Ninth Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy Human Capital Development for Sustained Economic Growth/ Increased Rural connectivity and its effects on health outcomes

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of increasing openness and connectivity of rural areas to the outside world on health outcomes and awareness levels. The focus is on in rural Pakistan with outcomes being examined over a fifteen year period. In particular, the paper studies whether improved access to markets for rural areas through a widening (and/or upgraded) road network has had a positive impact on child nutritional status as measured by height-for-age and incidence of illness. Moreover, the paper also studies if awareness regarding health practices, including immunization and breastfeeding has improved as accessibility to villages has bettered. The analysis uses the IFPRI-PIDE panel data where the IFPRI data covers the 1986 – 1991 period while the PIDE Pakistan Rural Household Survey was conducted in 2001-2002 and 2003-2004. I use the panel aspect of the data to isolate inter-generational changes in health-related outcomes. I estimate a linear regression to examine the effect of increased access to urban markets. I also estimate a family fixed effects model so as to inspect differences in health outcomes at the intra-household level. The results suggest that as roads improve and rural markets become more integrated with urban ones, health outcomes witness a positive affect at the aggregate level with differences at the intra-household level, particularly those between the genders, declining.