Wells, Water, and Welfare: The Impact of Access to Groundwater on Rural Poverty and Conflict

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sekhri, Sheetal
• 署名单位: University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.6.3.76
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 76-102
• 关键词: regression discontinuity designs; technical change; uttar-pradesh; INDIA; investments; irrigation; settlement; EFFICIENCY; MARKETS

摘要

This paper evaluates the impact of access to groundwater on poverty using data from rural India. The estimation exploits the fact that the technology required to access groundwater changes exogenously due to constraints imposed by laws of physics at a depth of eight meters. I find that rural poverty in areas where depth from surface is below the cutoff is 9 to 10 percent higher. Using survey data for a subsample of villages, I also show that disputes over irrigation water increase by 25 percent around the cutoff. Historical endowments of groundwater facilitate adoption of yield enhancing technologies over the long-run.