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Sanitation and Hygiene

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  • Borooah, Vani

Abstract

Using data from the Indian Human Development Survey, this chapter examines both toilet possession and personal hygiene in India. It shows that the strongest influences on households in India having a toilet were their standard of living, the highest educational level of adults in the households, and whether or not they possesses ancillary amenities like a separate kitchen for cooking, a pucca roof and floor, and water supply within the dwelling or its compound. However, in so doing, it also shows that whether households had toilets depended not just on household-specific factors but also on the social environment within which the households were located. More specifically, ceteris paribus households in more developed villages would be more likely to have a toilet than those in less developed villages. The chapter rejects the nihilism of the idea, put forward in several academic papers , that the problem of open defecation in India is an intractable one because caste, ritual pollution, and untouchability instil in rural Indians a preference for open spaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Borooah, Vani, 2018. "Sanitation and Hygiene," MPRA Paper 90420, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:90420
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/90420/1/MPRA_paper_90420.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jenkins, Marion W. & Curtis, Val, 2005. "Achieving the 'good life': Why some people want latrines in rural Benin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2446-2459, December.
    2. Bhalotra, Sonia & Valente, Christine & van Soest, Arthur, 2010. "The puzzle of Muslim advantage in child survival in India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 191-204, March.
    3. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1436, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    4. Borooah, Vani K., 2004. "On the incidence of diarrhoea among young Indian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 119-138, March.
    5. Ken McCormick, 1983. "Duesenberry and Veblen: The Demonstration Effect Revisited," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 1125-1129, December.
    6. Roger Mason, 2000. "The Social Significance of Consumption: James Duesenberry’s Contribution to Consumer Theory," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 553-572, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sanitation; Defecation; Toilets; Handwashing; Hygiene;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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