Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco
Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because it increases the time avai...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Economic Association
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76281 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-617X |
| _version_ | 1826202222879309824 |
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| author | Devoto, Florencia Duflo, Esther Dupas, Pascaline Pariente, William Pons, Vincent |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Devoto, Florencia Duflo, Esther Dupas, Pascaline Pariente, William Pons, Vincent |
| author_sort | Devoto, Florencia |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because it increases the time available for leisure and reduces inter- and intra-household conflicts on water matters, leading to sustained improvements in well-being. Our results suggest that facilitating access to credit for households to finance lump sum quality-oflife investments can significantly increase welfare, even if those investments do not result in any health or income gains. (JEL D12, I31, O12, O13, O18, Q25) |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:04:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/76281 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:04:06Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/762812022-10-01T07:56:47Z Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco Devoto, Florencia Duflo, Esther Dupas, Pascaline Pariente, William Pons, Vincent Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Duflo, Esther Dupas, Pascaline Pons, Vincent Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because it increases the time available for leisure and reduces inter- and intra-household conflicts on water matters, leading to sustained improvements in well-being. Our results suggest that facilitating access to credit for households to finance lump sum quality-oflife investments can significantly increase welfare, even if those investments do not result in any health or income gains. (JEL D12, I31, O12, O13, O18, Q25) Veolia Environnement 2013-01-17T16:09:45Z 2013-01-17T16:09:45Z 2012-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1945-7731 1945-774X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76281 Devoto, Florencia et al. “Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4.4 (2012): 68–99. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-617X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/pol.4.4.68 American Economic Journal: Economic Policy Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Devoto, Florencia Duflo, Esther Dupas, Pascaline Pariente, William Pons, Vincent Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title | Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title_full | Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title_fullStr | Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title_full_unstemmed | Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title_short | Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco |
| title_sort | happiness on tap piped water adoption in urban morocco |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76281 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-617X |
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