IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajarec/v69y2025i3p625-648.html

The Impacts of the Sanitation Campaign on Improving Living Environments: Evidence From Rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Qingen Gai
  • Chengzheng Li
  • Xiong Xiao

Abstract

To narrow the gap in living environments between rural and urban areas, the Chinese government launched a nationwide sanitation campaign to improve the rural living environment. This paper uses rural household survey data and employs an econometric approach to evaluate the various effects of this top‐down sanitation campaign. The empirical results indicate that the environmental benefits of the sanitation campaign are statistically significant, whereas the short‐term health and income effects are not. Villages completing the sanitation campaign (or with higher completion scores) enjoy a relatively better living environment: a statistically significant decline in the probability of having household waste, domestic sewage and human and animal excrement (odour) near homes. In addition, we also find that rural sanitation campaigns stimulate environmentally friendly behaviours of rural residents. JEL Classification: P28, P25, Q52

Suggested Citation

  • Qingen Gai & Chengzheng Li & Xiong Xiao, 2025. "The Impacts of the Sanitation Campaign on Improving Living Environments: Evidence From Rural China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 69(3), pages 625-648, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajarec:v:69:y:2025:i:3:p:625-648
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8489.70011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8489.70011
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8489.70011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stopnitzky, Yaniv, 2017. "No toilet no bride? Intrahousehold bargaining in male-skewed marriage markets in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 269-282.
    2. Cameron, Lisa & Santos, Paulo & Thomas, Milan & Albert, Jeff, 2021. "Sanitation, financial incentives and health spillovers: A cluster randomised trial," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti & Khan, Shakeeb & Timmins, Christopher, 2010. "The impact of piped water provision on infant mortality in Brazil: A quantile panel data approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 188-200, July.
    4. Junpeng Li & Puneet Vatsa & Wanglin Ma, 2024. "Flush toilet use and its impact on health and non‐health expenditures," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 2022-2046, May.
    5. Lee, Lung-fei & Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Pitt, Mark M., 1997. "The effects of improved nutrition, sanitation, and water quality on child health in high-mortality populations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 209-235, March.
    6. Abramovsky, Laura & Augsburg, Britta & Lührmann, Melanie & Oteiza, Francisco & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2023. "Community matters: Heterogeneous impacts of a sanitation intervention," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    7. Cameron, Lisa & Gertler, Paul & Shah, Manisha & Alzua, Maria Laura & Martinez, Sebastian & Patil, Sumeet, 2022. "The dirty business of eliminating open defecation: The effect of village sanitation on child height from field experiments in four countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Watson, Tara, 2006. "Public health investments and the infant mortality gap: Evidence from federal sanitation interventions on U.S. Indian reservations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1537-1560, September.
    9. Marcella Alsan & Claudia Goldin, 2019. "Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 586-638.
    10. Mettetal, Elizabeth, 2019. "Irrigation dams, water and infant mortality: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 17-40.
    11. Cameron, Lisa & Olivia, Susan & Shah, Manisha, 2019. "Scaling up sanitation: Evidence from an RCT in Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1-16.
    12. Brainerd, Elizabeth & Menon, Nidhiya, 2014. "Seasonal effects of water quality: The hidden costs of the Green Revolution to infant and child health in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 49-64.
    13. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2016. "Village sanitation and child health: Effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 135-148.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Thanh-Tung & Do, Manh Hung & Rahut, Dil & Nguyen, Duy Linh, 2025. "Remittances, sanitation and child malnutrition in middle-income countries: A case study from rural Northeast Thailand and Central Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    2. Wang, Dongqin & Shen, Yanni, 2022. "Sanitation and work time: Evidence from the toilet revolution in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Vikram Dayal & Anand Murugesan & Tauhidur Rahman, 2022. "Drain on your health: Sanitation externalities from dirty drains in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2251-2273, November.
    4. Makate, Marshall & Makate, Clifton, 2016. "Is poor sanitation killing more children in rural Zimbabwe? Results of propensity score matching method," MPRA Paper 72831, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Aug 2016.
    5. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Phung, Tung Duc, 2024. "Financial incentives for sanitation take-up: A randomized control trial in rural Vietnam," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Pakhtigian, Emily L. & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2024. "Social setting, gender, and preferences for improved sanitation: Evidence from experimental games in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    7. Evan Plous Kresch & Molly Lipscomb & Laura Schechter, 2020. "Externalities and Spillovers from Sanitation and Waste Management in Urban and Rural Neighborhoods," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3), pages 395-420, September.
    8. Gautam, Sanghmitra & Gechter, Michael & Guiteras, Raymond P. & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2024. "Encouraging Rural Sanitation Take-up: Insights from Experimental Evaluations of Interventions," CEnREP Working Papers 340057, North Carolina State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    9. Augsburg, Britta & Baquero, Juan P. & Gautam, Sanghmitra & Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul, 2023. "Sanitation and marriage markets in India: Evidence from the Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    10. Saraswat, Deepak, 2024. "Gender composition of children and sanitation behavior in India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Kazuki Motohashi, 2023. "Unintended Consequences of Sanitation Investment: Negative Externalities on Water Quality and Health in India," ISER Discussion Paper 1210, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    12. 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.
    13. Gautam, Sanghmitra & Gechter, Michael & Guiteras, Raymond P. & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2025. "To use financial incentives or not? Insights from experiments in encouraging sanitation investments in four countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Cameron, Lisa & Gertler, Paul & Shah, Manisha & Alzua, Maria Laura & Martinez, Sebastian & Patil, Sumeet, 2022. "The dirty business of eliminating open defecation: The effect of village sanitation on child height from field experiments in four countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    15. Do, Quy-Toan & Joshi, Shareen & Stolper, Samuel, 2018. "Can environmental policy reduce infant mortality? Evidence from the Ganga Pollution Cases," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 306-325.
    16. Augsburg, Britta & Bancalari, Antonella & Durrani, Zara & Vaidyanathan, Madhav & White, Zach, 2022. "When nature calls back: Sustaining behavioral change in rural Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    17. Li, Li & Xiao, Yun, 2023. "Beyond boiling: The effect of in utero exposure to treated tap water on childhood health," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. Lisa Cameron & An Huang & Paulo Santos & Milan Thomas, 2025. "Behavioral Adaptation to Improved Environmental Quality: Evidence From a Sanitation Intervention," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(11), pages 2037-2058, November.
    19. Michael Geruso & Dean Spears, 2018. "Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 125-162, April.
    20. Augsburg, Britta & Malde, Bansi & Olorenshaw, Harriet & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2023. "To invest or not to invest in sanitation: The role of intra-household gender differences in perceptions and bargaining power," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • P28 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Natural Resources; Environment
    • P25 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    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:bla:ajarec:v:69:y:2025:i:3:p:625-648. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaresea.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.