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The Political Economy of Village Sanitation in South India: Capture or Poor Information?

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  • Radu Ban
  • Monica Das Gupta
  • Vijayendra Rao

Abstract

Despite efforts to mandate and finance local governments' provision of environmental sanitation services, outcomes remain poor in the villages surveyed in the four South Indian states. The analysis indicates some key issues that appear to hinder improvements in sanitation. Local politicians tend to capture sanitary infrastructure and cleaning services for themselves, while also keeping major village roads reasonably well-served. Their decisions suggest, however, that they neither understand the health benefits of sanitation, nor the negative externalities to their own health if surrounding areas are poorly served. Our findings suggest that improving sanitary outcomes requires disseminating information on the public goods nature of their health benefits, as well as on the local government's responsibilities. It also requires putting public health regulations in place, along with measures to enable accountability in service provision.

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  • Radu Ban & Monica Das Gupta & Vijayendra Rao, 2010. "The Political Economy of Village Sanitation in South India: Capture or Poor Information?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 685-700.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:46:y:2010:i:4:p:685-700
    DOI: 10.1080/00220380903002962
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    Cited by:

    1. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & Somville, Vincent & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2014. "Elite capture through information distortion: A theoretical essay," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 250-263.
    2. Saraswat, Deepak, 2024. "Gender composition of children and sanitation behavior in India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Patrick Mullen & Divya Nair & Jayati Nigam & Katyayni Seth, 2016. "Urban Health Advantages and Penalties in India," World Bank Publications - Reports 24025, The World Bank Group.

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