SANITATION, DISEASE EXTERNALITIES AND ANAEMIA: EVIDENCE FROM NEPAL

Anaemia impairs physical and cognitive development in children and reduces human capital accumulation. The prior economics literature has focused on the role of inadequate nutrition in causing anaemia. This article is the first to show that sanitation, a public good, significantly contributes to pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Economic journal (London) 2018-06, Vol.128 (611), p.1395-1432
Main Authors: Coffey, Diane, Geruso, Michael, Spears, Dean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Anemia
Capital formation
Child development
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive development
Economic models
Economic theory
Externality
Hemoglobin
Human capital
Nutrition
Original
Sanitation
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Summary:Anaemia impairs physical and cognitive development in children and reduces human capital accumulation. The prior economics literature has focused on the role of inadequate nutrition in causing anaemia. This article is the first to show that sanitation, a public good, significantly contributes to preventing anaemia. We identify effects by exploiting rapid and differential improvement in sanitation across regions of Nepal between 2006 and 2011. Within regions over time, cohorts of children exposed to better community sanitation developed higher haemoglobin levels. Our results highlight a previously undocumented externality of open defaecation, which is today practiced by over a billion people worldwide.
ISSN:0013-0133
1468-0297
DOI:10.1111/ecoj.12491