Browsing by Author "Hassen, Sied"

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    Decision-making within the Household: The Role of Autonomy and Differences in Preferences
    (2018-03) Alem, Yonas; Hassen, Sied; Köhlin, Gunnar; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
    We use a field experiment to identify how differences in preferences and autonomy in decision-making result in sub-optimal adoption of technologies that can maximize the welfare of all members of the household. We create income-earning opportunities and elicit willingness- to-pay (WTP) for energy-efficient cookstoves through a real stove purchase experiment with randomly chosen wives, husbands and couples. Experimental results suggest that women, who often are responsible for cooking and for collecting fuelwood, reveal a higher preference than men for the improved stoves. Using an instrumental variables tobit estimator, we show that women who have higher decision-making autonomy reveal higher WTP than those who have lower decision-making autonomy. A follow-up survey conducted 15 months after the stove purchase show that autonomy does not affect stove use. Our findings highlight the importance of considering division of labor, different preferences, and bargaining power differences within the household when promoting adoption of new household technologies.
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    Household fuel choice in urban China: A random effect generalized probit analysis
    (2014-05) Zhang, Xiao-Bing; Hassen, Sied; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
    Using seven rounds of household survey data that span more than a decade, this paper analyzes the determinants of household fuel choice in urban China. Unlike the existing studies, we use an empirical strategy that takes into account the potential heterogeneous effects of socio-economic factors in households’ preference ordering. Robustness of this empirical strategy is checked against alternative methods. The results show that household fuel choice in urban China is related to fuel prices, household’s economic status and size, and household head’s gender, education and occupation. Our results suggest that policies and interventions that raise household income, reduce prices of clean fuel sources, and empower women in the household are of great significance in encouraging the adoption of clean energy sources.
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    The Dynamics of Electric Cookstove Adoption: Panel data evidence from Ethiopia
    (2013-02) Alem, Yonas; Hassen, Sied; Köhlin, Gunnar; Dept of Economics, University of Gothenburg
    Previous studies on improved cookstove adoption in developing countries use cross-sectional data, which makes it difficult to control for unobserved heterogeneity and investigate what happens to adoption over time. We use robust non-linear panel data and hazard models on three rounds of panel data from urban Ethiopia to investigate the determinants and dynamics of electric cookstove adoption. We find the price of electricity and firewood, and access to credit as major determinants of adoption and transition. Our findings have important implications for policies aiming at promotion of energy transition and reduction of the pressure on forest resources in developing countries.