Spillovers in learning and behavior: Evidence from a nutritional information campaign in urban slums

Singh, Prakarsh (2011): Spillovers in learning and behavior: Evidence from a nutritional information campaign in urban slums.

Abstract

This paper provides evidence for spillovers in learning and behavior within urban slums in Chandigarh, India. In an experiment, mothers of children (aged 3-6 years) enrolled in government day-care centers were provided recipe books to lower their price per calorie. Theory suggests that if learning takes place among untreated mothers in the same slum cluster, it may increase or decrease their food expenditure. Results from a difference-in-differences analysis show that nutritional knowledge increases among untreated mothers and there is a corresponding reduction in food expenditure. These neighbouring mothers exhibit learning spillovers and a reduction in expenditure regardless of their level of literacy.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Externality, Informational Spillovers, Child health, Learning, Communication, Urban slums, Behavioral Change
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness

References

Bandiera, Oriana, and Imran Rasul. 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," The Economic Journal 116 (October): 869-902.

Banerjee, Abhijit V., Selvan Kumar, Rohini Pande and Felix Su. 2010. "Do Informed Voters Make Better Choices? Experimental Evidence from Urban India," JPAL Working Paper.

Government of India . 2001. "Census of India". http://www.censusindia.net/ (accessed on 1st September, 2010).

Chaudhuri, Anoshua. 2009. "Spillover Impacts of a Reproductive Health Program on Elderly Women in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Family and Economic Issues 30 (2): 113-125.

Conley, Timothy G., and Christopher Udry. 2010. "Learning about a new technology: pineapple in Ghana," The American Economic Review 100 (1): 35-69.

de Onis, Mercedes, and Monika Blössner. 2003. "The World Health Organization Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition: methodology and applications," International Journal of Epidemiology 32: 518-526.

Deaton, Angus, and Jean Dreze. 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Paper 1071, Princeton University.

Deri, Catherine. 2005. "Social networks and health service utilization," Journal of Health Economics 24: 1076-1107.

DHS India (2005-06). 2007. "Final Report," International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Macro International Inc. Calverton, Maryland, USA.

Duflo, Esther, and Emmanuel Saez. 2003. "The Role Of Information And Social Interactions In Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence From A Randomized Experiment," Quarterly Journal of Economics 118 (August): 815-842.

Duflo, Esther, Michael Kremer, and Jonathan Robinson. 2007. "Why are Farmers Not Using Fertilizer: Evidence from Field Experiments in Kenya," MIT Mimeo.

Fishman, Steven M., Laura E. Caulfield, Mercedes de Onis, Monika Blossner, Luke Mullany, and Robert E. Black. 2009. "Malnutrition and the global burden of disease: underweight," In: Comparative quantification of health risks: the global and regional burden of disease due to 25 selected major risk factors. Cambridge, MA: World Health Organization/Harvard University Press.

Food and Nutrition Board. 2008. Nutritious Recipes for Complementary Feeding of Young Children. Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

Godlonton, Susan, and Rebecca Thornton. 2011. "Peer Effects in Learning HIV Results," Journal of Development Economics, forthcoming.

Gragnolati, Michele, Meera Shekar, Monica Das Gupta, Caryn Bredenkamp, and Yi-Kyoung Lee. 2005. "India's Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action," HNP World Bank Discussion Paper.

Hsieh, Chee-Ruey, Lee-Lan Yen, Jin-Tan Liu, and Chyongchiou Jeng Lin. 1994. "Smoking, health knowledge, and anti-smoking campaigns: An empirical study in Taiwan," Journal of Health Economics 15: 87-104.

Ministry of Women and Child Development. 2007. ICDS Guidelines. Government of India.

Imbens, Guido W., and Donald B. Rubin. 1997. "Bayesian Inference for Causal Effects in Randomized Experiments with Noncompliance," Annals of Statistics 25 (1): 305-327.

Imbens, Guido W., and Jeffrey M. Wooldridge. 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," NBER Working Paper 14251.

Kremer, Michael, and Edward Miguel. 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (3): 1007-1065.

Kwak, Nojin. 1999. "Revisiting the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: Education, Motivation, and Media Use," Communication Research 26: 385-413.

Manski, Charles F. 1993. "Identification of endogenous social effects: the reflection problem," The Review of Economic Studies, 60, 531--542.

Miguel, Edward, and Michael Kremer. 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica. 72 (1): 159 --217.

Nadeau, Richard, Neil Nevitte, Elisabeth Gidengil, and André Blais. 2008. "Election Campaigns as Information Campaigns: Who Learns What and Does it Matter?" Political Communication 25: 229-248.

Oster, Emily, and Rebecca Thornton. 2011. "Determinants of Technology Adoption: Peer Effects in Menstrual Cup Take-Up," Chicago Booth Working Paper.

Pelletier, David L., Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Dirk G. Schroeder, and Jean-Pierre Habicht. 1995. "The effects of malnutrition on child mortality in developing countries," Bulletin of the World Health Organization 73 (4): 443-448.

Reinikka, Ritva, and Jakob Svensson. 2005. "Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda," Journal of the European Economic Association 3 (2-3): 259-267.

Sen, Pronab. 2005. "Of Calories and Things: Reflections on Nutritional Norms, Poverty Lines and Consumption Behavior in India," Economic & Political Weekly 40 (43): 4611-4618.

Siegel, Michael, and Lois Biener. 2000. "The impact of an antismoking media campaign on progression to established smoking: results of a longitudinal youth study," American Journal of Public Health 90 (3): 380-386.

Singh, Prakarsh, 2011. "Performance Pay and Information: Reducing Child Malnutrition in Urban Slums," MPRA Paper 29403, University Library of Munich, Germany.

Snyder, Leslie B. 2007. "Health Communication Campaigns and Their Impact on Behavior," Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 39: 32-40.

Speizer, Ilene S., B. Oleko Tambashe, and Simon-Pierre Tegang. 2001."An evaluation of the "Entre Nous Jeunes" peer-educator program for adolescents in Cameroon," Studies in Family Planning 32: 339-351.

Chandigarh Administration, Government of India. 2007. "Statistical Abstract of Chandigarh" http://chandigarh.gov.in/knowchd_stat_ab07/ (accessed on 1st September, 2010).

Subramanian, Shankar, and Angus Deaton, 1996, "The Demand for Food and Calories," Journal of Political Economy 104 (1): 133-162.

Tichenor, Phillip J., George A. Donoghue, and Clarice N. Olien. 1970. "Mass Media Flow and Differential Growth in Knowledge," Public Opinion Quarterly 34: 159-70.

WHO. 1997. "WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition," compiled by Mercedes de Onis and Monika Blössner in the Programme of Nutrition, Geneva. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/1997/WHO_NUT_97.4.pdf

WHO. 2007. "The WHO Child Growth Standards." http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en (accessed 30th August, 2010).