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on Development |
| By: | Mélanie Gittard (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées) |
| Abstract: | Western African Sahel faced severe droughts in the 1980s, affecting agricultural production and food security. In recent decades, farmers have faced uncertainty in the timing and amount of rainy seasons and are confronted with erratic rainfall with high interannual variations. Can the experience of past dry events reduce the vulnerability of households to short-term rainfall shocks? In this paper, I match three waves of panel household surveys focusing on agriculture in Nigeria (GHS, from 2010-2016) and high temporal resolution precipitation data set from the Climate Hazard Center (CHIRPS). I show evidence of the extreme importance of the long-dry period of the 1980s and identify more recent droughts in 2013/2015, which are in line with a change in the characteristics of the rainfall trends. Through a two-way-fixed effect strategy, I exploit the spatial variation of the exposition to the 2015 drought. First, I look at the short-term effects of being hit by a drought on agricultural production and food security indicators. I show that being hit by a drought decreases yields by 14%, and decreases the food diversity of households by around 1%. Second, I look at the impacts' heterogeneity according to the plot's experience, using the timing of the year of acquisition of the plot. I compare short-term droughts' effects on households that acquired their first plot before the 1980s dry period to those that acquired it after. Results suggest that acquiring the land before 1985 attenuates the harmful effects of a climate shock, as these particular households have only a 3% reduction in their yields due to the 2015 drought. This is especially the case when households were severely hit in the 1980s. This result might suggest that having a long-lasting experience under extreme dry events on cultivated land reduces vulnerability to rainfall variability. |
| Keywords: | Nigeria, Droughts, Climate Change, Agricultural Production, Adaptation |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04685420 |
| By: | Resuf Ahmed; Paul Brimble; Akhila Kovvuri; Alessandro Saia; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | This study examines the long-term social and political impacts of mass media exposure to religious content in India. We study the impact of "Ramayan, " the massively popular adaptation of the Hindu epic televised in 1987-88. To identify causal effects, we conduct difference-in-difference analyses and exploit variation in TV signal strength driven by location of TV transmitters and topographical features inhibiting electromagnetic TV signal propagation. We find that areas with higher exposure to Ramayan (higher TV signal strength when the show aired) experienced significant cultural and political changes. First, we document a strengthening of religious identity among Hindus: parents in these areas became more likely to give their newborn sons traditionally Hindu names, and households showed increased adherence to orthodox Hindu dietary practices. In the short term, this cultural shift led to an increase in Hindu-Muslim communal violence through 1992. Over the longer term, through 2000, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became more likely to win state assembly elections. Analyses of changes in local TV signal strength in India over decades indicate that these effects are not due to general access to TV but are due to exposure to the Ramayan TV show in 1987-1988. Our findings reveal that media portrayal of religious narratives can have lasting effects on cultural identity, intergroup violence, and electoral outcomes. |
| JEL: | D72 L82 Z12 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33417 |
| By: | Mélanie Gittard (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Irène Hu (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | In the midst of Africa's mining boom, communities downstream from industrial mines face increased exposure to toxic waste. Yet, the effects of induced water pollution on the local population's health have not been quantified at the continental scale of Africa, due to data limitation and non-random exposure. This paper investigates this question using a new quasi-experimental design and a novel dataset detailing the location and opening dates of all known industrial mines, obtained through intensive manual data collection. We combine geo-coded information on 2, 016 industrial mines with health outcomes from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 1986 to 2018 in 26 African countries. Through a staggered difference-in-difference strategy, we compare villages downstream and upstream of mines before and after their opening and find a 25% increase in 24-month mortality rates downstream. The effect is mainly observed among children who were no longer breastfed, confirming that water pollution drives the results. Our analysis rules out other mechanisms like fertility changes, access to facilities, in-migration, conflicts and income effects. The impact intensifies during mine operation and high international mineral prices, is higher in densely mined regions, and fades out with distance. From a public policy perspective, this paper underscores the significant local costs of mine openings on the environment and the health of the surrounding populations. |
| Keywords: | Health, Water Pollution, Natural Resource, Environmental Degradation, Africa, Industrial Mining |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04685390 |
