American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 10,
no. 2, April 2018
(pp. 125–62)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
In this paper, we shed new light on a long-standing puzzle: in India, Muslim children are substantially more likely than Hindu children to survive to their first birthday, even though Indian Muslims have lower wealth, consumption, educational attainment, and access to state services. Contrary to the prior literature, we show that the observed mortality advantage accrues not to Muslim households themselves but rather to their neighbors, who are also likely to be Muslim. Investigating mechanisms, we provide a collage of evidence suggesting externalities due to poor sanitation are a channel linking the religious composition of neighborhoods to infant mortality.Citation
Geruso, Michael, and Dean Spears. 2018. "Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10 (2): 125–62. DOI: 10.1257/app.20150431Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- I14 Health and Inequality
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- Z12 Cultural Economics: Religion
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