IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v190y2025ics0305750x25000609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Remittances, sanitation and child malnutrition in middle-income countries: A case study from rural Northeast Thailand and Central Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen, Trung Thanh
  • Nguyen, Thanh-Tung
  • Do, Manh Hung
  • Rahut, Dil
  • Nguyen, Duy Linh

Abstract

•Remittances increase the propensity of owning a flush toilet.•Owning a flush toilet reduces children’s underweight, wasting, and stunting.•Female children and children from poor households benefit more.•Children from lower educated mothers benefit less.•Improving rural education and public water systems reduces child undernutrition.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:190:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000609
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.106975
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25000609
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.106975?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher F Baum & Arthur Lewbel, 2019. "Advice on using heteroskedasticity-based identification," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 19(4), pages 757-767, December.
    2. Kleibergen, Frank & Paap, Richard, 2006. "Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 97-126, July.
    3. Adams, Richard Jr. & Page, John, 2005. "Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1645-1669, October.
    4. Yang, Shang-Ho & Woods, Timothy A., 2013. "Assessing Consumer Willingness to Pay for Ground Bison Given Nutrition Information," 2013 Annual Meeting, February 2-5, 2013, Orlando, Florida 143079, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    5. O'Donnell, Owen & Nicolás, Ángel López & Van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2009. "Growing richer and taller: Explaining change in the distribution of child nutritional status during Vietnam's economic boom," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 45-58, January.
    6. Wang, Dongqin & Shen, Yanni, 2022. "Sanitation and work time: Evidence from the toilet revolution in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. S Gautam & B Augsburg & J. P Baquero & P Rodriguez, 2021. "Sanitation and Marriage Markets in India: Evidence from the Total Sanitation Campaign," Documentos de Trabajo 19624, Universidad del Rosario.
    8. Chen, Yuyu & Li, Hongbin, 2009. "Mother's education and child health: Is there a nurturing effect?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, March.
    9. 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.
    10. Oliver Schulte & Julian Mumber & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2023. "Agricultural commercialisation, asset growth and poverty in rural Vietnam," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(3), pages 388-416, July.
    11. Lewbel, Arthur, 2018. "Identification and estimation using heteroscedasticity without instruments: The binary endogenous regressor case," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 10-12.
    12. Rahman, Mohammad Hifz Ur & Malik, Manzoor Ahmad & Chauhan, Shekhar & Patel, Ratna & Singh, Ashish & Mittal, Anshu, 2020. "Examining the linkage between open defecation and child malnutrition in India," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    13. Do, Manh Hung & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2024. "Impact of crop commercialization on smallholder farmers’ resilience to shocks: Evidence from panel data for rural Southeast Asia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Derek Headey & Giordano Palloni, 2019. "Water, Sanitation, and Child Health: Evidence From Subnational Panel Data in 59 Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 729-752, April.
    15. 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.
    16. Acheampong, Alex O. & Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Tetteh, Godsway Korku, 2024. "Unveiling the effect of income inequality on safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): Does financial inclusion matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    17. Larry L. Howard & Denise L. Stanley, 2017. "Remittances channels and the physical growth of Honduran children," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 376-397, May.
    18. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    19. Sebastian Galiani & Paul Gertler & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2005. "Water for Life: The Impact of the Privatization of Water Services on Child Mortality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 83-120, February.
    20. repec:plo:pone00:0122244 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Amy J. Pickering & Habiba Djebbari & Carolina Lopez & Massa Coulibaly & Maria Laura Alzua, 2015. "Effect of a community-led sanitation intervention on child diarrhoea and child growth in rural Mali: a cluster-randomised controlled trial," Post-Print hal-01456117, HAL.
    22. Suzanna I. Vidmar & Tim J. Cole & Huiqi Pan, 2013. "Standardizing anthropometric measures in children and adolescents with functions for egen: Update," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 13(2), pages 366-378, June.
    23. Alan de Brauw & Tomoko Harigaya, 2007. "Seasonal Migration and Improving Living Standards in Vietnam," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 430-447.
    24. Askarov, Zohid & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2020. "A meta-analysis of the effects of remittances on household education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    25. 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).
    26. Deutschmann, Joshua W. & Gars, Jared & Houde, Jean-François & Lipscomb, Molly & Schechter, Laura, 2023. "Privatization of public goods: Evidence from the sanitation sector in Senegal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    27. Mehdi Chowdhury & Dragana Radicic, 2019. "Remittances and Asset Accumulation in Bangladesh: A Study Using Generalised Propensity Score," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 475-494, August.
    28. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    29. Currie, Janet, 2000. "Child health in developed countries," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 19, pages 1053-1090, Elsevier.
    30. Roger Tsafack & Ronald Djeunankan, 2021. "Do remittances improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation in developing countries?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(4), pages 2697-2710.
    31. Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia & Ronald Djeunankan, 2023. "Access to drinking water and sanitation in developing countries: Does financial development matter?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 457-481, July.
    32. 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.
    33. Rheinländer, Thilde & Samuelsen, Helle & Dalsgaard, Anders & Konradsen, Flemming, 2010. "Hygiene and sanitation among ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam: Does government promotion match community priorities?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 994-1001, September.
    34. 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).
    35. Sophia C. Terrelonge, 2014. "For Health, Strength, and Daily Food: The Dual Impact of Remittances and Public Health Expenditure on Household Health Spending and Child Health Outcomes," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1397-1410, November.
    36. Augsburg, Britta & Rodríguez-Lesmes, Paul Andrés, 2018. "Sanitation and child health in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 22-39.
    37. Kroeger, Antje & Anderson, Kathryn H., 2014. "Remittances and the human capital of children: New evidence from Kyrgyzstan during revolution and financial crisis, 2005–2009," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 770-785.
    38. Trung Thanh Nguyen & Viet Tuan Tran & Thanh-Tung Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2021. "Farming efficiency, cropland rental market and income effect: evidence from panel data for rural Central Vietnam," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(1), pages 207-248.
    39. Subha Mani, 2014. "Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 81-104, March.
    40. Aslam, Monazza & Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2012. "Parental Education and Child Health—Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 2014-2032.
    41. 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.
    42. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    43. Stuhler, Jan & Jaeger, David & Ruist, Joakim, 2018. "Shift-Share Instruments and the Impact of Immigration," CEPR Discussion Papers 12701, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    44. Duncan Mara & Jon Lane & Beth Scott & David Trouba, 2010. "Sanitation and Health," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(11), pages 1-7, November.
    45. Yi Chen & Xiaoyan Lei & Li-An Zhou, 2017. "Does Raising Family Income Cause Better Child Health? Evidence from China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(3), pages 495-520.
    46. Payal Hathi & Sabrina Haque & Lovey Pant & Diane Coffey & Dean Spears, 2017. "Place and Child Health: The Interaction of Population Density and Sanitation in Developing Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 337-360, February.
    47. Spears, Dean, 2020. "Exposure to open defecation can account for the Indian enigma of child height," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    48. Fedorov, Leonid & Sahn, David E, 2005. "Socioeconomic Determinants of Children's Health in Russia: A Longitudinal Study," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 479-500, January.
    49. Kassouf, Ana L & Senauer, Benjamin, 1996. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Parental Education on Malnutrition among Children in Brazil: A Full Income Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(4), pages 817-838, July.
    50. Thanh-Tung Nguyen & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2020. "Credit and Ethnic Consumption Inequality in the Central Highlands of Vietnam," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 143-172, February.
    51. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Loc Duc & Lippe, Rattiya Suddeephong & Grote, Ulrike, 2017. "Determinants of Farmers’ Land Use Decision-Making: Comparative Evidence From Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 199-213.
    52. Huy, Hoang Trieu & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Cropland rental market and farm technical efficiency in rural Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 408-423.
    53. Firestone, Rebecca & Punpuing, Sureeporn & Peterson, Karen E. & Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores & Gortmaker, Steven L., 2011. "Child overweight and undernutrition in Thailand: Is there an urban effect?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(9), pages 1420-1428, May.
    54. Richard Adams, 2011. "Evaluating the Economic Impact of International Remittances On Developing Countries Using Household Surveys: A Literature Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 809-828.
    55. Atheendar S. Venkataramani, 2011. "The intergenerational transmission of height: evidence from rural Vietnam," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(12), pages 1448-1467, December.
    56. Perard, Edouard, 2018. "Economic and financial aspects of the sanitation challenge: A practitioner approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 22-26.
