Three billion people around the world lack access to affordable and reliable clean cooking energy. The case for clean energy has largely been built around health and or environmental benefits, neglecting potentially sizeable benefit(s): when households have clean energy, they can save time and reduce drudgery. Clean energy can reduce poverty. But how large are time savings from the adoption and use of improved cookstoves (ICS)? Do these benefits accrue especially to women?

This study is one of the first to present causal evidence of the morbidity costs of fine particulates (PM2.5) for all age cohorts in a developing country, using individual-level health spending data from a basic medical insurance program in Wuhan, China. Our instrumental variable (IV) approach uses thermal inversion to address potential endogeneity in PM2.5 concentrations and shows that PM2.5 imposes a significant impact on healthcare expenditures.

Recent studies have shown a relationship between air pollution and increased vulnerability and mortality due to COVID-19. Most of these studies have looked at developed countries. This study examines the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19-related deaths in four countries of Latin America that have been highly affected by the pandemic: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Our results suggest that an increase in long-term exposure of 1 μg/m3 of fine particles is associated with a 2.7 percent increase in the COVID-19 mortality rate.