Weekly Seminar
Date
17.01.2020
Schedule
12:00
Location
Aula 04 - Edificio Amigos
Speaker
Antonela Bancalari (London School of Economics)
Unintended Consequences of Infrastructure Development: Sewerage and Early-life Mortality in Peru

This is a job market seminar organized for selected candidates from the European Job Market.


Public infrastructure development is prone to inefficiencies that can result in poor-quality implementation, but the consequences are unclear. This paper studies the effect on infant and under-five mortality of a nation-wide expansion of sewerage infrastructure, conducted by the Government of Peru between 2005 and 2015. I use novel administrative panel data at the district level and exploit random geography-driven variation in project allocation to instrument for sewerage diffusion. I document an increase in under-five mortality in districts that experienced greater sewerage diffusion. The result is linked to hazards from the construction works and was exacerbated by delays and mid-construction abandonment. The potential health benefits of sewerage fail to manifest even after completion of projects due to lack of household connectivity.

M T W T F S S
1
 
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 
9
 
10
 
11
 
12
 
13
 
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
 
18
 
19
 
20
 
21
 
22
 
23
 
24
 
25
 
26
 
27
 
28
 
29
 
30
 
31