IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/brikps/3922.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Travelling the Distance: A GPS-Based Study of the Access to Birth Registration Services in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author

Listed:
  • Corbacho, Ana
  • Osorio Rivas, Rene

Abstract

Birth registration is essential to guarantee a child's right to an identity. Without proper documentation of their identity, children have limited access to health, education and social assistance, laying the foundation for lifelong exclusion. Geographic distance to registration facilities is often cited as a significant barrier in qualitative surveys. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, this paper quantifies the impact of distance on birth registration in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Peru. The results suggest that increasing the distance to the nearest registry office by 25 kilometers is associated with a 4 percentage point increase in the probability of not registering a child's birth in Bolivia, and 12 percentage points in the Dominican Republic. These effects are as or more important than other socioeconomic characteristics that also affect birth registration, such as maternal education levels and the ability to deliver in a health center. In Peru, distance did not appear to be statistically significant, in line with both the lowest percentage of unregistered births and more even geographic distribution of access to civil registries than Bolivia and the Dominican Republic.

Suggested Citation

  • Corbacho, Ana & Osorio Rivas, Rene, 2012. "Travelling the Distance: A GPS-Based Study of the Access to Birth Registration Services in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3922, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:3922
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Travelling-the-Distance-A-GPS-Based-Study-of-the-Access-to-Birth-Registration-Services-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suzanne Duryea & Analía Olgiati & Leslie Stone, 2006. "The Under-Registration of Births in Latin America," Research Department Publications 4443, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    2. John Gibson & David McKenzie, 2007. "Using Global Positioning Systems in Household Surveys for Better Economics and Better Policy," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 217-241, September.
    3. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    4. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    5. McKenzie, David & Seynabou Sakho, Yaye, 2010. "Does it pay firms to register for taxes? The impact of formality on firm profitability," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 15-24, January.
    6. Gillette Hall & Harry Anthony Patrinos (ed.), 2006. "Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37722-6.
    7. Castro, Lucio & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2011. "Medición cuantitativa del subregistro de nacimientos e indocumentación: Costos socioeconómicos en Perú y República Dominicana," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3031, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir, 2004. "A Behavioral-Economics View of Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 419-423, May.
    9. Suzanne Duryea & Analía Olgiati & Leslie Stone, 2006. "The Under-Registration of Births in Latin America," Research Department Publications 4443, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    10. Alejandra Cox Edwards & Manuelita Ureta, 2003. "International Migration, Remittances, and Schooling: Evidence from El Salvador," NBER Working Papers 9766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    12. Rosero-Bixby, Luis, 2004. "Spatial access to health care in Costa Rica and its equity: a GIS-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(7), pages 1271-1284, April.
    13. Luna Florez, Ariela María de los Milagros & Cordero Muñoz, Luis & Vattuone Ramírez, María Elena, 2010. "Salud de la mujer indígena: Intervenciones para reducir la muerte materna," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 246, December.
    14. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    15. Edwards, Alejandra Cox & Ureta, Manuelita, 2003. "International migration, remittances, and schooling: evidence from El Salvador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 429-461, December.
    16. John Gibson & David McKenzie, 2007. "Using Global Positioning Systems in Household Surveys for Better Economics and Better Policy," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 217-241, September.
    17. repec:idb:brikps:publication-detail,7101.html?id=42926 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fredriksson, Anders, 2017. "Location-allocation of public services – Citizen access, transparency and measurement. A method and evidence from Brazil and Sweden," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Osorio Rivas, Rene & Brito, Steve & Corbacho, Ana, 2013. "Does Birth Underregistration Reduce Childhood Immunization?: Evidence from the Dominican Republic," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4660, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Steve Brito & Ana Corbacho & Rene Osorio, 2017. "Does birth under-registration reduce childhood immunization? Evidence from the Dominican Republic," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Corbacho, Ana & Brito, Steve & Osorio Rivas, Rene, 2012. "Birth Registration and the Impact on Educational Attainment," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4060, Inter-American Development Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ana Corbacho & Rene Osorio Rivas, 2012. "Travelling the Distance: A GPS-Based Study of the Access to Birth Registration Services in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 64458, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2009. "Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 423-423.
    3. Gustavo Henrique de Andrade & Miriam Bruhn & David McKenzie, 2016. "A Helping Hand or the Long Arm of the Law? Experimental Evidence on What Governments Can Do to Formalize Firms," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 30(1), pages 24-54.
    4. Orazem, Peter F. & King, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 55, pages 3475-3559, Elsevier.
    5. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Lisa Chauvet & Flore Gubert & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2009. "Are Remittances More Effective Than Aid To Reduce Child Mortality ? An Empirical Assessment using Inter and Intra-Country Data," Working Papers halshs-00966367, HAL.
    7. Motoi Kusadokoro & Ai Hasegawa, 2017. "The Influence of Internal Migration on Migrant Children’s School Enrolment and Work in Turkey," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 348-368, April.
    8. Zhao, Qiran & Yu, Xiaohua & Wang, Xiaobing & Glauben, Thomas, 2014. "The impact of parental migration on children's school performance in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 43-54.
    9. Kandpal, Eeshani & Baylis, Kathy, 2019. "The social lives of married women: Peer effects in female autonomy and investments in children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 26-43.
    10. Corbacho, Ana & Brito, Steve & Osorio Rivas, Rene, 2012. "Birth Registration and the Impact on Educational Attainment," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4060, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. Acosta, Pablo, 2006. "Labor supply, school attendance, and remittances from international migration : the case of El Salvador," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3903, The World Bank.
    12. John Gibson & Xiangzheng Deng & Geua Boe-Gibson & Scott Rozelle & Jikun Huang, 2008. "Which Households Are Most Distant from Health Centers in Rural China? Evidence from a GIS Network Analysis," Working Papers in Economics 08/19, University of Waikato.
    13. John Gibson & David McKenzie, 2007. "Using Global Positioning Systems in Household Surveys for Better Economics and Better Policy," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 217-241, September.
    14. Kashif Imran & Evelyn S. Devadason & Cheong Kee Cheok, 2019. "Developmental Impacts of Remittances on Migrant-Sending Households: Micro-Level Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 14(3), pages 338-366, December.
    15. Davis, Jason & Brazil, Noli, 2016. "Disentangling fathers’ absences from household remittances in international migration: The case of educational attainment in Guatemala," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-11.
    16. Davis, Jason, 2018. "School enrollment effects in a South-South migration context," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 157-164.
    17. Filiz Garip, 2014. "The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Wealth Accumulation and Distribution in Rural Thailand," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 673-698, April.
    18. de Brauw, Alan & Mueller, Valerie & Lee, Hak Lim, 2014. "The Role of Rural–Urban Migration in the Structural Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 33-42.
    19. Jeremy L. Jelliffe & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta & C. Michael Deom & David K. Okello, 2018. "Adoption of High-Yielding Groundnut Varieties: The Sustainability of a Farmer-Led Multiplication-Dissemination Program in Eastern Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    20. S Anukriti & Catalina Herrera‐Almanza & Praveen K. Pathak & Mahesh Karra, 2020. "Curse of the Mummy‐ji: The Influence of Mothers‐in‐Law on Women in India†," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1328-1351, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    global positioning systems; birth registration; civil registries; distance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

    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:idb:brikps:3922. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.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.