IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jaerec/doi10.1086-684161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disgust, Shame, and Soapy Water: Tests of Novel Interventions to Promote Safe Water and Hygiene

Author

Listed:
  • Raymond P. Guiteras
  • David I. Levine
  • Stephen P. Luby
  • Thomas H. Polley
  • Kaniz Khatun-e-Jannat
  • Leanne Unicomb

Abstract

Lack of access to clean water is among the most pressing environmental problems in developing countries, where diarrheal disease kills nearly 700,000 children per year. While inexpensive and effective practices such as chlorination and hand washing with soap exist, efforts to motivate their use by emphasizing health benefits have seen only limited success. This paper measures the effect of messages appealing to negative emotions (disgust at consumption of human feces) and social pressure (shame at being seen consuming human feces) on hand-washing behavior and use of and willingness to pay for water chlorination among residents of slum compounds in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Neither the traditional, health-based message nor the new disgust-and-shame message led to high levels of chlorination during a free trial, nor to high willingness to pay for the chlorine at the end of the free trial. Provision of low-cost hand-washing facilities did increase hand washing, although the effect size is modest.

Suggested Citation

  • Raymond P. Guiteras & David I. Levine & Stephen P. Luby & Thomas H. Polley & Kaniz Khatun-e-Jannat & Leanne Unicomb, 2016. "Disgust, Shame, and Soapy Water: Tests of Novel Interventions to Promote Safe Water and Hygiene," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 321-359.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/684161
    DOI: 10.1086/684161
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684161
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684161
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/684161?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. Daniel Bennett & Asjad Naqvi & Wolf‐Peter Schmidt, 2018. "Learning, Hygiene and Traditional Medicine," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 545-574, July.
    2. Amrita Ahuja & Michael Kremer & Alix Peterson Zwane, 2010. "Providing Safe Water: Evidence from Randomized Evaluations," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 237-256, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Smith, Daniel W. & Atwii Ongom, Stephen & Davis, Jennifer, 2023. "Does professionalizing maintenance unlock demand for more reliable water supply? Experimental evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Gunther Bensch & Jörg Peters, 2020. "One‐Off Subsidies and Long‐Run Adoption—Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Senegal," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 72-90, January.
    3. María Laura Alzúa & Habiba Djebbari & Amy J. Pickering, 2020. "A Community-Based Program Promotes Sanitation," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 357-390.
    4. Aziz, Sonia & Boyle, Kevin & Akanda, Ali S. & Hanifi, M.A. & Pakhtigian, Emily L., 2022. "Early Warning Systems, Mobile Technology, and Cholera Aversion: Evidence from Rural Bangladesh," RFF Working Paper Series 22-24, Resources for the Future.
    5. Yokoo, Hide-Fumi & Harada, Tetsuya, 2023. "What makes green persuasion effective? Evidence from a community-financed sanitation program in Indonesia," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. 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.
    7. Kristina Czura & Andreas Menzel & Martina Miotto, 2019. "Menstrual Health, Worker Productivity and Well-being among Female Bangladeshi Garment Workers," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp649, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    8. James Berry & Greg Fischer & Raymond Guiteras, 2020. "Eliciting and Utilizing Willingness to Pay: Evidence from Field Trials in Northern Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1436-1473.
    9. Afridi, Farzana & Debnath, Sisir & Somanathan, E., 2021. "A breath of fresh air: Raising awareness for clean fuel adoption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Hoffmann, Vivian & Moser, Christine & Saak, Alexander, 2019. "Food safety in low and middle-income countries: The evidence through an economic lens," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Garg, Teevrat & Hamilton, Stuart E. & Hochard, Jacob P. & Kresch, Evan Plous & Talbot, John, 2018. "(Not so) gently down the stream: River pollution and health in Indonesia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 35-53.

    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. Czura, Kristina & Menzel, Andreas & Miotto, Martina, 2023. "Improved menstrual health and the workplace: an RCT with female Bangladeshi garment workers," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 653, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Brown, Joe & Hamoudi, Amar & Jeuland, Marc & Turrini, Gina, 2017. "Seeing, believing, and behaving: Heterogeneous effects of an information intervention on household water treatment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 141-159.
    3. Afridi, Farzana & Debnath, Sisir & Somanathan, E., 2021. "A breath of fresh air: Raising awareness for clean fuel adoption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Giulia Buccione & Martín Rossi, 2023. "Incorporating Cultural Context into Safe-Water Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 167, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Nov 2023.
    5. Jessoe, Katrina, 2013. "Improved source, improved quality? Demand for drinking water quality in rural India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 460-475.
    6. Saugato Datta & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2014. "Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 7-35, March.
    7. Kristina Czura & Andreas Menzel & Martina Miotto, 2019. "Menstrual Health, Worker Productivity and Well-being among Female Bangladeshi Garment Workers," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp649, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    8. Schady, Norbert, 2015. "Does Access to Better Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Improve Child Outcomes? Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7369, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Juan F. Castro & Paul Glewwe & Ricardo Montero, 2019. "Work With What You’ve Got: Improving Teachers’ Pedagogical Skills at Scale in Rural Peru," Working Papers 158, Peruvian Economic Association.
    10. Bernal, Noelia & Costa-Font, Joan & Ritter, Patricia, 2022. "The Effect of Health Insurance on Child Nutritional Outcomes. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design in Peru," IZA Discussion Papers 15490, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Sonia R. Bhalotra & Alberto Diaz-Cayeros & Grant Miller & Alfonso Miranda & Atheendar S. Venkataramani, 2017. "Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 23239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Joseph Goeb & Andrew Dillon & Frank Lupi & David Tschirley, 2020. "Pesticides: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(5), pages 801-836.
    13. Reshmaan Hussam & Atonu Rabbani & Giovanni Reggiani & Natalia Rigol, 2022. "Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 1-41, January.
    14. James Berry & Greg Fischer & Raymond Guiteras, 2020. "Eliciting and Utilizing Willingness to Pay: Evidence from Field Trials in Northern Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1436-1473.
    15. Martin Halla & Chia-Lun Liu & Jin-Tan Liu, 2019. "The Effect of Superstition on Health: Evidence from the Taiwanese Ghost Month," Economics working papers 2019-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    16. Castro, Silvia & Czura, Kristina, 2021. "Social Norms and Information in Menstrual Health Management," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242423, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Bancalari, Antonella & Bernal, Pedro & Celhay, Pablo & Martinez, Sebastian & Sánchez, Maria Deni, 2023. "An Ounce of Prevention for a Pound of Cure: Efficiency of Community-Based Healthcare," IZA Discussion Papers 16350, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Garg, Teevrat & Hamilton, Stuart E. & Hochard, Jacob P. & Kresch, Evan Plous & Talbot, John, 2018. "(Not so) gently down the stream: River pollution and health in Indonesia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 35-53.
    19. Levine, David I. & Riggs, William & Steffen, Kelsey, 2017. "Rapid prototyping a school-based health program in the developing world," Development Engineering, Elsevier, vol. 2(C), pages 68-81.
    20. Jonathan Chapman, 2019. "The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(1), pages 233-259, February.

    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:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/684161. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JAERE .

    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.