Solar lanterns are a relatively inexpensive renewable-energy option for household lighting in developing countries. However, the transition to these lighting sources is slow. To understand why, this study uses the Becker-Degroot-Marschak bidding mechanism in a randomized field experiment to...

This paper reports on electronically-monitored improved use of the "Mirt" biomass stove in Ethiopia over a relatively long period of three-and-a-half years, using stove use data collected at five points in time. The results show that 62 percent of the households surveyed still retained their...

Improved biomass cookstoves have been promoted as important intermediate technologies to reduce fuelwood consumption and possibly cut household air pollution in low-income countries. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to examine household air pollution reductions from an improved...

This paper uses a choice experiment conducted in Nepal during 2013 to estimate household-level willingness to participate in a village-level program under the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation initiative requiring reductions in fuelwood collection, as a function of the...

What major insights have emerged from development economics in the past decade, and how do they matter for the World Bank? This challenging question was recently posed by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the staff of the Development Research Group. This paper assembles a set of 13...

This paper presents the three-year impacts of an improved biomass cookstove on child and adult health in rural Ethiopia. After near complete stove adoption during an initial one-year randomized controlled trial, 60 percent of treatment households continued to use the improved stoves three-years...

There is a growing effort in the non-market valuation literature toward better understanding of the stability and evolution of preferences over time. The study uses a novel approach combining a repeated choice experiment with a randomized controlled trial on stove adoption in Ethiopia to analyze...

This study uses a computable general equilibrium model to analyze various policy scenarios for a carbon tax on greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum fuels and kerosene in Ethiopia. The carbon tax starts at $5 per ton of carbon dioxide in 2018 and rises to $30 per ton in 2030. Different...

This paper investigates household preferences for improved cook stoves using a choice experiment administered in rural Ethiopia, and the cost-effectiveness of an improved stove for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. In Ethiopia, about 96 percent of household energy demand is fulfilled by...

The paper discusses challenges in analyzing the costs of household cooking methods (fuels and associated stove technologies) in lower-income countries, and sources of divergence between observed and true social costs. The challenges in assessing social costs include valuation of household time,...