Quantifying air pollution vulnerability and its distributional consequences: a Delhi perspective
Student name: Ms Shivani Gupta
Guide: Dr Sukanya Das
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr M.N. Murty
Abstract: This study aims to discover substantiation of the presence of ‘Environmental Inequity’ specific to air pollution in
Delhi. For this purpose, the study first computes a Vulnerability Index to define exposure, risk and adaptation to air
pollution using a general Health Production Function Model and Vulnerability Assessment framework in Delhi. This
is done with the help of primary data on health and socioeconomic characteristics and for a sample of 180
households in close vicinity to 10 air pollution monitoring stations along with secondary data on mean PM10
concentrations (ug/m3) for these stations.
The index is then utilized, in the second stage, to compare the average vulnerability index for different socioeconomic
status quantiles and these descriptive results are furthermore validated using a multiple variable regression
model for the Vulnerability index to show the effect of household exposure to air pollution, socio-economic status as
well as demographic characteristics of the households and other controls. The results shows that lower socioeconomic
status groups are the most vulnerable to air pollution and its consequences implying presence of inequity
in air pollution in Delhi.
In the third stage, the total annual economic benefits and annual share of benefits as a percentage of annual income
for reduction in air pollution to standard levels are estimated for a typical household and in addition, the distribution
of these gains is determined amongst different socio-economic classes of households. It is found that the total annual
economic (health) benefits for a typical household is Rs. 54365 and for the whole population of Delhi is Rs. 83.38
Billion. It is also seen that a typical household can save about 4.06% per year out their annual income from
reduction in pollution exposure to safe levels. Finally, distribution of gain estimates shows that a lower socioeconomic
status household saves the maximum out of their annual income (7.93%) as compared to higher socioeconomic
status household (3.15%).
Hence, it can be concluded that if pollution is reduced to safe limits, the communities which are most vulnerable to
air pollution and its consequences, would gain the most from the economic benefits in terms of health.
Key Words: Environmental Inequity, Exposure to Air Pollution, Socio-Economic Status, Health, Vulnerability, Susceptibility,
Coping Capacity
