American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Rural Roads, Farm Labor Exits, and Crop Fires
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 16,
no. 3, August 2024
(pp. 420–50)
Abstract
Even as policymakers seek to encourage economic development by addressing misallocation due to frictions in labor markets, the associated production externalities—such as air pollution—remain unexplored. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show access to rural roads increases agricultural fires and particulate emissions. Farm labor exits are a likely mechanism: rural roads cause movement of workers out of agriculture and induce farmers to use fire—a labor-saving but polluting technology—to clear agricultural residue or to make harvesting less labor-intensive. Overall, the adoption of fires due to rural roads increases infant mortality rates by 5.5 percent in downwind locations.Citation
Garg, Teevrat, Maulik Jagnani, and Hemant K. Pullabhotla. 2024. "Rural Roads, Farm Labor Exits, and Crop Fires." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16 (3): 420–50. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220422Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D62 Externalities
- J43 Agricultural Labor Markets
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
- Q12 Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
- Q51 Valuation of Environmental Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment