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Financial incentives for sanitation take-up: A randomized control trial in rural Vietnam

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  • Nguyen, Cuong Viet
  • Phung, Tung Duc

Abstract

This study assesses the impact of financial incentives on hygienic latrine ownership by poor/near-poor households in Vietnam. Rural communes were randomly assigned to a control group and three treatment arm groups: (T1) a rebate for households that installed a hygienic latrine; (T2) a financial reward for commune governments if the proportion of hygienic latrines in their commune increased by 30 percentage points; (T3) both a household rebate and a commune reward. We find a strong and positive effect from the household rebate (treatment arms 1 and 3) but an insignificant effect from the commune reward (treatment arm 2) on household ownership of a septic tank latrine. Our analysis provides suggestive evidence that microcredit is a channel through which a rebate encourages the installation of septic tank latrines. We also find that treatment arm 3 increases people's knowledge regarding sanitation and the availability of water and soap for handwashing within households.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Phung, Tung Duc, 2024. "Financial incentives for sanitation take-up: A randomized control trial in rural Vietnam," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:97:y:2024:i:c:s0167629624000614
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102916
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sanitation; Hygienic latrines; Microcredit; Randomized control trial; Vietnam;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

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