Spears, DeanLamba, Sneha2014-02-042014-02-042013-10https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16872Early life health and net nutrition shape childhood and adult cognitive skills and human capital. In poor countries -- and especially in South Asia -- widespread open defecation without making use of a toilet or latrine is an important source of childhood disease. This paper studies the effects on childhood cognitive achievement of early life exposure to India's Total Sanitation Campaign, a large government program that encouraged local governments to build and promote use of inexpensive pit latrines. In the early years of the program studied here, the TSC caused six-year-olds exposed to it in their first year of life to be more likely to recognize letters and simple numbers. The results suggest both that open defecation is an important threat to the human capital of the Indian labor force, and that a program feasible to low capacity governments in developing countries could improve average cognitive skills.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABILITY LEVELSACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTACHIEVEMENT TESTSADOLESCENCEADULT EDUCATIONAGE COHORTAGE TRENDSAGEDBULLETINCENSUSESCHILD DEVELOPMENTCHILD MORTALITYCHILDHOODCOGNITIVE ABILITYCOGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENTCOGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTCOGNITIVE OUTCOMESCOGNITIVE SKILLSCOGNITIVE TESTSCONTROL GROUPSDEFECATIONDEMOCRACYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDEVELOPMENTAL PERIODDEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIALDEWORMINGDIARRHEADIARRHOEADISEASEDRINKING WATEREARLY CHILDHOODEARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTEARLY INTERVENTIONEARLY YEARSEDUCATED MOTHERSEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCEEDUCATIONAL TESTSENROLLMENTEPIDEMIOLOGYFAMILY PLANNINGFAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMFEMALE EDUCATIONGIRLSGLOBAL HEALTHGLOBAL POVERTYHEALTH CONSEQUENCESHEIGHT FOR AGEHOOKWORMHUMAN BIOLOGYHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN EXCRETAHYGIENEINDEXESINFANTINFANT DEATHSINFANT MORTALITYINFANTSINFECTIONINFECTIONSINFECTIOUS DISEASESINFERENCEINFLAMMATIONINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGYINTERVENTIONINTERVENTIONSLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLEARNINGLEARNING OUTCOMESLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLITERACYLITERACY RATESLIVE BIRTHSLOCAL GOVERNMENTSLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMALABSORPTIONMALNUTRITIONMATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTHMEDICINEMIGRATIONMORTALITYMOTHERMOTIVATIONNUTRITIONOLDER CHILDRENPHYSICAL DEVELOPMENTPIT LATRINESPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOOR HEALTHPOPULATION DENSITYPROGRESSPUBLIC HEALTHREADINGRECOGNITIONRESEARCH PROGRAMRURAL AREASRURAL CHILDRENRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL DISTRICTRURAL POPULATIONSANITARY CONDITIONSSANITATIONSCHOOL ATTENDANCESCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSCIENTIFIC EVIDENCESERVICE DELIVERYSEXSIGNIFICANT POLICYSOCIAL MOBILIZATIONSOCIAL NORMSSOCIOECONOMIC STATUSSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTABOOTOUCHTREATMENTTROPICAL MEDICINETUITIONURBAN AREASVACCINATIONVACCINATION PROGRAMWOMANWORKFORCEWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONYOUNG CHILDRENWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6659