Revisiting Economic Costs of Arsenicosis
A PSM Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i2.134Keywords:
Arsenicosis, Economic Cost, Propensity Score Matching, Social DiscriminationAbstract
The present paper uses the propensity score matching (PSM) method to calculate the economic loss of arsenicosis-affected households. In contrast to prior studies, whose estimates of income loss were limited to labour-market sources, the PSM method controls for labour market and other sources of income, as well as demographic and educational factors, to identify losses from social discrimination. It first establishes that arsenicosis-affected households are subject to social discrimination, and then shows that this leads to a significant loss of expenditure. Second, it proves that overlooking social discrimination leads to an underestimation of income loss. The results have important implications, both for understanding the plight of arsenicosis-affected households and for cost–benefit calculations in the adoption of policies for fighting arsenic contamination.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Acharyya, Subhrangsu K., and Babar A. Shah. 2007. “Groundwater Arsenic Contamination Affecting Different Geologic Domains in India – A Review: Influence of Geological Setting, Fluvial Geomorphology and Quaternary Stratigraphy.” Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A 42 (12): 1795–1805. https://doi.org/10.1080/10934520701566744.
Ahmad, Sheikh A., Muhammad H. S. Sayed, Manjurul H. Khan, Muhammad N. Karim, Muhammad A. Haque, Mohammad S. A. Bhuiyan, Muhammad S. Rahman, and Mahmud H. Faruquee. 2007. “Sociocultural Aspects of Arsenicosis in Bangladesh: Community Perspective.” Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A 42 (12): 1945–1958. https://doi.org/10.1080/10934520701567247.
Ahmed, Sad, Mrinal Kumar Sengupta, Amitava Mukherjee, Mohammad Amir Hossain, Bhaskar Das, Biswajit Nayak, Arup Pal, Subhas Chandra Mukherjee, Shyamapada Pati, Rathindra Nath Dutta. 2006. “Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Middle Ganga Plain, Uttar Pradesh-India: A Future Danger?” Science of the Total Environment 370: 310–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.06.015.
Akai, Junji Izumi, Fukuhara Kaoru, Haruo Masuda, Satoshi Nakano, Takahisa Yoshimura, Hiroaki Ohfuji, Hossain M. Anawar, and Kurumi Akai. 2004. “Mineralogical and Geomicrobiological Investigations on Groundwater Arsenic Enrichment in Bangladesh.” Applied Geochemistry 19 (2): 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2003.09.008
Barkat, Abdul. 2004. “Socio-Economic Consequences of Arsenic Poisoning in Drinking Water: An Issue of Unprecedented Cultural Emergency in Bangladesh.” Paper presented at 32nd Session of the International Seminars on Planetary Emergencies: Ettore Majorana International Foundation & Centre for Scientific Culture in Collaboration with World Federation of Scientists & ICSC-World Laboratory, Italy, Erice. 19–24 August.
Becker, Gary S. 1971. The Economics of Discrimination. Second edition. London: The University of Chicago Press.
BGS and DPHE. 2001. “Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Bangladesh.” In British Geological Survey Technical Report WC/00/19, edited by D. G. Kinniburgh and P. L. Smedley. Keyworth: British Geological Survey.
Biswas, Ashis, Bibhas Nath, Prosun Bhattacharya, Dipti Halder, Amit K. Kundu, Ujjal Mandal, Abhijit Mukherjee, Debashis Chatterjee, Carl-Magnus Morth, Gunnar Jacks. 2012. “Hydrogeochemical Contrast between Brown and Grey Sand Aquifers in Shallow Depth of Bengal Basin: Consequences for Sustainable Drinking Water Supply.” Science of the Total Environment 431 (August): 402–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.05.031.
Brinkel, Johanna, Mobarak H. Khan, and Alexander Kraemer. 2009. “A Systematic Review of Arsenic Exposure and its Social and Mental Health effects with Special Reference to Bangladesh.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 6 (12): 1609–1619. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph6051609.
Caliendo, Marco, and Sabine Kopeinig. 2008. “Some Practical Guidance for the Implementation of Propensity Score Matching.” Journal of Economic Surveys 22 (1): 31–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6419.2007.00527.x.
