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Village sanitation and child health: Effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India

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  • Hammer, Jeffrey
  • Spears, Dean

Abstract

Over a billion people worldwide defecate in the open, with important consequences for early-life health and human capital accumulation in developing countries. We report a cluster randomized controlled trial of a village sanitation intervention conducted in rural Maharashtra, India designed to identify an effect of village sanitation on average child height, an outcome of increasing importance to economists. We find an effect of approximately 0.3 height-for-age standard deviations, which is consistent with observations and hypotheses in economic and health literatures. We further exploit details of the planning and implementation of the experiment to study treatment heterogeneity and external validity.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:48:y:2016:i:c:p:135-148
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.03.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sanitation; Health; Experiment; External validity; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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