Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Forest Fires, Smoky Kitchens, and Human Health in Indonesia

  • Published:
Environmental and Resource Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Burning tropical forests to establish lucrative agricultural crops ignores potentially important health externalities of the resulting air pollution. These health externalities are often poorly understood, especially if other environmental hazards, such as indoor pollution, are not taken into account. Given the potential for joint, contemporaneous harms, we estimate the impacts of outdoor and indoor air pollution on respiratory health in Indonesia. To address the endogeneity of air pollution exposure, we use panel fixed effects estimation and instrument for outdoor pollution using upwind forest fire intensity. We find that outdoor air pollution exposure reduces lung capacity and decreases overall health status. Subgroup analysis reveals that these impacts are higher among the youngest and oldest individuals in our sample. Critically, we find suggestive evidence that outdoor air pollution exposure is more harmful to the health of individuals living in households that use clean cooking fuels. Thus, policies aimed at reducing environmental health harms are not substitutable—that is, reductions in both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposures are necessary for achieving health targets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. As of 2020, Indonesia had 34 provinces, 416 kabupatens (regencies), and 7246 kecamatans (districts) (Evans 2020). These geographical units vary in size both in terms of population and area. Administrative units in Indonesia—particularly at lower levels such as kecamatans—are periodically restructured, leading to some ambiguity in their exact numbers and sizes.

  2. In the sanitation context, this interplay between private and social benefits of improved sanitation due to externalities associated with unimproved sanitation practices such as open defecation have been examined to better understand patterns of latrine adoption and disadoption (Cameron et al. 2021; Guiteras et al. 2019; Kresch et al. 2020; Pakhtigian et al. 2022).

  3. Data are available at http://www.rand.org/labor/FLS/IFLS/download.html.

  4. Over the course of survey waves, household splits (e.g., example children getting married and forming new households) were followed and retained in the sample, thus increasing the sample size over time.

  5. The shapefile is publicly available at https://gadm.org/download_country.html.

  6. Descriptive statistics for the 2000 IFLS wave, which we use for a supplementary analysis, are available in Appendix Table A1.

  7. Due to the testing process, lung capacity was measured only among individuals above the age of nine leading to a smaller sample size for this outcome.

  8. Given these low levels of asthma diagnoses in the sample, which are likely an under report due to the availability of medical services, we do not include asthma as an outcome in our empirical analysis.

  9. Appendix Figure A1 depicts the distribution for IFLS wave 3.

  10. If we conducted the analysis among households that were either always “dirty fuel” or “clean fuel” users we would be left with a highly selective sample as the LPG Conversion Program induced fuel use change (dirty to clean) among the majority of households in Indonesia during this time (Thoday et al. 2018).

  11. We also estimate our panel regression (versions of Eq. 1) by cooking fuel and age subgroups and present the results in our supplementary appendix.

  12. Appendix Table A2 reports the first stage results of the relationship between the log of upwind kabupaten fire season intensity and fire season PM\(_{2.5}\). We report the first stage F-stat for each regression reported in Table 3, noting that the first stages are identical for the respiratory symptoms and overall health outcomes and slightly different for the lung capacity outcome, due to sample construction.

  13. While somewhat unintuitive, these patterns could again reflect the temporal mismatch between respiratory symptoms—for which only the previous month is considered—and PM\(_{2.5}\) exposures, which are measured annually.

