Understanding the Networked Dynamics of Social Pressure: Application to adoption of pollution-reducing cookstoves in Nepal
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Understanding the Networked Dynamics of Social Pressure: Application to adoption of pollution-reducing cookstoves in Nepal
PIs: Marina Agranov and Juni Singh
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Climate Science Initiative
About 40% of the world's population still relies on traditional biomass and fossil fuels as primary energy sources. Our project will uncover mechanisms that induce rural households to transition to cleaner energy sources and reduce CO2 emissions in the air. Purely technological and economic interventions miss the complex human side of decision-making. Interventions focused on capital constraints, time use, and reliability of electricity have shown a mild impact on adoption. What matters, however, is the local information flow that raises individuals' value for adoption. This project aims to understand how information flows in Nepalese villages affect the adoption of electric cookstoves. The implications are not limited to Nepal and can be applied to other contexts. Indeed, extensive literature has shown that positive peer information flows facilitate the diffusion of socially productive behavior such as vaccination. The novelty of this project is that I apply these ideas to capital goods that can produce better environmental outcomes.