The Impact of Clubfoot Intervention on Dimensions of Human Flourishing: Evidence from Hope Walks in Ethiopia

Bruce Wydick, University of San Francisco
Gianna Camacho, University of San Francisco
Patrizio Piraino, University of Notre Dame

We study the impact of clubfoot disability and its treatment on multiple dimensions of human flourishing among children. We use a quasi difference-in-differences approach on data from 564 children in Ethiopia. To generate counterfactuals to clubfoot status and treatment, we use outcomes from nearest-age siblings of children born with clubfoot nested within a family fixed effect. We find that clubfoot status (early treatment) results in a disability (restoration) of -1.44s (0.91s) in physical mobility, -1.17s (0.79s) in mental health, -1.07s (0.64s) in social inclusion, -0.48s (0.98s) in an education index, -0.76s (0.42s) in religious faith, and -1.19s (0.79s) in an aggregate index of human flourishing (all p < 0.05). We attribute the large and significant impacts from treatment to a highly effective medical intervention that is carried out in an impoverished setting with scarce existing support for children born with disabilities. This generates spillover effects into multiple facets of human flourishing.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Econometrics , Human Capital, Education, and Work

See paper.