IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/33362.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Spillovers in learning and behavior: Evidence from a nutritional information campaign in urban slums

Author

Listed:
  • Singh, Prakarsh

Abstract

This paper provides evidence for spillovers in learning and behavior within urban slums in Chandigarh, India. In an experiment, mothers of children (aged 3-6 years) enrolled in government day-care centers were provided recipe books to lower their price per calorie. Theory suggests that if learning takes place among untreated mothers in the same slum cluster, it may increase or decrease their food expenditure. Results from a difference-in-differences analysis show that nutritional knowledge increases among untreated mothers and there is a corresponding reduction in food expenditure. These neighbouring mothers exhibit learning spillovers and a reduction in expenditure regardless of their level of literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Singh, Prakarsh, 2011. "Spillovers in learning and behavior: Evidence from a nutritional information campaign in urban slums," MPRA Paper 33362, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/33362/1/MPRA_paper_33362.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1007-1065.
    2. Subramanian, Shankar & Deaton, Angus, 1996. "The Demand for Food and Calories," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-162, February.
    3. Emily Oster & Rebecca Thornton, 2009. "Determinants of Technology Adoption: Private Value and Peer Effects in Menstrual Cup Take-Up," NBER Working Papers 14828, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Oriana Bandiera & Imran Rasul, 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 869-902, October.
    5. Deri, Catherine, 2005. "Social networks and health service utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1076-1107, November.
    6. Esther Duflo & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 815-842.
    7. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_dreze_india_nutrition.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Angus Deaton & Jean Dreze, 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Papers 1071, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    9. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_dreze_india_nutrition is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Hsieh, Chee-Ruey & Yen, Lee-Lan & Liu, Jin-Tan & Chyongchiou Jeng Lin, 1996. "Smoking, health knowledge, and anti-smoking campaigns: An empirical study in Taiwan," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 87-104, February.
    11. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    12. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_dreze_india_nutrition is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Anoshua Chaudhuri, 2009. "Spillover Impacts of a Reproductive Health Program on Elderly Women in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 113-125, June.
    14. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    15. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_dreze_india_nutrition.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    17. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    18. Godlonton, Susan & Thornton, Rebecca, 2012. "Peer effects in learning HIV results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 118-129.
    19. Singh, Prakarsh, 2011. "Performance Pay and Information: Reducing Child Malnutrition in Urban Slums," MPRA Paper 29403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Michele Gragnolati & Caryn Bredenkamp & Meera Shekar & Monica Das Gupta & Yi-Kyoung Lee, 2006. "India's Undernourished Children : A Call for Reform and Action," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7241, December.
    21. Siegel, M. & Biener, L., 2000. "The impact of an antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking: Results of a longitudinal youth study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(3), pages 380-386.
    22. Ritva Reinikka & Jakob Svensson, 2005. "Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(2-3), pages 259-267, 04/05.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Singh, Prakarsh, 2015. "Performance pay and information: Reducing child undernutrition in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 141-163.
    2. Singh, Prakarsh, 2011. "Performance Pay and Information: Reducing Child Malnutrition in Urban Slums," MPRA Paper 29403, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Singh, Prakarsh, 2016. "Learning and Behavioral Spillovers of Nutritional Information," IZA Discussion Papers 10085, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Antonia Grohmann & Sahra Sakha, 2015. "The Effect of Peer Observation on Consumption Choices: Experimental Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1525, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Kandpal, Eeshani & Baylis, Kathy, 2019. "The social lives of married women: Peer effects in female autonomy and investments in children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 26-43.
    5. Emily Oster & Rebecca Thornton, 2012. "Determinants Of Technology Adoption: Peer Effects In Menstrual Cup Take-Up," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1263-1293, December.
    6. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2010. "Microeconomics of Technology Adoption," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 395-424, September.
    7. Jing Cai & Alain De Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Social Networks and the Decision to Insure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 81-108, April.
    8. Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Gulati, Kajal, 2013. "Female social networks and learning about a new technology in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150688, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Prakarsh Singh, 2017. "Learning and Behavioural Spillovers of Nutritional Information," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(6), pages 911-931, June.
    10. Ariel BenYishay & A. Mushfiq Mobarak, 2014. "Social Learning and Communication," NBER Working Papers 20139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. BenYishay, Ariel & Mobarak, A. Mushfiq, 2013. "Communicating with Farmers through Social Networks," Center Discussion Papers 156233, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    12. Grant Miller & A. Mushfiq Mobarak, 2015. "Learning About New Technologies Through Social Networks: Experimental Evidence on Nontraditional Stoves in Bangladesh," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 480-499, July.
    13. Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1007-1065.
    14. Godlonton, Susan & Thornton, Rebecca, 2012. "Peer effects in learning HIV results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 118-129.
    15. Grohmann, Antonia & Sakha, Sahra, 2019. "The effect of peer observation on consumption choices: evidence from a lab-in-field experiment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 51(55), pages 5937-5951.
    16. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie, 2012. "Seeing is Believing? Evidence from a Demonstration Plot Experiment in Mozambique:," MSSP working papers 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Pakhtigian, Emily L. & Dickinson, Katherine L. & Orgill-Meyer, Jennifer & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2022. "Sustaining latrine use: Peers, policies, and sanitation behaviors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 223-242.
    18. Singh, Prakarsh, 2011. "Performance Pay and Information: Reducing Child Malnutrition in Urban Slums," MPRA Paper 29403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Gulati, Kajal & Lybbert, Travis J., 2015. "Information networks among women and men and the demand for an agricultural technology in India:," IFPRI discussion papers 1411, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew & Gerber, Nicolas & Matz, Julia Anna, 2018. "Gendered Social Networks, Agricultural Innovations, and Farm Productivity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 321-335.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Externality; Informational Spillovers; Child health; Learning; Communication; Urban slums; Behavioral Change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.