Leveraging Technology to Prioritize Environmental Enforcement

Air pollution is one of the most serious threats to human health in South Asia. Still, environmental regulations are only partially enforced. The researchers test if a dashboard providing bureaucrats with information about the harm of different air pollution sources can direct enforcement towards the most harmful sources. In a nation-wide field experiment, this pilot studies brick kilns, one of the largest contributing factors to air pollution in Bangladesh. The project documents the damage of each kiln by 1) coupling satellite data (analyzed by machine learning algorithm) with an air quality model estimating each kiln’s public health effects, 2) creating an online tracker summarizing this information, and 3) providing it to the Department of Environment in Bangladesh. The researchers randomize districts into two groups: treated districts, for which the tracker provides information on a random subset of sub-districts, and pure control districts, for which the tracker does not provide information. The researchers focus on the following outcomes: enforcement activities, brick kiln owners switching to less polluting technologies, and total health harm. By randomizing both across and within districts, the researchers will test if there are spillovers on areas adjacent to those covered by the tracker.