Conference: WASH Economics Conference 2025

Oberlin College, Oberlin OH

Investigators

Abstract

Access to improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is of first order importance to improving the lives and well-being of all individuals. This is especially true for populations in developing countries, where provision of improved WASH services lags behind the developed world and governments grapple with achieving universalization of service. This project focusses on the socioeconomic and political barriers to improved WASH service across the globe, and recognizes that the nature of research on WASH rules in developing countries requires close collaboration between researchers, local governments and funding from international agencies and development banks. The project brings together researchers and decision makers for a dedicated conference working on the economic determinants of WASH rules in developing countries for a two-day conference at Oberlin College in March 2025. The project fills a critical need for increasing collaboration among WASH researchers at US institutions and abroad. While there is a sizable number of researchers working on the economic determinants of WASH rules, research in this field is often presented as a part of smaller themed sessions in larger field conferences such as development economics, public economics, and conferences sponsored by international research institutions. Moreover, the geographic spread of WASH research – both in terms of home institution and focus area of fieldwork – makes it difficult to cultivate and maintain a network of like-minded researchers. As such, it can often be difficult to produce a “critical mass” of economists working in this literature at a single conference to collaborate and generate new ideas or partnerships that so often happen during in-person interactions. The project provides an opportunity for economists to present early-, mid-stage, and publication-ready work from their current research agenda and to receive feedback from fellow practitioners in the field. A major part of the conference is a keynote address on the future direction of WASH research from an active and prominent member of the field, as well as panel discussion with members of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice group on the various projects that the Bank is working on to address WASH access for the world’s most vulnerable populations. The primary goal of the conference is to spur new research collaborations among NSF-fundable researches at US institutions that result in peer-reviewed research articles, briefs, and joint projects with governments and development institutions. An additional goal of the conference is to support early-career economists by having graduate students field a poster session to both receive feedback from and engage fully with the established WASH research community. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.