    57. Muhammed A. Usman & Nicolas Gerber & Joachim von Braun, 2019. "The Impact of Drinking Water Quality and Sanitation on Child Health: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(10), pages 2193-2211, October.
    58. Lisa Chauvet & Flore Gubert & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2009. "Les transferts des migrants sont-ils plus efficaces que l'aide pour améliorer la santé des enfants ? Une évaluation économétrique sur des données inter et intra-pays," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 17(4), pages 41-80.
    59. repec:sae:mrxval:v:52:y:2018:i:1:p:43-65 is not listed on IDEAS
    60. Gautam, Sanghmitra, 2023. "Quantifying welfare effects in the presence of externalities: An ex-ante evaluation of sanitation interventions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    61. Sokchea Lim & Walter O. Simmons, 2016. "What Have Remittances Done to Development? Evidence from the Caribbean Community and Common Market," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 43(3), pages 343-361, December.
    62. Pal, Sarmistha, 1999. "An Analysis of Childhood Malnutrition in Rural India: Role of Gender, Income and Other Household Characteristics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1151-1171, July.
    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. 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).
    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. Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab & Guiteras, Raymond P. & Levinsohn, James & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2023. "Social and financial incentives for overcoming a collective action problem," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    4. Linh D. Nguyen & Thanh T. Nguyen & Tung T. Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2025. "Health shock and indebtedness: Does having access to health insurance reduce the reliance on borrowing as a shock coping strategy?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 823-862, May.
    5. Trung Thanh Nguyen & Manh Hung Do & Dil B. Rahut & Viet Hung Nguyen & Panharoth Chhay, 2023. "Female leadership, internet use, and performance of agricultural cooperatives in Vietnam," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 877-903, September.
    6. Do, Manh Hung & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2023. "Land consolidation, rice production, and agricultural transformation: Evidence from household panel data for Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 157-173.
    7. Juliana Souza Scriptore Moreira & Carlos Roberto Azzoni & Naercio Menezes‐Filho, 2024. "Sanitation conditions and education outcomes in Brazilian municipalities," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 1987-2000, June.
    8. Trung Thanh Nguyen & Manh Hung Do, 2022. "Female rural–urban migrants and online marketplaces in emerging economies: Evidence from Thailand and Vietnam," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 317-342, September.
    9. Trung Thanh Nguyen & Manh Hung Do, 2022. "Female migrants and online market participation in rural Southeast Asia," TVSEP Working Papers wp-026, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Project TVSEP.
    10. Nguyen, Thanh-Tung & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Do, Manh Hung & Nguyen, Duy Linh & Grote, Ulrike, 2022. "Shocks, agricultural productivity, and natural resource extraction in rural Southeast Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Augsburg, Britta & Foster, Andrew & Johnson, Terence & Lipscomb, Molly, 2024. "Evidence on designing sanitation interventions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    12. Manh Hung Do & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2022. "Is land consolidation policy a solution for rice production and agricultural transformation in Vietnam?," TVSEP Working Papers wp-028, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Project TVSEP.
    13. 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.
    14. Maria C. Lo Bue, 2024. "Drivers of changes in child nutritional conditions: A panel data‐based study on Indonesian households, 1997–2014," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 741-776, May.
    15. Thanh‐Tung Nguyen & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2023. "Internet use and agricultural productivity in rural Vietnam," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1309-1326, August.
    16. Augsburg, Britta & Caeyers, Bet & Giunti, Sara & Malde, Bansi & Smets, Susanna, 2023. "Labeled loans and human capital investments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    17. Manh Hung Do, 2023. "The Role of Savings and Income Diversification in Households’ Resilience Strategies: Evidence from Rural Vietnam," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 353-388, August.
    18. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Thanh-Tung & Grote, Ulrike, 2022. "Internet use, natural resource extraction and poverty reduction in rural Thailand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    19. Larry L. Howard & Denise L. Stanley, 2017. "Remittances channels and the physical growth of Honduran children," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 376-397, May.
    20. Ma. Laarni D. Revilla & Fangqi Qu & K E Seetharam & Bhanoji Rao, 2021. "“Sanitation” in the Top Development Journals: A Review," ADBI Working Papers 1253, Asian Development Bank Institute.

    More about this item

    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:eee:wdevel:v:190:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000609. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.