American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Housing, Health, and Happiness
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 1,
no. 1, February 2009
(pp. 75–105)
Abstract
We investigate the impact of a large-scale Mexican program to replace dirt floors with cement floors on child health and adult happiness. We find that replacing dirt floors with cement significantly improves the health of young children measured by decreases in the incidence of parasitic infestations, diarrhea, and the prevalence of anemia, and an improvement in children's cognitive development. Additionally, we find significant improvements in adult welfare measured by increased satisfaction with their housing and quality of life, as well as by lower scores on depression and perceived stress scales. (JEL I12, I31, J13, O15)Citation
Cattaneo, Matias D., Sebastian Galiani, Paul J. Gertler, Sebastian Martinez, and Rocio Titiunik. 2009. "Housing, Health, and Happiness." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 1 (1): 75–105. DOI: 10.1257/pol.1.1.75Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Production
- I31 General Welfare
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment