IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v166y2022ics0301421522002361.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does clean cooking energy improve mental health? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Pihui
  • Han, Chuanfeng
  • Teng, Minmin

Abstract

Existing studies that evaluate the impact of cooking with solid fuels on human beings understate the negative effect on mental health. This paper attempts to fill this gap by investigating the impact of cooking energy transition on depression and the cognitive abilities of middle-aged and elderly people. Base on a large panel data set from China, we applied several complementary methods—propensity score matching, “difference-in-differences”, and fixed-effect model to overcomes the challenges of treatment selection bias and unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity that might have prevented us from identifying the causal effect. Depression outcomes and cognitive ability are measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Brief Scale (CES-D) and a series of high-quality cognitive tests, respectively. The results reveal that cooking energy transition can significantly reduce the CES-D index and the rate of depression and improve cognitive reasoning ability in the middle-aged and elderly but has no significant impact on cognitive memory ability. Moreover, the effect is more salient for certain groups, such as females, rural residents, southern residents and middle-income families. Finally, potential pathways through which cooking energy transition affects mental health, including physical health, social activities, labour participation and medical expenditures, are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Pihui & Han, Chuanfeng & Teng, Minmin, 2022. "Does clean cooking energy improve mental health? Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:166:y:2022:i:c:s0301421522002361
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522002361
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Guofeng Shen & Muye Ru & Wei Du & Xi Zhu & Qirui Zhong & Yilin Chen & Huizhong Shen & Xiao Yun & Wenjun Meng & Junfeng Liu & Hefa Cheng & Jianying Hu & Dabo Guan & Shu Tao, 2019. "Impacts of air pollutants from rural Chinese households under the rapid residential energy transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Burlinson, Andrew & Giulietti, Monica & Battisti, Giuliana, 2018. "The elephant in the energy room: Establishing the nexus between housing poverty and fuel poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 135-144.
    4. Nina Boogen & Massimo Filippini & Adan L. Martinez-Cruz, 2022. "Value of co-benefits from energy saving ventilation systems—Contingent valuations on Swiss home owners," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 22/368, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    5. Chen, Qiu & Yang, Haoran & Liu, Tianbiao & Zhang, Lin, 2016. "Household biomass energy choice and its policy implications on improving rural livelihoods in Sichuan, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 291-302.
    6. Hosier, Richard H. & Dowd, Jeffrey, 1987. "Household fuel choice in Zimbabwe : An empirical test of the energy ladder hypothesis," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 347-361, December.
    7. Chindarkar, Namrata & Jain, Abhishek & Mani, Sunil, 2021. "Examining the willingness-to-pay for exclusive use of LPG for cooking among rural households in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. Levinson, Arik, 2012. "Valuing public goods using happiness data: The case of air quality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 869-880.
    9. Lei, Xiaoyan & Smith, James P. & Sun, Xiaoting & Zhao, Yaohui, 2014. "Gender differences in cognition in China and reasons for change over time: Evidence from CHARLS," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 46-55.
    10. Kahn, Matthew E. & Sun, Weizeng & Zheng, Siqi, 2022. "Clean air as an experience good in urban China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    11. Stephen G. Donald & Kevin Lang, 2007. "Inference with Difference-in-Differences and Other Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 221-233, May.
    12. Siqi Zheng & Jianghao Wang & Cong Sun & Xiaonan Zhang & Matthew E. Kahn, 2019. "Air pollution lowers Chinese urbanites’ expressed happiness on social media," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(3), pages 237-243, March.
    13. Rosenberg, T. & Kendall, O. & Blanchard, J. & Martel, S. & Wakelin, C. & Fast, M., 1997. "Shigellosis on Indian Reserves in Manitoba, Canada: Its relationship to crowded housing, lack of running water, and inadequate sewage disposal," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1547-1551.
    14. Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Money and mental wellbeing: A longitudinal study of medium-sized lottery wins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January.
    15. Liu, Ziming & Li, Jia & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi, 2020. "Health impacts of cooking fuel choice in rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    16. Grieshop, Andrew P. & Marshall, Julian D. & Kandlikar, Milind, 2011. "Health and climate benefits of cookstove replacement options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7530-7542.
    17. Jia, Shuwei & Liu, Xiaolu & Yan, Guangle, 2019. "Effect of APCF policy on the haze pollution in China: A system dynamics approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 33-44.
    18. Pachauri, Shonali & Jiang, Leiwen, 2008. "The household energy transition in India and China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4022-4035, November.
    19. Mensah, Justice Tei & Adu, George, 2015. "An empirical analysis of household energy choice in Ghana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1402-1411.