| By: | Mélanie Gittard (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Since 2000, Kenya has experienced an increase in the frequency of droughts, significantly affecting agriculture and driving labor force migration. This paper investigates strategic migration patterns among farmers and pastoralists in response to repetitive droughts. I use fine-grained data that enables the capture of shortdistance migration and heterogeneity, combining satellite-based data on daily rainfalls (CHIRPS) with exhaustive censuses from 1989, 1999, and 2009. I use a two-way fixed-effect model to exploit the spatial variation in drought frequency across 2, 518 sub-locations, comparing their demographic growth according to the number of dryrainy seasons over each decade. First, I show that increased drought frequency triggers out-migration, as one additional drought decreases demographic growth by 1.7 p.p, equivalent to a 1% population decline. This result is consistent within the [15; 65] age group, excluding other demographic effects and confirming migration as the driving factor. The main contribution of this paper is the identification of different migration strategies across livelihoods. Rural areas dominated by pastoral activities experience significant out-migration, leading to a rural-rural shift from pastoral to agriculture-oriented regions. Herders' migration displays little heterogeneity, suggesting the migration of entire households and consistent with migration as a last resort. Agricultural rural areas are less vulnerable to drought and display significant heterogeneity. The results show the migration of the most educated individuals in the working age, while uneducated individuals are trapped in affected areas. This paper highlights the importance of using detailed data to understand diverse migration strategies, thereby facilitating the implementation of effective policies. |
| Keywords: | Kenya, Droughts, Migration, Population, Census data |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04685409 |
| By: | Pedro Henrique Batista de Barros; Ariaster Chimeli |
| Abstract: | Assessing the impact of economic development on the environment depends on a number of factors that have plagued the empirical literature for decades and led many economists to focus on more microeconometric and RCT studies on the underlying forces behind income and environmental quality. The micro-level literature has produced a number of insights on the growth-environment nexus, but its conclusions are viewed with caution in policy making due to the difficulty in accounting for general equilibrium effects that often evade these studies. We take advantage of the recent microeconometric literature on the determinants of environmental quality along the development path to revisit the aggregate relationship between income and deforestation with a focus on deforestation and ecosystem health of the Brazilian Amazon region. Our results indicate a significant, negative, and non-linear relationship that is mediated by factors such as urbanization, poverty, policies to combat extreme poverty, access to both local and national markets and more efficient production in the agricultural frontier. Heterogeneity tests shows that this relationship is significant only in middle- and high-income municipalities, aligning with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development; Deforestation; Amazon |
| JEL: | Q23 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2025–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2025wpecon2 |
| By: | Ramachandran, Rajesh (Monash University Malaysia); Rustagi, Devesh (University of Warwick); Soldani, Emilia (OECD) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether discrimination by teachers explains the large gap in educational outcomes between students from marginalized and non-marginalized groups. Using the context of India, we start with a correspondence study to show that teachers assign 0.29 standard deviations lower grade to an exam of equal quality but with a lower caste surname. We then conduct incentivized surveys, behavioral experiments, and vignettes to highlight some of the invisible elements that are critical to understanding discrimination. We find that teachers hold biased attitudes and beliefs about lower caste individuals, which are associated with poor grading outcomes. We conduct a mechanism intervention based on invoking empathy among teachers to mitigate discrimination. We find that discrimination disappears in the treatment group, and the effect is largest for teachers with higher baseline empathy. These findings are not due to social desirability. Our findings offer a proof-of-concept to understand mental processes that could be instrumental in designing policies to mitigate discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Correspondence study, Caste, Attitudes, Beliefs, Empathy, India JEL Classification: C90, I24, J15, J16, Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:743 |
| By: | Elodie Djemaï (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Andrew E Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg = University of Luxembourg = Universität Luxemburg); Conchita d'Ambrosio (uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg = University of Luxembourg = Universität Luxemburg) |
| Abstract: | Public Goods aim to improve individual welfare. We investigate the causal consequences of roads on well-being in 24 African countries, instrumenting paved roads by 19th Century hypothetical lines between major ports and cities. We have data on over 32000 individuals, and consider both their objective and subjective well-being, via access to four basic needs and the subjective evaluation of living conditions respectively. Our instrumental-variable analysis suggests that roads reduce material deprivation, by improving access to basic needs, but that there is no causal relation between the distance to a road and subjective living conditions. The benefit of roads in providing basic needs then seems to be offset by worse outcomes in other domains. |
| Keywords: | Roads, Subjective Well-being, Basic Needs, Material Deprivation, Africa |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04358452 |
| By: | Headey, Derek D. |
| Abstract: | Robust food insecurity indicators are needed for monitoring development targets, humanitarian advocacy efforts, and rationally allocating foreign aid. Longstanding dissatisfaction with the FAO’s undernourishment indicator prompted the development of new metrics in recent decades, including the FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and the unaffordability of healthy diets. However, no previous research has assessed whether food insecurity and poverty indicators are in broad agreement on which countries are insecure/poor, and whether global food insecurity is rising or falling. Unfortunately, this new mix of methods produces mixed messages. At the country level, FIES severe food insecurity is often higher in Latin America and the Caribbean than in Niger and other extremely poor African countries. On global trends, the FAO reports increasing undernourishment and FIES food insecurity over 2014-2022, whereas the World Bank reports monetary poverty declining and healthy diets becoming more affordable. Moreover, trends in FAO food security indicators are not statistically explained by hypothesized factors cited in FAO reports, such as conflict or climate change, and increases in the FAO’s calorie consumption inequality metric are inconsistent with declining income inequality reported by the World Bank. We provide four concrete suggestions to improve food security measurement and monitoring: (1) the FAO should cease modelling undernourishment; (2) new independent studies should re-evaluate the FIES and test new metrics; (3) international agencies should implement coordinated, high-frequency, multi-purpose, open-access surveys; and (4) researchers should further improve the “nowcasting†of poverty and food insecurity for data-scarce crisis contexts. |
| Keywords: | food insecurity; malnutrition; prevalence of undernourishment; poverty; stunting |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2323 |
| By: | Djidonou, Robert (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, Mt Economic Research Inst on Innov/Techn); Foster-McGregor, Neil (RS: GSBE MGSoG, Mt Economic Research Inst on Innov/Techn); Mathew, Nanditha (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MORSE, RS: GSBE MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a crucial role in reducing poverty and inequality by generating the majority of jobs, income, and pathways to better employment opportunities. However, informal enterprises are often characterized by low productivity and significant decent work deficits. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where a large share of the workforce is engaged in informal enterprises, transitioning to formality is essential for enhancing productivity, fostering economic growth, and ensuring decent work for all. A critical pathway for informal firms to formalize is through production and worker linkages with formal firms. Using a sample of 13, 626 informal firms from three Sub-Saharan African countries, this study examines the performance effects of informal firms with formal linkages and explores the mediating role of human capital. We find that formal backward linkages—where informal firms source inputs from formal firms—are significantly more common than other types of formal-informal linkages. Employing heteroskedasticity-based identification, our findings reveal that the productivity gains from these linkages are not automatic - higher human capital is essential for firms to benefit from knowledge and technology transfers. This highlights the critical role of absorptive capacity in enabling informal firms to leverage knowledge and technology transferred through formal backward linkages, thereby emphasizing the importance of targeted capacity-building interventions in fostering inclusive economic growth. |
| JEL: | J40 L14 L25 O12 O17 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–02–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2025006 |
| By: | Pedro Henrique Batista de Barros; Ariaster Chimeli |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the Brazilian government has designed policies to promote the palm oil industry and forest protection, limiting oil palm plantations to already degraded areas. As a consequence, oil palm crops have increased rapidly in the eastern Amazon region and contributed to a low-carbon energy transition. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these policies in avoiding oil palm-induced deforestation. This paper estimates the impact of oil palm plantations on deforestation and nightlight intensity, a proxy for less land-intensive economic activities that could contribute further to forest protection. We do so in two steps. First, we combined optical spectral bands from Landsat-8 and radar backscatter values from Sentinel-1 to produce a more accurate map of oil palm plantations with a random forest machine learning algorithm. Next, we used the maximum agro-climatically attainable palm oil yield from the Global Agro-Ecological Zoning (GAEZ) as an instrument for oil palm expansion between 2014 and 2020, and estimated the impact of the crop on deforestation and nightlights. Oil palms expanded mainly on pastures, but also contributed to deforestation. We do not find any evidence that the crop stimulates less land-intensive economic activities. |
| Keywords: | Oil Palm; Deforestation; Amazon; Remote Sensing |
| JEL: | Q15 Q23 Q28 Q56 |
| Date: | 2025–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2025wpecon3 |
| By: | Amory Gethin (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article constructs new estimates of global poverty that incorporate the consumption of public services. Combining data from multiple sources, I build a novel historical database on the value and progressivity of public education, healthcare, and other in-kind transfers received worldwide since 1980. Public goods are large and have considerably grown: they represent 30% of global GDP and have been a major driver of inclusive growth. The consumption of public goods accounts for about 20% of global poverty reduction since 1980. Total government redistribution, including cash and in-kind transfers, accounts for 30%. In a companion paper, I incorporate in this analysis the causal impact of education on pretax incomes. Combining direct redistribution and indirect investment benefits from education brings the total contribution of public policies to global poverty reduction to 50-80% or more. |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04423750 |
| By: | Amory Gethin (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article quantifies the role played by education in the decline of global poverty. Drawing on a model of education and the wage structure, I propose tools for "distributional growth accounting, " isolating the contribution of schooling to economic growth by income group. I bring this framework to the data by exploiting a new microdatabase representative of nearly all of the world's population, new estimates of the private returns to schooling, and historical income distribution statistics. Under conservative assumptions, education accounts for 50% of global economic growth, 70% of income gains among the world's poorest 20% individuals, and 40% of extreme poverty reduction since 1980. It also explains over 50% of improvements in the share of labor income accruing to women. Combining indirect investment benefits from education with measures of direct government redistribution brings the contribution of public policies to extreme poverty reduction to at least 50%. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04423765 |