## POLICY RE3SEARCH WORKING PAPERt 1301

# Summary findings

To develop efficient strategies for pollution control, it is essential to assess both the costs of control and the benefits that may result. These benefits will often include improvements in public health, including reductions in both morbidity and premature mortality.

Until recently, there has been little guidance about how to calculate the benefits of air pollution controls and how to use those estimates to assign priorities to differenr air pollution control strategies. Ostro describes a method for quantifying the benefits of reduced ambient concentrations of pollutants (such as ozone and parriculare matter) typically found in urban areas worldwide. He -en applies the method to data on Jakara, Indonesia, an arca characterized by little wind, hibih population density (8 million people), congested roads, and ambient air pollution.

The magnitude of the benefits of pollution control depend on the level of air pollution, the expected effects on health of the pollutants (dose-rcsponsc), the size of L¶ie population affected, and the economic value of these effects.

The results for Jakarta suggest that significant benefits reslt from reducing exposure to both outdoor andc indoor air pollutants. For example, if annual concentrations of particulate matter were reduced to the midpoint of the World Health Organization guideline (and former U.S ambient standard), the estimates indicate a reduction per year of 1,400 prematurc deaths (with a range of 900 to 1,900), 49,uOO emergency room visits, 600,000 asthma attacks, 7.6 million restrictedactivity days (including work loss), 124,000 cases of bronchitis in children, and 37 million minor respiratory symptoms.

In the case of Jakarta, the methodology suggests that reducing exposure to lead and nitrogen dioxide should also be a high priority.

An important consequence of ambient lead pollution is a reduction in learning abilities for children, measured as I.Q. loss. Apart from that, reducing the proportion of respirable particles can reduce the amount of illness and premature mortality.

Clearly, air pollution represents a significant public health hazard to residents of Jakarta and other cities consistently exposed to high levels of air pollution, such as Bangkok, Mexico City, and Santiago, Chile.

Thispaper-a product of the PublicEconomicsDivision, Policy Research Department-is part of a larger cffortin thedepartmnent to analyze the economics of pollution control in developingcountrics. Thestudywasbeingfunded by the Banks Rcsearch Support Budget under the rcsearch projccmtPoilution and the Choicc of Economic Policy Instruments in Developing Countrics" (RPO 67648). Copics of the paper are availablc free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Please contact Carlina Jones, room NIO-063, extension 37699 (63 pagcs). May 1994.

_The Poliy Researc Wrriung Paper Series disseminates the firdings of work in pgess so encouage the exJ*Chge of ideas about devlopment issues. An obi ctivtofse series is to get the finding out quickly._ **_evn_** _if thepresentaions are ssthanf(idypoisbe7he papers cary the names of the authors and should be used and cited accordingly- The inbigs, inteprezs ions, and cAnclusions are the asrbiors'om and sbould not be attributed to the World Bank. its Executive Board of Direcao o any ofits member mouries_ Produced by the Policy Research Disscmination Centcr