ABSTRACT
The first part of this chapter reviews evidence from the literature of a large effect of open defecation on child height that can account for important international differences. It also documented negative externalities of open defecation: neighbours' faecal pathogens are bad for your children's health even if you dispose of your faeces safely. The second part of the chapter presents new empirical results using the rural part of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS). It presents evidence on a quantitatively robust association between sanitation and child well-being especially net nutritional outcomes from the rural sample of the 2005 IHDS. The chapter joins a quickly growing literature documenting the importance of sanitation and exposure to open defecation externalities for child well-being and human capital accumulation. Other papers have emphasized identification strategies for causal inference; it also contributes analysis of a particularly noteworthy cross-sectional data set that combines economic, social, anthropometric and cognitive achievement data.
