title: Analysis of residents' willingness to pay to reduce air pollution to improve children's health in community and hospital settings in Shanghai, China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Shanghai, along with many major cities in China, faces deterioration of air quality and increases in air pollution-related respiratory diseases (RDs) in children due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing children's RDs through air quality improvement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between April and May, 2014, 975 face-to-face interviews were collected from parents in a community-based and a hospital-setting in Shanghai. Multiple imputation and the Probit model were used to determine the relationship between the WTP and the related environmental factors, child health factors and the socio-economic status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most respondents reported being willing to make a financial contribution to improve air quality in both the community (52.6%) and hospital (70.2%) samples. Those in the hospital setting were willing to pay significantly more ¥504 (USD$80.7) compared to the community sample ¥428 ($68.5) as expected. Reasons for those not being willing to pay included lack of disposable income and believing that responsibility of the air quality was a community issue. These did not differ by sample. Annual household income and education were related to WTP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicated that parents in Shanghai would be willing to pay for improved air quality. Children's health can be the incentive for the citizens' participation and support in the air quality improvement, therefore, hospital settings may present unique places to improve education about air quality and enhance advocacy efforts. This study also suggested that future environmental policies be addressed more rigorously for targeted populations.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Keran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jinyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Renjie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
authors.forename: Jay E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maddock
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. Electronic address: yuanan@hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: Yuanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D058735:Environmental Policy; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013660:Taxes
keywords: Air pollution; Child health; Shanghai; Willingness to pay