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Heterogeneous treatment effects of safe water on infectious disease: Do meteorological factors matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Kota Ogasawara

    (Graduate School of Social Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan)

  • Yukitoshi Matsushita

    (Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Japan)

Abstract

Mortality from waterborne infectious diseases remains a serious issue globally. Investigating the efficient laying plan of waterworks to mitigate the risk factors for such diseases has been an important research avenue for industrializing countries. While a growing body of the literature has revealed the mitigating effects of water-purification facilities on diseases, the heterogeneous treatment effects of clean water have been understudied. The present study thus focuses on the treatment effect heterogeneity of piped water with respect to the external meteorological environment of cities in industrializing Japan. To estimate the varying effects, we implement fixed-effects semivarying coefficient models to deal with the unobservable confounding factors, using a nationwide city-level panel dataset between 1922 and 1940. We find evidence that the magnitude of safe water on the reduction in the typhoid death rate is larger in cities with a higher temperature, which is consistent with recent epidemiological evidence. These findings underscore the importance of the variations in the external meteorological conditions of the municipalities that install water-purification facilities in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Kota Ogasawara & Yukitoshi Matsushita, 2019. "Heterogeneous treatment effects of safe water on infectious disease: Do meteorological factors matter?," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 13(1), pages 55-82, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:afc:cliome:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:55-82
    DOI: 10.1007/s11698-017-0169-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Inoue, Tatsuki & Ogasawara, Kota, 2020. "Chain effects of clean water: The Mills–Reincke phenomenon in early 20th-century Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    2. Daniel Gallardo-Albarrán, 2024. "The Global Sanitary Revolution in Historical Perspective," Working Papers 0247, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    3. Damian Clarke & Manuel Llorca Jaña & Daniel Pailañir, 2023. "The use of quantile methods in economic history," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 115-132, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate; Heterogeneous treatment effects; Panel-data analysis; Public health; Semi/nonparametric estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • N55 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Asia including Middle East

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