Climate adaptation policies and infant health: Evidence from a water policy in Brazil

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Da Mata, Daniel; Emanuel, Lucas; Pereira, Vitor; Sampaio, Breno
• 署名单位: Universidade Federal da Bahia; Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104835
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: climate; adaptation; Birth outcomes; Cisterns; water

摘要

This paper studies how in utero exposure to a large-scale climate adaptation program affects birth out-comes. The program built around one million cisterns in Brazil's poorest and driest region to promote small-scale decentralized rainfall harvesting. Access to cisterns during early pregnancy increased birth weight, particularly for more educated mothers. Data suggest that more educated women complied more with the program's water disinfection training, highlighting that even simple, low-cost technologies require final users' compliance (the last mile) to be effective. In the context of growing water scarcity, adaptation policies can foster neonatal health and thus have positive long-run implications.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.