    20. Ma, Wanglin & Zheng, Hongyun & Gong, Binlei, 2022. "Rural income growth, ethnic differences, and household cooking fuel choice: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    21. Imelda, Imelda, 2019. "Cooking that Kills : Cleaner Energy, Indoor Air Pollution, and Health," UC3M Working papers. Economics 27982, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    22. Martey, Edward, 2019. "Tenancy and energy choice for lighting and cooking: Evidence from Ghana," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 570-581.
    23. Kees, Marlis & Feldmann, Lisa, 2011. "The role of donor organisations in promoting energy efficient cook stoves," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7595-7599.
    24. Frederick J. Zimmerman & Wayne Katon, 2005. "Socioeconomic status, depression disparities, and financial strain: what lies behind the income‐depression relationship?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(12), pages 1197-1215, December.
    25. Jennifer A. Ailshire & Philippa Clarke, 2015. "Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Cognitive Function Among U.S. Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(2), pages 322-328.
    26. Ramirez, Sebastian & Dwivedi, Puneet & Ghilardi, Adrian & Bailis, Robert, 2014. "Diffusion of non-traditional cookstoves across western Honduras: A social network analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 379-389.
    27. S. Tao & M. Y. Ru & W. Du & X. Zhu & Q. R. Zhong & B. G. Li & G. F. Shen & X. L. Pan & W. J. Meng & Y. L. Chen & H. Z. Shen & N. Lin & S. Su & S. J. Zhuo & T. B. Huang & Y. Xu & X. Yun & J. F. Liu & X, 2018. "Quantifying the rural residential energy transition in China from 1992 to 2012 through a representative national survey," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 567-573, July.
    28. Jeuland, M.A. & Bhojvaid, V. & Kar, A. & Lewis, J.J. & Patange, O. & Pattanayak, S.K. & Ramanathan, N. & Rehman, I.H. & Tan Soo, J.S. & Ramanathan, V., 2015. "Preferences for improved cook stoves: Evidence from rural villages in north India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 287-298.
    29. Ferreira, Susana & Akay, Alpaslan & Brereton, Finbarr & Cuñado, Juncal & Martinsson, Peter & Moro, Mirko & Ningal, Tine F., 2013. "Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-10.
    30. Matinga, Margaret Njirambo & Annegarn, Harold J. & Clancy, Joy S., 2013. "Healthcare provider views on the health effects of biomass fuel collection and use in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa: An ethnographic study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 192-200.
    31. Yuan, Liang & Shin, Kongjoo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Environmental Quality: The Impact of Air Pollution and Green Coverage in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 124-138.
    32. Foell, Wesley & Pachauri, Shonali & Spreng, Daniel & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Household cooking fuels and technologies in developing economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7487-7496.
    33. B. Mak Arvin & Byron Lew, 2012. "Life satisfaction and environmental conditions: issues for policy," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 76-90.
    34. Li, Kang & Lloyd, Bob & Liang, Xiao-Jie & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "Energy poor or fuel poor: What are the differences?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 476-481.
    35. Li, Jiajia & Li, Houjian, 2022. "Spiritual support or living support: Which alleviates solid fuel use for rural households in ethnical minority regions of China?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 479-491.
    36. Calzada, Joan & Sanz, Alex, 2018. "Universal access to clean cookstoves: Evaluation of a public program in Peru," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 559-572.
    37. Sagar, Ambuj D., 2005. "Alleviating energy poverty for the world's poor," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1367-1372, July.
    38. Kelly C. Bishop & Jonathan D. Ketcham & Nicolai V. Kuminoff, 2018. "Hazed and Confused: The Effect of Air Pollution on Dementia," NBER Working Papers 24970, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Dasgupta, Susmita & Deichmann, Uwe & Meisner, Craig & Wheeler, David, 2005. "Where is the Poverty-Environment Nexus? Evidence from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 617-638, April.
    40. Kurata, Masamitsu & Takahashi, Kazushi & Hibiki, Akira, 2020. "Gender differences in associations of household and ambient air pollution with child health: Evidence from household and satellite-based data in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huiying Chen & Shuyan Gu & Cangcang Jia & Hai Gu & Qinglin Xu & Zi Lin, 2023. "Effects of Household Clean Fuel Combustion on the Physical and Mental Health of the Elderly in Rural China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Qiu, Lei & Wang, Xiaoyang & Wei, Jia, 2023. "Energy security and energy management: The role of extreme natural events," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 2(2).
