Value is a critical concept in economics and philosophy. Economics is a discipline concerned with resource allocation informed by the value placed on alternative uses of those resources. In welfarist economics, value is taken as the strength of preference for a good or service (Brouwer et al., 2008). In that paradigm, strength of preference can… Continue reading The intrinsic and instrumental value of water & sanitation
Category: Sanitation
Human capital and WASH – a note
Possible mechanisms by which WASH increases human capital In labour economics, human capital is a worker’s stock of knowledge and skills which contributes to their productivity and earnings. Human capital accumulation is a process of developing skills within and beyond cognitive domains, in which the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are crucial. In… Continue reading Human capital and WASH – a note
Quality of what? From whose perspective? Thoughts on measuring sanitation quality
Yesterday I was on a panel at the UNC Water and Health conference side-event entitled “What is “Quality” Sanitation? Investigating Service Standards and User Experience in Rural and Urban Settings”. You can watch back the event here (if registered for the conference, which is free). Below follows some of my views on the measurement of… Continue reading Quality of what? From whose perspective? Thoughts on measuring sanitation quality
New paper – trial-based cost-benefit analysis of a CLTS intervention in Ethiopia
My colleague Seungman Cha has a paper out this week, which I co-authored with him and others. It’s a trial-based cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) intervention in rural south-western Ethiopia. We estimated intervention delivery costs from financial records and recurrent costs from the trial's surveys. All outcome data are from the… Continue reading New paper – trial-based cost-benefit analysis of a CLTS intervention in Ethiopia
Funders shouldn’t misinterpret WASH-B and SHINE results as “WASH doesn’t work”
There has been a lot of debate about the well-designed and well-conducted WASH-B (Kenya, Bangladesh) and SHINE (Zimbabwe) trials of rural WASH interventions in the past year or so. Most recently, researchers active in WASH epidemiology published a consensus paper. Many funders may not read it, which would be a shame, as it is easy… Continue reading Funders shouldn’t misinterpret WASH-B and SHINE results as “WASH doesn’t work”
A generalised way of thinking about sanitation quality of service and quality of life
In a previous post, I wrote about how I see measures of quality of service (QoS) and quality of life (QoL) capturing different things which are both important. In this post, I expand on that, proposing a generalised way of thinking about this at different stages of the service chain. First, though, a few words… Continue reading A generalised way of thinking about sanitation quality of service and quality of life
Better lives with better toilets – SanQoL translated for public engagement
The below piece won the ESRC 'Better Lives' writing competition and The Guardian published an abridged version. It dates from before I had completed the fieldwork for my PhD. So, it's probably better to read the specific page on SanQoL and the associated papers. =========================================== Imagine not having somewhere safe to go to the toilet.… Continue reading Better lives with better toilets – SanQoL translated for public engagement
Quality of Service vs. Quality of Life – ways of measuring sanitation outcomes
In a previous post I explored the concept of sanitation-related quality of life (SanQoL). In that post I distinguished between “quality of service” (and/or infrastructure) and quality of life. The present post expands a bit on that distinction. 1. Different ways of measuring "quality" Consider these three questions for assessing the concept of privacy: [observe]… Continue reading Quality of Service vs. Quality of Life – ways of measuring sanitation outcomes
Using the concept of ‘sanitation-related quality of life’ (SanQoL) to measure what is valued by users
The below post dates from before I had completed the fieldwork for my PhD. So it's probably better to read the specific page on SanQoL and the associated papers, rather than the below. =========================================== Introduction Since investment options are always compared under a budget constraint, economic evaluation aims to inform unavoidable decisions and support allocative… Continue reading Using the concept of ‘sanitation-related quality of life’ (SanQoL) to measure what is valued by users
CLTS, targeting and economic performance – reflections on two seminars
Today I attended not one, but two, seminars on CLTS. The first was Britta Augsburg presenting results of a recent cRCT of a WaterAid CLTS intervention in Nigeria (at LSHTM). The second was Dale Whittington reflecting on CLTS trials in the last few years and his recent CBA paper incorporating their results (at Oxford). A… Continue reading CLTS, targeting and economic performance – reflections on two seminars
WASHeconomics.com 