Some recent studies suggest narrowly defined economic growth is the key to reducing the infant mortality rate. A host of new studies emerged in reaction to this assertion. These new studies emphasize the role of increased health expenditures in reducing infant mortality rates. Analyzing the...

Brazil has more than 23 million rural people with unimproved sanitation, which corresponds to about 75% of rural population. This study aimed to measure the social, environmental and economic impacts caused by implementation of a technological proposal for sanitation: “septic cesspool...

We describe findings from the first large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial in a developing country that evaluates the uptake of a health-protecting technology, insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), through micro-consumer loans, as compared to free distribution and control conditions....

This paper explores the causes and consequences of regional taste differences. I introduce habit formation into a standard general equilibrium model. Household tastes evolve over time to favor foods consumed as a child. Thus, locally abundant foods are preferred in every region, as they were...

This paper provides a robust normative evaluation of the spectacular growth episode that India has experienced in the last 15 years. Specifically, the paper compares the evolution, between 1998, 1996 and 2001 of the distribution of several important individual attributes on the basis of...

We examine the effects of exposure to malaria in early childhood on educational attainment and economic status in adulthood by exploiting geographic variation in malaria prevalence in India prior to a nationwide eradication program in the 1950s. We find that the program led to modest increases...

Mid-twentieth century malaria eradication campaigns largely eliminated malaria from Paraguay and Sri Lanka. Using these interventions as quasi-experiments, I estimate malaria's effect on lifetime female educational attainment through the combination of pre-existing geographic variation in...

Rapid urbanization could have positive and negative health effects, such that the net impact on population health is not obvious. It is, however, highly pertinent to the human welfare consequences of development. This paper uses community and individual level longitudinal data from the China...

An individual who takes an HIV test can be informed about their own status and risk. Similarly, when friends, family or neighbors learn of a person's HIV status, they may update their beliefs about HIV infection among people they know. Using an experiment conducted in rural Malawi which randomly...

This study has used India Human Development Survey, 2005 to study the factors influencing the Body Mass Index (BMI) of women between 20 to 40 years of age in India. BMI captures both undernutrition and over nutrition and a quantile regression model has been used to capture the differential...