On September 28, 2022, Professor Maureen Cropper gave a public lecture titled “The Health Benefits of Air Pollution Control in India” at the Delhi School of Economics

Abstract: High levels of ambient and household air pollution in India have been estimated to cause over one million deaths per year. Efficient air pollution control requires understanding the sources of air pollution and the costs and benefits of various control strategies. I will begin by discussing current estimates of ambient particulate pollution (AAP) in India, followed by estimates of the health impacts of AAP and the interaction between household air pollution (HAP) and AAP. Controlling AAP also requires understanding the sources of air emissions, which vary across the states of India, and the atmospheric chemistry of particulate formation. These principles will be illustrated by discussing the costs and benefits of reducing air pollution from coal-fired power plants, and the benefits of not expanding the fleet of coal-fired power plants.

This is the second Public Lecture of the Indian Economic Review. It revives an older IER tradition of an annual lecture delivered by an eminent economist. The first lecture in this series was delivered last year by Melissa Dell (Harvard University) on "Persistence and Transformation in Economic Development" and was later published in the December 2021 issue of IER.

For further details, please click here and to learn more about Professor Cropper’s research, click here.

9/26/2022