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Social capital and hygiene practices among the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh

journal contribution
posted on 2015-09-11, 00:00 authored by Rejaul Bakshi, Debdulal MallickDebdulal Mallick, Mehmet UlubasogluMehmet Ulubasoglu
We investigate the effect of social capital on hygiene practices pertaining to lives of the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh. Analysing a unique survey dataset for 5,600 extreme poor households, we document a significant positive effect of social capital on sanitary latrine use and wearing shoes/sandals at home for hygiene. We account for the endogeneity of social capital by instrumental variable estimation. Our findings emphasise the role of social capital in preventing common diseases through improving hygiene practices for the extreme poor, who usually lack access to medical services in the event of illness, which has important policy implications.

History

Journal

Journal of development studies

Volume

51

Issue

12

Pagination

1603 - 1618

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Location

Oxford, Eng.

ISSN

1743-9140

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal article

Copyright notice

2015, Taylor & Francis (Routledge)