Can information alone change behavior? Response to arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh

摘要: Abstract We study how effectively information induces Bangladeshi households to avoid a health risk. The response is large and rapid; knowing that the household's well water has an unsafe concentration of arsenic raises probability household changes another within one year by 0.37. Households who change wells increase time spent obtaining fifteen-fold. identify causal effect information, since incidence uncorrelated with characteristics. Our door-to-door campaign provides well-specific levels without which behavior does not change. Media communicate general about less expensively no effectively.