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The Curse of Bad Geography: Stagnant Water, Diseases, and Children’s Human Capital

Berggreen-Clausen, Steve LU and Mattisson, Linn LU (2023) In Working Papers
Abstract
Waterborne diseases lead to over 6 billion diarrheal episodes per year, with most of the burden on children in low-income countries. We employ hydrological engineering principles to construct a novel measure of stagnant water, crucial to the spread of these diseases. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate the causal effect of stagnant water on the health and cognitive skills of Tanzanian children. A 10 percentage point increase in stagnant water increases local diarrhea incidence rates among children by 30 per cent. Our results also show an immediate reduction in the cognitive abilities of affected children, measured by standardised test scores. The effects on health and cognition are exacerbated by high temperatures and... (More)
Waterborne diseases lead to over 6 billion diarrheal episodes per year, with most of the burden on children in low-income countries. We employ hydrological engineering principles to construct a novel measure of stagnant water, crucial to the spread of these diseases. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate the causal effect of stagnant water on the health and cognitive skills of Tanzanian children. A 10 percentage point increase in stagnant water increases local diarrhea incidence rates among children by 30 per cent. Our results also show an immediate reduction in the cognitive abilities of affected children, measured by standardised test scores. The effects on health and cognition are exacerbated by high temperatures and population density, but are completely mitigated by access to safe water and sanitation. We find that two degrees Celsius of global warming could triple the burden of waterborne diseases, and that disease awareness in high-risk locations remains low, which could motivate targeted information campaigns. Our results show how stagnant water exposure in areas with inadequate water and sanitation may result in millions of children failing to reach their cognitive potential. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Waterborne Diseases, Stagnant Water, Child Health, Tanzania, Climate Change, I14, I15, O15, Q53, Q54
in
Working Papers
issue
2023:11
pages
88 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e2a83bb1-eb6e-4c68-a084-f45919816f21
date added to LUP
2023-12-05 12:54:48
date last changed
2024-03-08 10:45:05
@misc{e2a83bb1-eb6e-4c68-a084-f45919816f21,
  abstract     = {{Waterborne diseases lead to over 6 billion diarrheal episodes per year, with most of the burden on children in low-income countries. We employ hydrological engineering principles to construct a novel measure of stagnant water, crucial to the spread of these diseases. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate the causal effect of stagnant water on the health and cognitive skills of Tanzanian children. A 10 percentage point increase in stagnant water increases local diarrhea incidence rates among children by 30 per cent. Our results also show an immediate reduction in the cognitive abilities of affected children, measured by standardised test scores. The effects on health and cognition are exacerbated by high temperatures and population density, but are completely mitigated by access to safe water and sanitation. We find that two degrees Celsius of global warming could triple the burden of waterborne diseases, and that disease awareness in high-risk locations remains low, which could motivate targeted information campaigns. Our results show how stagnant water exposure in areas with inadequate water and sanitation may result in millions of children failing to reach their cognitive potential.}},
  author       = {{Berggreen-Clausen, Steve and Mattisson, Linn}},
  keywords     = {{Waterborne Diseases; Stagnant Water; Child Health; Tanzania; Climate Change; I14; I15; O15; Q53; Q54}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2023:11}},
  series       = {{Working Papers}},
  title        = {{The Curse of Bad Geography: Stagnant Water, Diseases, and Children’s Human Capital}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/173486368/WP23_11.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}