The World Bank has released a pioneering study highlighting the correlation between child height and sanitation, explaining an old puzzle associated to statistical differences in developing countries that are unrelated to wealth disparities.
February 2013: The World Bank, through its Sustainable Development Network Water and Sanitation Program, has released a study showing the correlation between child height and sanitation, which explains an old puzzle associated to statistical differences in developing countries that are unrelated to wealth disparities.
Known as “the Asian enigma”, the Indian children have been intriguing economists for being, on average, shorter than African children, despite Africa’s inferior levels of wealth. According to the study, titled “How Much International Variation in Child Height Can Sanitation Explain?” authored by Dean Spears, the interest in the physical height is relevant because of its ability to indicate human capital and health, as well as economic productivity.
Through the application of descriptive regressions and econometric decomposition techniques, considered an innovative approach, the main contribution of the study is to show how variation in child height issuing from developing countries result from differences in rate of open defecation. In particular, the study underscores that “the number of people defecating openly per square kilometer linearly explains 65 percent of international variation in child height.”
Moreover, the study suggests that chronic diseases, due to fecal pathogens in early-life phases, are another variable explaining height variability. These findings imply that open defecation must be a top-priority in future public polices. [Publication: How Much International Variation in Child Height Can Sanitation Explain?]