Importance of neighbors in rural households’ conversion to cleaner cooking fuels: The impact and mechanisms of peer effects

While household conversion to clean cooking fuels is well documented, the peer influence of neighbors on rural households using clean cooking fuels has not been investigated. This study examines the influence of neighbors on rural households switching to cleaner cooking fuels. Based on data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies, this paper uses a spatial econometric model to analyze the neighborhood effects in the process of adopting clean cooking fuels among rural households in China. The findings show that neighborhood effects influence the adoption of clean cooking fuels by rural households in the same village through social norms and social multiplier effects. Neighborhood effects also indirectly promote the adoption of clean cooking fuels by rural households through the Internet. There is heterogeneity in the neighborhood effects on the adoption of clean cooking fuels by rural households. Therefore, this study recommends related policies to facilitate the transition to clean cooking fuel in rural regions.