American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Cooking, Health, and Daily Exposure to Pollution Spikes
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
(pp. 511–47)
Abstract
Many routine daily activities—such as cooking and commuting—cause large recurring pollution spikes that may impact health without significantly affecting average exposure. We study pollution spikes by combining experimental variation in cooking technology with high-frequency data on individual pollution exposure and time-use in Kenya. Improved cookstoves reduce PM2.5 spikes while cooking by 51.3 μg/m3 (41 percent) and cause a 0.24 standard deviation reduction in self-reported respiratory symptoms. However, even after more than three years of daily use, we find no clinical health improvements, possibly because we detect no impact on average exposure. Clinical health improvements may require reductions in ambient concentrations.Citation
Berkouwer, Susanna B., and Joshua T. Dean. 2026. "Cooking, Health, and Daily Exposure to Pollution Spikes." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 18 (2): 511–47. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20240290Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- Q51 Valuation of Environmental Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling