Rural Roads, , Farm Labor Exits, , and Crop Fires

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Garg, Teevrat; Jagnani, Maulik; Pullabhotla, Hemant k.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; Tufts University; Tufts University; Deakin University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220422
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 420-450
• 关键词: air-pollution; infant-mortality; agricultural fires; residue-management; HEALTH; COSTS; IMPACT; GROWTH

摘要

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.