Chakraborti, Dipankar, Mohammad M. Rahman, Kunal Paul, Uttam K. Chowdhury, Mrinal K. Sengupta, Dillip Lodh, Chitta R. Chanda, Khitish C. Saha, and Subhas C. Mukherjee. 2002. “Arsenic Calamity in the Indian Subcontinent – What Lessons Have Been Learned?” Talanta 58: 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0039-9140(02)00270-9.
Chakraborti, Dipankar, Subhas C. Mukherjee, Shyamapada Pati, Mrinal K. Sengupta, Mohammad M. Rahman, Uttam K. Chowdhury, Dilip Lodh, Chitta R. Chanda, Anil K. Chakraborti, and Gautam Basu. 2003. “Arsenic Groundwater Contamination in Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, India: A Future Danger?” Environmental Health Perspectives 111 (9): 1194–1201. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.5966.
Chakraborti, Dipankar, Mrinal K. Sengupta, Mohammad M. Rahman, Sad Ahamed, Uttam K. Chowdhury, Mohammad Amir Hossain, Subhash C. Mukherjee, Shyamapada Pati, Kshitish C. Saha, et al. 2004. “Ground Water Arsenic Contamination and its Health Effects in the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra Plain.” Journal of Environmental Monitoring 6 (6): 75N–83N. https://doi.org/10.1039/b406573p.
Chakraborti, Dipankar, Bhaskar Das, Mohammad M. Rahman, Uttam K. Chowdhury, Bhajan Biswas, Arunasis B. Goswami, Bishwajit Nayak, Arup Pal, Mrinal K. Sengupta, and Sad Ahamed. 2009. “Status of Ground Water Arsenic Contamination in the State of West Bengal, India: A 20 Year Study Report.” Molecular Nutrition and Food Research 53 (5): 542–551. https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.200700517.
Chowdhury, Tarit, R., Basu, Gautam, K., Mandal, Badal, K., Biswas, Bhajan, K., Samanta, Gautam, Chowdhury, Uttam, K., Chanda, Chitta, R., Lodh, Dilip, Roy, Sagar, L., Saha, Ksitish, C. 1999. “Arsenic Poisoning in the Ganges Delta.” Nature 401 (6753): 545–546. https://doi.org/10.1038/44056.
Chowdhury, Uttam K., Bhajan K. Biswas, Tarit Roy Chowdhury, Gautam Samanta, Badal K. Mandal, Gautam C. Basu, Chitta R. Chanda, Dilip Lodh, Khitish C. Saha, Subhas K. Mukherjee, Sibtosh Roy, Saiful Kabir, Quazi Quamruzzaman, and Dipankar Chakraborti. 2000. “Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India.” Environmental Health Perspective 108 (5): 393–397. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3454378.
Curry, Alistair, Guy Carrin, Bartram Jamie, Sombo Yamamura, Han Heijnen, Jacqueline Sims, Jose Hueb, Yuko Sato. 2000. Towards an Assessment of the Socio-Economic Impact of Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Datta, D. V. 1976. “Arsenic and Non-Cirrhotic Portal Hypertension.” Lancet 21 (February): 433. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(76)90282-8.
Ghosh, Pramit, Chinmoy Roy, Niloy Kanti Das, Sujit Ranjan Sengupta. 2008. “Epidemiology and Prevention of Chronic Arsenicosis: An Indian Perspective.” Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venerology and Leprology 74 (6): 587–593. https://doi.org/10.4103/0378-6323.45099.
Gujarati, Damodar, and Sangeetha Gunasekar. 2007. Basic Econometrics. Fourth edition. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. http://www.mhhe.com/gujarati4e.
Guo, Shenyang, and Mark W. Fraser. 2010. Propensity Score Analysis: Statistical Methods and Applications. USA: Sage. https://in.sagepub.com/en-in/sas/propensity-score-analysis/book238151.
Hadi, Abdullahel, and Roxana Parveen. 2004. “Arsenicosis in Bangladesh: Prevalence and Socio-Economic Correlates.” Public Health 118 (8): 559–564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2003.11.002.
Hanchett, Suzanne. 2004. Social Aspects of Arsenic Contamination in Drinking Water: A Review of Knowledge and Practice in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Bangladesh: Arsenic Policy Support Unit, Local Government Division, Government of Bangladesh. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15127.16805.
Harvey, Charles. F., Christopher H. Swartz, Abu Bohran M. Badruzzman, Nicole Keon-Blute, Winston Yu, M. Ashraf Ali, Jenny Jay, Roger Beckie, Volker Niedan, Daniel Brabande, et al. 2002. “Arsenic Mobility and Groundwater Extraction in Bangladesh.” Science 298 (5598): 1602–1606. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1076978.
Harvey, Charles. F., Christopher H. Swartz, Abu Bohran M. Badruzzman, Nicole Keon-Blute, Winston Yu, M. Ashraf Ali, Jenny Jay, Roger Beckie, Volker Niedan, Daniel Brabande, et al. 2005. “Groundwater Arsenic Contamination on the Ganges Delta: Biogeochemistry, Hydrology, Human Perturbations, and Human Suffering on a Large Scale.” Comptes-Rendus: Geoscience 337 (1–2): 285–296. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631071304003050.
Hassan, Manzurul M., Peter J. Atkins, and Chistine E. Dunn. 2005. “Social Implications of Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh.” Social Science and Medicine 61 (10): 2201–2211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.04.021.
Heinrich, Carolyn, A., Alessandro Maffioli, and Gozalo Vázquez. 2010. A Primer for Applying Propensity Score Matching. Technical Notes No. IDB-TN-161. Inter-American Development Bank. http://www.iadb.org/document.cfm?id=35320229.
Hossain, Amir M., Amitava Mukherjee, Mrinal K. Sengupta, Sad Ahamed, Bhaskar Das, Bishwajit Nayak, Arup Pal, Mohammad M. Rahman, and Dipankar Chakraborti. 2006. “Million Dollar Arsenic Removal Plants in West Bengal, India: Useful or Not?” Water Quality Research Journal Canada 41 (2): 216–225. https://doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2006.025.
Imbens, Guido W., and Jeffrey M. Wooldridge. 2009. “Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation.” Journal of Economic Literature 47 (1): 5–86. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.47.1.5.
Kapaj, Simon, Hans Peterson, Karsten Liber, and Prosun Bhattacharya. 2006. “Human Health Effects from Chronic Arsenic Poisoning – A Review.” Journal of Environmental Science and Health 41 (10): 2399–2428. https://doi.org/10.1080/10934520600873571.
Kassie, Menale, Bekele Shiferaw, and Geoffrey Muricho. 2010. “Adoption and Impact of Improved Groundnut Varieties on Rural Poverty: Evidence from Rural Uganda.” Environment for Development, Discussion Paper Series (2010): 1–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep14933.
Khan, M. Zakir Hossain. 2007.“Managing the Arsenic Disaster in Water Supply: Risk Measurement, Costs of Illness and Policy Choices for Bangladesh,” Working Paper No. 27–07. Kathmandu: South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE). http://www.sandeeonline.org/uploads/documents/publication/749_PUB_working_paper_27.pdf.
Mahanta, Ratul, Jayashree Chowdhury, and Hiranya K. Nath. 2016. “Health Costs of Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water in Assam, India.” Economic Analysis and Policy 49 (March): 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2015.11.013.
Mahmood, Shakeel Ahmed I., and Amal K. Halder. 2011. “The Socioeconomic Impact of Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh.” Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences 3 (3): 65–73.
Mandal, Badal K., Tarit R. Chowdhury, Gautam Samanta, Gautam K. Basu, Partha P. Chowdhury, Chitta R. Chanda, Nikhil K. Karan, Dilip Lodh, Ratan K. Dhar, Dipankar Das, Kshitish C. Saha, and Dipankar Chakraborti. 1996. “Arsenic in Groundwater in Seven Districts of West Bengal, India: The Biggest Arsenic Calamity in The World.” Current Science 70 (11): 976–986. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24111635.
Milton, A. H. 2003. “Health Effects of Arsenic Toxicity, Clinical Manifestation and Health Management in Arsenic Contamination: Bangladesh Perspective.” Dhaka: ITN Bangladesh, Centre for Water Supply and Waste Management, BUET.
Misbahuddin, Mir, and Atm Fariduddin. 2002. “Water Hyacinth Removes Arsenic from Arsenic Contaminated Drinking Water.” Archives of Environmental Health 57 (6): 516–519. https://doi.org/10.1080/00039890209602082.
Nahar, Nurun, Faisal Hossain, and M. Dilawar Hossain. 2008. “Health and Socioeconomic Effects of Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Rural Bangladesh: New Evidence from Field Surveys.” Journal of Environmental Health 70 (9): 42–47. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18517153.
Planer-Friedrich, Britta, Cornelia Hartig, Heidi Lissner, Jorg Steinborn, Elke Suss, M. Qumrul Hassan, Anwar Zahid, Mahmood Alam, and Broder Merkel. 2012. “Organic Carbon Mobilization in a Bangladesh Aquifer Explained by Seasonal Monsoon-Driven Storativity Changes.” Applied Geochemistry 27 (12): 2324–2334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2012.08.005.
Pound Sterling Live. 2005. “U.S. Dollar to Indian Rupee Spot Exchange Rates for 2005 from the Bank of England.” Accessed June 13, 2020. https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/bank-of-england-spot/historical-spot-exchange-rates/usd/USD-to-INR-2005.
Quamruzzaman, Q., R. Mahmuder, and A. Khordekar. 2003. “Effects of Arsenic on Health in Arsenic Contamination: Bangladesh Perspective.” Dhaka: BUET.
Rahman, Mahmudur M., Jack C. Nga, and Ravi Naidu. 2009. “Chronic Exposure of Arsenic via Drinking Water and Its Adverse Health Impacts on Humans.” Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31 (February): 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-008-9235-0.
Rosenbaum, Paul R., and Donald B. Rubin. 1985. “Constructing a Control Group Using Multivariate Matched Sampling Methods That Incorporate the Propensity Score.” The American Statistician 39 (1): 35–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/2683903.
Roy, Joyashree. 2008. “Economic Benefits of Arsenic Removal from Ground Water – A Case Study from West Bengal, India.” Science of the Total Environment 397 (1–3): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.02.007.
Rubin, Donald B. 1973. “Matching to Remove Bias in Observational Studies.” Biometrics 29 (1): 159–184. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529684.
Rubin, Donald. B. 2001. “Using Propensity Scores to Help Design Observational Studies: Application to the Tobacco Litigation.” Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology 2: 169–188. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020363010465.
Sarker, M. Mizanur Rahman. 2010.“Determinants of Arsenicosis Patients’ Perception and Social Implications of Arsenic Poisoning through Groundwater in Bangladesh.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 7 (10): 3644–3656. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph7103644.
Sultana, Sabia, Quazi Z. Hossain, and Reshma Pervin. 2012. “Socioeconomic Condition and Health Status of Chronic Arsenicosis Patients in Jessore, Bangladesh.” International Journal of Advanced Nutritional and Health Science 1 (1): 9–17. https://doi.org/10.23953/cloud.ijanhs.156.
Syed, Emdadul H., Krishna C. Poudel, Kayako Sakisaka, Junko Yasuoka, Habibul Ahsan, and Masamine Jimba. 2012. “Quality of Life and Mental Health Status of Arsenic-Affected Patients in a Bangladeshi Population.” Journal of Health Population and Nutrition 30 (3): 262–269. https://doi.org/10.3329/jhpn.v30i3.12289.
Thakur, Barun Kumar, and Vijaya Gupta. 2019. “Valuing Health Damages due to Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Bihar, India.” Economics and Human Biology 35: 123–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.06.005.
Vahter, Marie. 2009. “Effects of Arsenic on Maternal and Fetal Health.” Annual Review of Nutrition 29: 381–399. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-080508-141102.
Winship, Christopher, and Stephen L. Morgan. 1999. “The Estimation of Causal Effects from Observational Data.” Annual Review of Sociology 25: 659–706. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.659.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright
The author(s) retain copyright on work published by INSEE unless specified otherwise.
Licensing and publishing rights
Author(s) of work published by INSEE are required to transfer non-exclusive publishing right to INSEE of the definitive work in any format, language and medium, for any lawful purpose.
Authors who publish in Ecology, Economy and Society will release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given.
For details of the rights that the authors grant users of their work, see the "human-readable summary" of the license, with a link to the full license. (Note that "you" refers to a user, not an author, in the summary.)
The authors retain the non-exclusive right to do anything they wish with the published article(s), provided attribution is given to the Ecology, Economy and Society—the INSEE Journal with details of the original publication, as set out in the official citation of the article published in the journal. The retained right specifically includes the right to post the article on the authors’ or their institution’s websites or in institutional repositories.
In case of re-publishing a previously published work, author may note that earlier publication may have taken place a license different from Creative Commons. In all such cases of re-publishing, we advise the authors to consult the applicable licence at article level.