References

  • Adane MM, Alene GD, Mereta ST, Wanyonyi KL (2021) Effect of improved cookstove intervention on childhood acute lower respiratory infection in Northwest Ethiopia: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. BMC Pediatr 21(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alem Y, Hassen S, Köhlin G (2023) Decision-making within the household: The role of division of labor and differences in preferences. J Econ Behav Org 207:511–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austin KG, Schwantes A, Gu Y, Kasibhatla PS (2019) What causes deforestation in Indonesia? Environ Res Lett 14(2):024007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balboni C, Burgess R, Heil A, Old J, Olken BA (2021) Cycles of fire? Politics and forest burning in Indonesia. AEA Papers Proc 111:415–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bensch G, Peters J (2015) The intensive margin of technology adoption—Experimental evidence on improved cooking stoves in rural Senegal. J Health Econ 42:44–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkouwer SB, Dean JT (2023) Private actions in the presence of externalities: The health impacts of reducing air pollution peaks but not ambient exposure. Technical report, National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Blackman A, Bonilla JA, Villalobos L (2023) Quantifying COVID-19’s silver lining: Avoided deaths from air quality improvements in Bogotá. J Environ Econ Manag 117:102749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett RT, Pope CA, Ezzati M, Olives C, Lim SS, Mehta S, Shin HS, Singh G, Hubbell B, Brauer M, Anderson HR, Smith KR, Balmes JR, Bruce NG, Kan H, Laden F, Prüss-Ustün A, Turner MC, Gapstur SM, Diver WR, Cohen A (2014) An integrated risk function for estimating the global burden of disease attributable to ambient fine particulate matter exposure. Environ Health Perspect 122(4):397–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busch J, Ferretti-Gallon K, Engelmann J, Wright M, Austin KG, Stolle F, Turubanova S, Potapov PV, Margono B, Hansen MC et al (2015) Reductions in emissions from deforestation from Indonesia’s moratorium on new oil palm, timber, and logging concessions. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112(5):1328–1333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron L, Santos P, Thomas M, Albert J (2021) Sanitation, financial incentives and health spillovers: A cluster randomised trial. J Health Econ 77:102456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chay K, Greenstone M (2003) The impact of air pollution on infant mortality: Evidence from geographic variation in pollution shocks induced by a recession. Quart J Econ 118(3):1121–1167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cisneros E, Kis-Katos K, Nuryartono N (2021) Palm oil and the politics of deforestation in Indonesia. J Environ Econ Manag 108:102453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das I, Klug T, Krishnapriya P, Plutshack V, Saparapa R, Scott S, Sills E, Kara N, Pattanayak SK, Jeuland M (2023) Frameworks, methods and evidence connecting modern domestic energy services and gender empowerment. Nat Energy 8(5):435–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta S, Martin P, Samad HA (2015) Lessons from rural Madagascar on improving air quality in the kitchen. J Environ Dev 24(3):345–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeCicca P, Malak N (2020) When good fences aren’t enough: The impact of neighboring air pollution on infant health. J Environ Econ Manag 102:102324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deryugina T, Heutel G, Miller NH, Molitor D, Reif J (2019) The mortality and medical costs of air pollution: Evidence from changes in wind direction. Am Econ Rev 109(12):4178–4219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deryugina T, Miller N, Molitor D, Reif J (2021) Geographic and socioeconomic heterogeneity in the benefits of reducing air pollution in the United States. Environ Energy Policy Econ 2(1):157–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dib JB, Alamsyah Z, Qaim M (2018) Land-use change and income inequality in rural Indonesia. Forest Policy Econ 94:55–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards RB, Naylor RL, Higgins MM, Falcon WP (2020) Causes of Indonesia’s forest fires. World Dev 127:104717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans K (2020) Indonesia’s five levels of government. https://australiaindonesia.com/politics/the-five-levels-of-government-in-indonesia/#:~:text=Across%20Indonesia%2C%20there%20are%2098%20cities%20and%20416%20regencies

  • Ezzati M, Kammen D (2001) Quantifying the effects of exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass combustion on acute respiratory infections in developing countries. Environ Health Perspect 109:481–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foley JA, Ramankutty N, Brauman KA, Cassidy ES, Gerber JS, Johnston M, Mueller ND, O’Connell C, Ray DK, West PC et al (2011) Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478(7369):337–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowlie M, Rubin E, Walker R (2019) Bringing satellite-based air quality estimates down to earth. In: AEA papers and proceedings, vol 109. American Economic Association, pp 283–288

