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The child health implications of privatizing africa's urban water supply

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  • Kosec, Katrina

Abstract

Can private sector participation (PSP) in the piped water sector improve child health? I use child-level data from 39 African countries during 1986–2010 to show that PSP decreases diarrhea among urban-dwelling, under-five children by 2.6 percentage points, or 16% of its mean prevalence. Children from the poorest households benefit most. PSP is also associated with a 7.8 percentage point increase in school attendance of 7–17 year olds. Importantly, PSP increases usage of piped water by 9.7 percentage points, suggesting a possible causal channel explaining health improvements. To attribute causality, I exploit time-variation in the private water market share controlled by African countries’ former colonizers. A placebo analysis reveals that PSP does not affect respiratory illness, nor does it affect a control group of rural children.

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  • Kosec, Katrina, 2014. "The child health implications of privatizing africa's urban water supply," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:35:y:2014:i:c:p:1-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.01.006
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    Cited by:

    1. Norbert Schady, 2015. "Does Access to Better Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Improve Child Outcomes? Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 92337, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Lisa Bagnoli & Salvador Bertomeu-Sanchez & Antonio Estache & Maria Vagliasindi, 2023. "Does the ownership of utilities matter for social outcomes? A survey of the evidence for developing countries," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 24-43, January.
    3. Zhang, Jing & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2016. "The long-run effects of treated water on education: The rural drinking water program in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Deutschmann, Joshua W. & Gars, Jared & Houde, Jean-François & Lipscomb, Molly & Schechter, Laura, 2023. "Privatization of public goods: Evidence from the sanitation sector in Senegal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. González, Felipe & Miguel, Edward, 2015. "War and local collective action in Sierra Leone: A comment on the use of coefficient stability approaches," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 30-33.
    6. Guo, Zijian & Kang, Hyunseung & Cai, T. Tony & Small, Dylan S., 2018. "Testing endogeneity with high dimensional covariates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 175-187.
    7. Schady, Norbert, 2015. "Does Access to Better Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Improve Child Outcomes? Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7369, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Antonio Estache, 2020. "Infrastructure “Privatization”: When Ideology Meets Evidence," Working Papers ECARES 2020-28, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Patricia Augier & Marion Dovis & Charles Lai-Tong, 2016. "Better Access to Water, Better Children's Health: A Mirage?," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 70-92, January.
    10. Ao, Chon-Kit, 2021. "Privatization of water supply and human capital accumulation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Janet Exornam Ocloo & Diana Siawor-Robertson, 2017. "Ethnic Diversity and Health Outcomes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 1077-1112, December.
    12. Li, Li & Xiao, Yun, 2023. "Beyond boiling: The effect of in utero exposure to treated tap water on childhood health," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    13. Lisa Bagnoli & Salvador Bertomeu & Antonio Estache & Maria Vagliasindi, 2020. "Are the Poor Better Off with Public or Private Utilities ?A Survey of the Academic Evidence on Developing Economies," Working Papers ECARES 2020-24, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. Calzada, Joan & Iranzo, Susana, 2021. "Can communal systems work? The effects of communal water provision on child health in Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Ocloo, Janet Exornam & Siawor-Robertson, Diana, 2015. "Ethnic diversity makes me sick! An examination of ethnic diversity’s effect on health outcomes," EconStor Preprints 123721, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Godwin K. Vondolia & Francis Mensah Asenso-Boadi, 2016. "Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Urban Areas of Ghana: What Do Households Want and Can Afford?," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(2), pages 245-259, June.
    17. Calzada, Joan & Iranzo Sancho, Susana, 2012. "Neither Private nor Public: The Effects of Communal Provision of Water on Child Health in Peru," Working Papers 2072/196649, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Water; Child health; Privatization; Infrastructure; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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