Identifying the Cost of a Public Health Success: Arsenic Well Water Contamination and Productivity in Bangladesh

Mark Pitt (), Mark Rosenzweig and Nazmul Hassan

No 21741, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We exploit recent molecular genetics evidence on the genetic basis of arsenic excretion and unique information on family links among respondents living in different environments from a large panel survey within a theoretical framework incorporating optimizing behavior to uncover the hidden costs of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. We provide for the first time estimates of the effects of the ingestion and retention of inorganic arsenic on direct measures of cognitive and physical capabilities as well as on the schooling attainment, occupational structure, entrepreneurship and incomes of the rural Bangladesh population. We also provide new estimates of the effects of the consumption of foods grown and cooked in arsenic-contaminated water on individual arsenic concentrations. The estimates are based on arsenic biomarkers obtained from a sample of members of rural households in Bangladesh who are participants in a long-term panel survey following respondents and their coresident household members over a period of 26 years.

JEL-codes: I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-hea
Note: DEV EH
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Mark M Pitt & Mark R Rosenzweig & M Nazmul Hassan, 2021. "Identifying the Costs of a Public Health Success: Arsenic Well Water Contamination and Productivity in Bangladesh," The Review of Economic Studies, vol 88(5), pages 2479-2526.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w21741.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Identifying the Costs of a Public Health Success: Arsenic Well Water Contamination and Productivity in Bangladesh (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21741

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w21741

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().