  • Frankenberg E, Karoly L (1995) The 1993 Indonesia family life survey: Overview and field report. RAND, Santa Monica, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankenberg E, McKee D, Thomas D (2005) Health consequences of forest fires in Indonesia. Demography 42(109–129):1

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankenberg E, Thomas D (2000) The Indonesia family life survey (IFLS): Study design and results from waves 1 and 2. RAND, Santa Monica

    Google Scholar 

  • Gatto M, Wollni M, Asnawi R, Qaim M (2017) Oil palm boom, contract farming, and rural economic development: Village-level evidence from Indonesia. World Dev 95:127–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh A, Mukherji A (2014) Air pollution and respiratory ailments among children in urban India: Exploring causality. Econ Dev Cult Change 61(3):191–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs EPJ (2014) The evolution of One Health: A decade of progress and challenges for the future. Veterinary Record 174(4):85–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graff Zivin J, Liu T, Song Y, Tang Q, Zhang P (2020) The unintended impacts of agricultural fires: Human capital in China. J Dev Econ 147:102560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guarnieri M, Balmes JR (2014) Outdoor air pollution and asthma. Lancet 383(9928):1581–1592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiteras R, Levinsohn J, Mobarak AM (2019) Demand estimation with strategic complementarities: Sanitation in Bangladesh

  • Hanna R, Duflo E, Greenstone M (2016) Up in smoke: The influence of household behavior on the long-run impact of improved cooking stoves. Am Econ J Econ Pol 8(1):80–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imelda (2020) Cooking that kills: Cleaner energy access, indoor air pollution, and health. J Dev Econ 147:102548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayachandran S (2009) Air quality and early-life mortality evidence from Indonesia’s wildfires. J Hum resources 44(4):916–954

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeuland MA, Pattanayak SK, Bluffstone RA (2015) The economics of household air pollution. Ann Rev Resource Econ 7:81–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kashima S, Yorifuji T, Tsuda T, Ibrahim J, Doi H (2010) Effects of traffic-related outdoor air pollution on respiratory illness and mortality in children, taking into account indoor air pollution, in Indonesia. J Occup Environ Med 340–345

  • Kathuria V, Khan NA (2007) Vulnerability to air pollution: Is there any inequality in exposure? Econ Pol Wkly 42:3158–3165

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim MJ (2021) Air pollution, health, and avoidance behavior: Evidence from South Korea. Environ Resource Econ 79(1):63–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komisarow S, Pakhtigian EL (2021) The effect of coal-fired power plant closures on emergency department visits for asthma-related conditions among 0-to 4-year-old children in Chicago, 2009–2017. Am J Public Health 111(5):881–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kresch EP, Lipscomb M, Schechter L (2020) Externalities and spillovers from sanitation and waste management in urban and rural neighborhoods. Appl Econ Perspect Policy 42(3):395–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaFave D, Beyene AD, Bluffstone R, Dissanayake ST, Gebreegziabher Z, Mekonnen A, Toman M (2021) Impacts of improved biomass cookstoves on child and adult health: Experimental evidence from rural Ethiopia. World Dev 140:105332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JSH, Abood S, Ghazoul J, Barus B, Obidzinski K, Koh LP (2014) Environmental impacts of large-scale oil palm enterprises exceed that of smallholdings in Indonesia. Conserv Lett 7(1):25–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lelieveld J, Haines A, Pozzer A (2018) Age-dependent health risk from ambient air pollution: A modelling and data analysis of childhood mortality in middle-income and low-income countries. Lancet Planet Health 2(7):e292–e300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li G, Lu H, Hu W, Liu J, Hu M, He J, Huang F (2022) Outdoor air pollution enhanced the association between indoor air pollution exposure and hypertension in rural areas of eastern China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(49):74909–74920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Zhang X (2023) Environmental regulation, political incentives, and mortality in China. Eur J Polit Econ 78:102322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long D, Lewis D, Langpap C (2021) Negative traffic externalities and infant health: The role of income heterogeneity and residential sorting. Environ Resource Econ 80(3):637–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlier M, Bonilla E, Mickley L (2020) How do Brazilian fires affect air pollution and public health? Geohealth 4(12):e2020GH000331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin WJ, Glass RI, Balbus JM, Collins FS (2011) A major environmental cause of death. Science 334(6053):180–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mi E, Mi E, Jeggo M (2016) Where to now for one health and ecohealth? EcoHealth 13(1):12–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morello TF (2023) Hospitalization due to fire-induced pollution in the Brazilian Amazon: A causal inference analysis with an assessment of policy trade-offs. World Dev 161:106123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers SS, Gaffikin L, Golden CD, Ostfeld RS, Redford H, Ricketts KH, Turner TWR, Osofsky SA (2013) Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration. Proc Natl Acad Sci 110(47):18753–18760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolella AC, Belluzzo W (2014) The effect of reducing the pre-harvest burning of sugar cane on respiratory health in Brazil. Environ Dev Econ 20:127–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pakhtigian EL, Dickinson KL, Orgill-Meyer J, Pattanayak SK (2022) Sustaining latrine use: Peers, policies, and sanitation behaviors. J Econ Behav Org 200:223–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattanayak S, Kramer R, Vincent J (2017) Ecosystem change and human health: Implementation economics and policy. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 372(1722):20160130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattanayak SK, Pakhtigian EL, Litzow EL (2018) Through the looking glass: Environmental health economics in low and middle income countries. In: Handbook of environmental economics, vol 4. Elsevier, pp 143–191

