Forums | HES 健康与环境科学

22 October 2025, 5:46 PM

Speaker: Prof. Trung Thanh Nguyen

Title: Remittances, sanitation and child malnutrition: evidence from Thailand and Vietnam

Date: 2025-10-23

Time: 13:30-14:30 

Room: ES354

Host: Peng Zhao

Tencent Meeting ID: 979-1135-5376

Abstract: 

1. Brief introduction Leibniz University Hannover (LUH): Student exchange; Research focus; master’s and PhD programs: opportunities for prospective students.
2. TVSEP: Description of past, current and future data waves; Research collaboration opportunities for data users and more.
3. Research paper presentation:Remittances, sanitation and child malnutrition: evidence from Thailand and Vietnam.

Sanitation and child undernutrition are critical for sustainable development, and remittances have become an important source of income in several emerging economies. However, the interlinkages between remittances, sanitation, and child undernutrition have not been investigated. In this study, we examine the impact of remittances on the propensity of rural households to have a flush toilet and the impact of having a flush toilet on child undernutrition in two emerging economies, Thailand and Vietnam. We use a four-wave panel dataset of rural households collected in 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 in six provinces in rural Northeast Thailand and Central Vietnam, and employ an instrumental variable (IV) approach to address endogeneity concerns. Our results show that (i) remittances have a positive effect on the probability of having a flush toilet, (ii) children from rural households without a flush toilet suffer more from wasting, underweight, and stunting; and (iii) the impact of having a flush toilet on child undernutrition varies among different child groups. Female children and children from poor households benefit more, while children from less educated mothers benefit less. Our findings confirm that remittances are a source of funding to improve rural sanitation and highlight the importance of improved sanitation for child health in middle-income countries. Therefore, supporting rural households in obtaining a flush toilet is recommended and can be facilitated through economic growth for remittances. In addition, improving rural education and village public water systems also contributes to reducing child undernutrition among rural households.

Biography:

Prof. Trung-Thanh Nguyen is a scholar in environmental and development economics at Leibniz University Hannover. His research spans natural resource and development economics, with a focus on how environmental change intersects with development outcomes. He is also one of the PIs of the well-known project, TVSEP (Thailand Vietnam Socio-Economic Panel). His work has been published in several prestigious journals, for example, Energy Economics, Ecological Economics, World Development, Food Policy, European Review of Agricultural Economics. Additionally, he has a strong global network of researchers and institutions, which share a passion of development economics. For more information about his research agenda and outcomes, please visit: Trung Thanh Nguyen (0000-0003-4507-724X) - ORCID

Look forward to seeing you!

Liwen Wu