Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Geruso, Michael; Spears, Dean
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; Indian Statistical Institute; Indian Statistical Institute Delhi
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20150431
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 125-162
• 关键词: weight-for-age; child survival; HEALTH; INDIA; diarrhea; LIFE; undernutrition; malnutrition; enteropathy; infection

摘要

In this paper, we shed new light on a long-standing puzzle: India, Muslim children are substantially more likely than Hindu children to survive to their first birthday, even though Indian Muslims hove 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.