  • Pattanayak SK, Pfaff A (2009) Behavior, environment and health in developing countries: Evaluation and valuation. Ann Rev Resource Econ 1:183–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proctor J, Carleton T, Sum S (2023) Parameter recovery using remotely sensed variables. Technical report, National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Prüss-Ustün A, Wolf J, Corvalán C, Bos R, Neira M (2015) Preventing disease through healthy environments. World Health Organization

  • Pullabhotla HK, Souza M (2022) Air pollution from agricultural fires increases hypertension risk. J Environ Econ Manag 115:102723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pullabhotla HK, Zahid M, Heft-Neal S, Rathi V, Burke M (2023) Global biomass fires and infant mortality. Proc Natl Acad Sci 120(23):e2218210120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rangel MA, Vogl TS (2019) Agricultural fires and health at birth. Rev Econ Stat 101(4):616–630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rentschler J, Leonova N (2023) Global air pollution exposure and poverty. Nat Commun 14(1):4432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rocha R, Sant’Anna AA (2022) Winds of fire and smoke: Air pollution and health in the Brazilian Amazon. World Dev 151:105722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen Y, Wu Y, Chen G, Van Grinsven HJ, Wang X, Gu B, Lou X (2017) Non-linear increase of respiratory diseases and their costs under severe air pollution. Environ Pollut 224:631–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shupler M, Hystad P, Birch A, Miller-Lionberg D, Jeronimo M, Arku RE, Chu YL, Mushtaha M, Heenan L, Rangarajan S et al (2020) Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. Lancet Planet Health 4(10):e451–e462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh P, Dey S (2021) Crop burning and forest fires: Long-term effect on adolescent height in India. Resource Energy Econ 65:101244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stabridis O, van Gameren E (2018) Exposure to firewood: Consequences for health and labor force participation in Mexico. World Dev 107:382–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss J, Beegle K, Sikoki B, Dwiyanto A, Herawati Y, Witoelar F (March 2004) The third wave of the Indonesia family life survey (IFLS): Overview and field report. WR-144/1-NIA/NICHD

  • Strauss J, Witoelar F, Sikoki B, Wattie AM (April 2009) The fourth wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS4): Overview and field report. WR-675/1-NIA/NICHD

  • Tallis H, Kreis K, Olander L, Ringler C, Ameyaw D, Borsuk ME, Fletschner D, Game E, Gilligan DO, Jeuland M et al (2019) Aligning evidence generation and use across health, development, and environment. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 39:81–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan Soo J-S (2018) Valuing air quality in Indonesia using households’ locational choices. Environ Resource Econ 71(3):755–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan-Soo J-S, Pattanayak SK (2019) Seeking natural capital projects: Forest fires, haze, and early-life exposure in Indonesia. Proc Natl Acad Sci 116(12):5239–5245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thoday K, Benjamin P, Gan M, Puzzolo E (2018) The mega conversion program from kerosene to LPG in Indonesia: Lessons learned and recommendations for future clean cooking energy expansion. Energy Sustain Dev 46:71–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vadrevu K, Ohara T, Justice C (2017) Land cover, land use changes and air pollution in Asia: A synthesis. Environ Res Lett 12(12):120201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Donkelaar A, Hammer MS, Bindle L, Brauer M, Brook JR, Garay MJ, Hsu NC, Kalashnikova OV, Kahn RA, Lee C et al (2021) Monthly global estimates of fine particulate matter and their uncertainty. Environ Sci Technol 55(22):15287–15300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitmee S, Haines A, Beyrer C, Boltz F, Capon AG, de Souza Dias BF, Ezeh A, Frumkin H, Gong P, Head P et al (2015) Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. Lancet 386(10007):1973–2028

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue T, Li J, Tong M, Fan X, Li P, Wang R, Li Y, Zheng Y, Li J, Guan T et al (2023) Stillbirths attributable to open fires and their geographic disparities in non-Western countries. Environ Pollut 334:122170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue T, Tong M, Li J, Wang R, Guan T, Li J, Li P, Liu H, Lu H, Li Y et al (2022) Estimation of stillbirths attributable to ambient fine particles in 137 countries. Nat Commun 13(1):6950

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto SS, Louis VR, Sié A, Sauerborn R (2014) Biomass smoke in Burkina Faso: What is the relationship between particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and kitchen characteristics? Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:2581–2591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang L, Yang J, Liu M, Sun X, Li T, Guo Y, Hu K, Bell ML, Cheng Q, Kan H et al (2022) Nonlinear effect of air pollution on adult pneumonia hospital visits in the coastal city of Qingdao, China: A time-series analysis. Environ Res 209:112754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Xia Y, Cao L, Chang Q, Zhao Y (2022a) Associations between long term exposures to outdoor air pollution and indoor solid fuel use and depression in China. J Environ Manag 302:113982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang L, Wilson JP, Zhao N, Zhang W, Wu Y (2022b) The dynamics of cardiovascular and respiratory deaths attributed to long-term PM2.5 exposures in global megacities. Sci Total Environ 842:156951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao B, Wang S, Ding D, Wu W, Chang X, Wang J, Xing J, Jang C, Fu JS, Zhu Y et al (2019) Nonlinear relationships between air pollutant emissions and PM2.5-related health impacts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Sci Total Environ 661:375–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Z, Zhang Z, Wang Z, Ferm M, Liang Y, Norbäck D (2008) Asthmatic symptoms among pupils in relation to winter indoor and outdoor air pollution in schools in Taiyuan, China. Environ Health Perspect 116(1):90–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Conceptualization [E.L. Pakhtigian, S.K. Pattanayak, J.-S. Tan-Soo]; Methodology [E.L. Pakhtigian, S.K. Pattanayak, J.-S. Tan-Soo]; Formal analysis and investigation [E.L. Pakhtigian]; Writing-original draft [E.L. Pakhtigian, S.K. Pattanayak, J.-S. Tan-Soo]; Writing-review and editing [E.L. Pakhtigian, S.K. Pattanayak, J.-S. Tan-Soo].

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily L. Pakhtigian.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

Statement of exclusive submission

This paper has not been submitted elsewhere in identical or similar form, nor will it be during the first three months after its submission to the Publisher.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file 1 (pdf 238 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pakhtigian, E.L., Pattanayak, S.K. & Tan-Soo, JS. Forest Fires, Smoky Kitchens, and Human Health in Indonesia. Environ Resource Econ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-024-00865-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-024-00865-y

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation