 60,000 household cluster-randomized experiment, we test an alternative approach: decentralized treatment and home delivery of clean water to the rural poor. At low prices, take-up exceeds 90 percent, sustained throughout the experiment. High prices reduce take-up but are privately profitable. We experimentally recover revealed-preference measures of valuation. Willingness-to-pay is several times higher than prior indirect estimates; willingness-to-accept is larger and exceeds marginal cost. Self-reported health measures improve accordingly. On a cost-per-DALY basis, free water delivery regimes appear highly cost effective. (JEL I12, O12, O13, O18, Q25, Q51, Q53)