Temperature, Labor Reallocation, and Industrial Production: Evidence from India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Colmer, Jonathan
• 署名单位: University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20190249
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 101-124
• 关键词: agricultural productivity; regulations; migration; responses; driven; RISK

摘要

To what degree can labor reallocation mitigate the economic consequences of weather-driven agricultural productivity shocks? I estimate that temperature-driven reductions in the demand for agricultural labor in India are associated with increases in nonagricultural employment. This suggests that the ability of nonagricultural sectors to absorb workers may play a key role in attenuating the economic consequences of agricultural productivity shocks. Exploiting firm-level variation in the propensity to absorb workers, I estimate relative expansions in manufacturing output in more flexible labor markets. Estimates suggest that, in the absence of labor reallocation, local economic losses could be up to 69 percent higher.