Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/310379 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 751
Publisher: 
Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila
Abstract: 
This paper investigates behavioral adaptation to local improvements in environmental quality. Using exogenous variation in village sanitation coverage generated by the randomized allocation of financial incentives to latrine construction in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, we find that the generalized adoption of improved sanitation led to significant reductions in the practice of boiling water for drinking. Our analysis suggests that this change is likely a behavioral response to a reduction in the health benefits associated with treating water, which decline and eventually become negligible as local adoption of improved sanitation increases. Estimates of the value of time savings associated with the reduction in water boiling suggest that this adaptation is an additional important benefit of sanitation investments, most of which likely accrues to girls and women.
Subjects: 
WASH
water boiling
height-for-age
firewood collection
JEL: 
I12
O15
Q50
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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