IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejapp/v16y2024i3p482-515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spillovers without Social Interactions in Urban Sanitation

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua W. Deutschmann
  • Molly Lipscomb
  • Laura Schechter
  • Jessica Zhu

Abstract

We run a randomized controlled trial coupled with lab-in-the-field social network experiments in urban Dakar. Decision spillovers and health externalities play a large role in determining uptake of sanitation technology, with decision spillovers being largest among households that don't receive significant subsidies. There is no evidence that the spillovers are explained by social forces in general, nor by specific social mechanisms such as learning from others, social pressure, or reciprocity. We do find evidence of a fourth, nonsocial, mechanism impacting decisions: increasing health benefits. As more neighbors adopt the sanitary technology, it becomes more worthwhile for other households to adopt as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua W. Deutschmann & Molly Lipscomb & Laura Schechter & Jessica Zhu, 2024. "Spillovers without Social Interactions in Urban Sanitation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 482-515, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:482-515
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20220047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220047
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E181101V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220047.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220047.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/app.20220047?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:482-515. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.