Slum dynamics: the interplay of remittances, waste disposal and health outcomes

Slum dwellers often fail to expend enough on waste disposal to have a healthy life, and remittances provide funds for a household to expend on the betterment of life conditions. This paper examines the impact of remittances on total monthly waste disposal expenditures and the impact of better waste disposal on monthly health expenditures among slum households in Bangladesh. Propensity score matching was adopted as an identification strategy to reduce selection bias. In this study, remittance includes both remittances received from within and outside Bangladesh. Remittance receipt equals 1 if a household receives remittances from within and/or outside of Bangladesh. Our results show that remittances increase expenditures on waste disposal by 28.77% to 32.74% among slum households in Bangladesh. Waste disposal expenditure is considered as an indicator of better waste disposal. Furthermore, we find that better waste disposal reduces total outpatient expenditures. A reduction in outpatient expenditure indicates that waste disposal results in better health conditions for slum dwellers. The findings of this study can be connected to Sustainable Development Goal 11, which targets sustainable cities and communities and suggests that remittances are a bottom-up financial mechanism for improving waste disposal at the micro level to improve health status.

Graphical abstract