Spears, Dean2013-04-112013-04-112013-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13163Physical height is an important economic variable reflecting health and human capital. Puzzlingly, however, differences in average height across developing countries are not well explained by differences in wealth. In particular, children in India are shorter, on average, than children in Africa who are poorer, on average, a paradox called "the Asian enigma" which has received much attention from economists. This paper provides the first documentation of a quantitatively important gradient between child height and sanitation that can statistically explain a large fraction of international height differences. This association between sanitation and human capital is robustly stable, even after accounting for other heterogeneity, such as in GDP. The author applies three complementary empirical strategies to identify the association between sanitation and child height: country-level regressions across 140 country-years in 65 developing countries; within-country analysis of differences over time within Indian districts; and econometric decomposition of the India-Africa height differences in child-level data. Open defecation, which is exceptionally widespread in India, can account for much or all of the excess stunting in India.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOADEQUATE NUTRITIONAGE GROUPSBABIESBIRTH WEIGHTBREASTFEEDINGBULLETINCHILD GROWTHCHILD HEALTHCHILD MALNUTRITIONCHILD MORTALITYCHILD STUNTINGCHILD WELFARECHILDBEARINGCHILDRENS HEALTHCHOLERACHRONIC DISEASECOMPLICATIONSDEFECATIONDEMOCRACYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDIARRHEADIARRHOEADISCRIMINATIONDISPARITIES IN LIFE EXPECTANCYDRINKING WATERECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITYECONOMIC STATUSFAMILIESFAMILY HEALTHFAMILY MEMBERSFEMALE LITERACYFIRST BIRTHFLUSH TOILETSHEALTH EFFECTSHEALTH OUTCOMESHEALTH SURVEYSHEALTHY ENVIRONMENTHOUSEHOLD ASSETSHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN BIOLOGYHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN WELFAREINFANTINFANT MORTALITYINFANT MORTALITY RATEINFANT NUTRITIONINFANTSINFECTIONINFECTIONSINFECTIOUS DISEASESINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGYINTERVENTIONLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLATRINESLIFE EXPECTANCYMALNUTRITIONMATERNAL NUTRITIONMEDICAL RESEARCHMEDICINEMOTHERMULTIPLE BIRTHNUMBER OF PEOPLENUTRITIONNUTRITIONAL STATUSOLDER CHILDRENORAL REHYDRATIONPAINSPATHOGENSPERINATAL MORTALITYPHYSICAL GROWTHPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLICY RESPONSEPOOR HEALTHPOPULATION DENSITYPREGNANCYPREGNANT WOMENPREVALENCEPROGRESSPUBLIC HEALTHRADIORICHER PEOPLERURAL AREASRURAL WOMENSANITARY CONDITIONSSANITATIONSECONDARY SCHOOLSEXSOCIAL SCIENCESOCIOECONOMIC STATUSSTUNTINGSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTABOOTREATMENTTVUNDERNUTRITIONURBAN WOMENWEIGHT GAINWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONYOUNG CHILDRENYOUTHWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6351