    3. Shuai Zhou & Xiangying Ding & Janet Tsin Yee Leung, 2023. "Healthy Aging at Family Mealtimes: Associations of Clean Cooking, Protein Intake, and Dining Together with Mental Health of Chinese Older Adults amid COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Nigel Scott & Jerome Nsengiyaremye & Jacob Fodio Todd & Jon Leary, 2023. "Cooking Fuel Choice and Wellbeing: A Global Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    5. Lei Zhao & Yongqi Zhang & Haixia Zhang, 2022. "Research on the Impact of Digital Literacy on Farmer Households’ Green Cooking Energy Consumption: Evidence from Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Wang, Xiqian & Bian, Yong & Zhang, Qin, 2023. "The effect of cooking fuel choice on the elderly’s well-being: Evidence from two non-parametric methods," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Zhu, Huanyu & Ma, Wanglin & Vatsa, Puneet & Zheng, Hongyun, 2023. "Clean energy use and subjective and objective health outcomes in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    8. Shittu, Ibrahim & Abdul Latiff, Abdul Rais Bin & Baharudin, Siti 'Aisyah, 2024. "Closing the clean cooking gap: Which policies and institutional qualities matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Liu, Pihui & Han, Chuanfeng & Liu, Xinghua & Teng, Minmin, 2023. "Assessing the effect of nonfarm income on the household cooking energy transition in rural China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Xiqian & Bian, Yong & Zhang, Qin, 2023. "The effect of cooking fuel choice on the elderly’s well-being: Evidence from two non-parametric methods," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    2. Ren, Junqiushi & Xiong, Deyin, 2023. "Do social assistance programs promote the use of clean cooking fuels? Evidence from China's new rural pension scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    3. Zhu, Xiaodong & Zhu, Zheng & Zhu, Bangzhu & Wang, Ping, 2022. "The determinants of energy choice for household cooking in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Chang, Huayi & Zhang, Junbiao, 2024. "Income growth versus labor loss: The joint impacts of rural-urban migration and off-farm employment on household energy use in rural China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    5. Qi He & Xinde (James) Ji, 2021. "The Labor Productivity Consequences of Exposure to Particulate Matters: Evidence from a Chinese National Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    7. Klege, Rebecca A. & Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin & Visser, Martine, 2022. "Tenancy and energy choices in Rwanda. A replication and extension study," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    8. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    9. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    10. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Thanh-Tung & Hoang, Viet-Ngu & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "Energy transition, poverty and inequality in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 536-548.
    11. Adjei-Mantey, Kwame & Takeuchi, Kenji & Quartey, Peter, 2021. "Impact of LPG promotion program in Ghana: The role of distance to refill," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Christine Bertram & Jan Goebel & Christian Krekel & Katrin Rehdanz, 2022. "Urban Land Use Fragmentation and Human Well-Being," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(2), pages 399-420.
    13. Jingjing Wang & Decai Tang, 2023. "Air Pollution, Environmental Protection Tax and Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, January.
    14. Meng-Meng Geng & Ling-Yun He, 2021. "Environmental Regulation, Environmental Awareness and Environmental Governance Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, April.
    15. Takama, Takeshi & Tsephel, Stanzin & Johnson, Francis X., 2012. "Evaluating the relative strength of product-specific factors in fuel switching and stove choice decisions in Ethiopia. A discrete choice model of household preferences for clean cooking alternatives," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1763-1773.
    16. Husnain, Muhammad Iftikhar ul & Nasrullah, Nasrullah & Khan, Muhammad Aamir & Banerjee, Suvajit, 2021. "Scrutiny of income related drivers of energy poverty: A global perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    17. Ma, Wanglin & Zheng, Hongyun & Gong, Binlei, 2021. "Household Energy Choice for Cooking: Do Rural Income Growth and Ethnic Difference Play a Role?," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 314990, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Jeuland, Marc & Desai, Manish A. & Bair, Elizabeth F. & Mohideen Abdul Cader, Nafeesa & Natesan, Durairaj & Isaac, Wilson Jayakaran & Sambandam, Sankar & Balakrishnan, Kalpana & Thangavel, Gurusamy & , 2023. "A randomized trial of price subsidies for liquefied petroleum cooking gas among low-income households in rural India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    19. Wang, Shaobin & Zhao, Chao & Liu, Hanbin & Tian, Xinglei, 2021. "Exploring the spatial spillover effects of low-grade coal consumption and influencing factors in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    20. Xuan Tian & Cheng Zhang & Bing Xu, 2022. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Residents’ Happiness: A Study on the Moderating Effect Based on Pollution Sensitivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-20, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:166:y:2022:i:c:s0301421522002361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.