Social Capital and Hygiene Practices among the Extreme Poor in Rural Bangladesh
研究了孟加拉国农村极端贫困人口的社会资本对卫生习惯的影响，发现社会资本显著促进使用卫生厕所和穿鞋，有助于预防疾病，对缺乏医疗服务的贫困人群有政策意义。
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.