Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality

Michael Geruso and Dean Spears

No 21184, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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.

JEL-codes: H23 H41 I1 I12 I15 O1 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published as Michael Geruso & Dean Spears, 2018. "Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, vol 10(2), pages 125-162.

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