Cultivating a Demand for Clean Cookstoves—Response

Robinson and Baumgartner reference recent studies showing that when individuals living in poverty receive new products such as bednets or water purifiers at no cost, their use patterns are similar to those who have purchased the same products ([ 1 ][1], [ 2 ][2]). Robinson and Baumgartner suggest that the same may be true for cookstoves. We agree that, especially for the poorest of the poor who are not currently paying for cooking fuels or fully engaged in a market economy, this may well be true. We eagerly await similar studies to confirm or deny this hypothesis for cooking solutions that offer improvement in indoor air quality, with the understanding that the effectiveness of the approaches will be specific to regional and cultural contexts. However, cookstoves and fuels are different from bednets and water purifiers in a variety of ways. Cookstoves, unlike bednets and water purifiers, are an essential household technology that virtually all potential consumers already possess in some form. In addition, the associations between cookstoves and illness may not be as readily apparent as those between mosquitoes and malaria or impure water and diarrheal diseases. The health impacts from indoor smoke may be too far in the future to influence choice. On the other hand, more efficient stoves can offer an immediate benefit to users by reducing fuel costs, a savings to households that bednets and water purifiers cannot make as readily. We agree that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide an excellent opportunity to answer questions about the relative effectiveness of different finance and dissemination approaches. RCTs, in combination with other research approaches, will be critical to understanding the interrelated social, behavioral, and economic determinants of successful implementation programs. 1. [↵][3] 1. J. Cohen, 2. P. Dupas , Q. J. Econ. 125, 1 (2010). [OpenUrl][4][CrossRef][5][Web of Science][6] 2. [↵][7] 1. N. Ashraf, 2. J. Berry, 3. J. M. Shapiro , Am. Econ. Rev. 100, 2383 (2010). [OpenUrl][8][CrossRef][9][Web of Science][10] [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DQ.%2BJ.%2BEcon.%26rft.volume%253D125%26rft.spage%253D1%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1162%252Fqjec.2010.125.1.1%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1162/qjec.2010.125.1.1&link_type=DOI [6]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000274626700001&link_type=ISI [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2 in text" [8]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DAm.%2BEcon.%2BRev.%26rft.volume%253D100%26rft.spage%253D2383%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1257%252Faer.100.5.2383%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [9]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1257/aer.100.5.2383&link_type=DOI [10]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000285141700017&link_type=ISI