The Dangerous Economist: Life is full of tradeoffs: The requirements of public health versus the needs of a developing economy

See India’s Novel Attempts at Battling Deadly Air Pollution Are Falling Short: Residents see antismog guns and drones as ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a serious air-pollution problem by Shan Li of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Last month, a key measure of air pollution reached a level more than 100 times higher than the limits the World Health Organization considers safe on Nov. 18, according to calculations from the environmental think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air."
"“Just by the Delhi government trying to do more will not lead to higher outcomes,” it said in a statement, adding that China and Mexico had successfully tackled pollution in their capitals because authorities there applied stringent policies across an affected region. “India is yet to take these kinds of measures.”
Arvind Nautiyal, spokesman for the Commission for Air Quality Management, a central government body that coordinates pollution-control efforts for the capital and adjoining areas, said the agency has focused on reducing pollution at the source. Policies include encouraging farmers to reduce stubble burning by subsidizing the cost of machines that will mulch straw instead of burning it, requiring industries to switch to cleaner sources of fuel, and taking old cars off the street.
India has to weigh the requirements of public health, he added, versus the needs of a developing economy.
“Our economic scenario will not support any drastic action,” he said.
From 2013 to 2021, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, nearly 60% of the world’s increase in air pollution has come from India, which is seeking to speed up economic growth and lift incomes. India’s air-pollution problems extend well beyond Delhi.
But the capital’s problem is particularly striking, with air pollution there costing inhabitants—who include the country’s political elites—nearly eight years of life expectancy, according to the institute."

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