Female Labor Demand and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Peru’s Blueberry Export Industry

Nicolas Pazos, Catalina Herrera-Almanza and Mary Arends-Kuenning

No 404602, 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Agricultural export booms can reshape local labor markets and expand formal employment opportunities for women. Yet little is known about their effects on intimate partner violence (IPV). We focus on the blueberry export industry in Peru, which disproportionately increased female labor demand, and estimate the causal effects of blueberry exports on IPV and related outcomes. We combine household data from the DHS with firm-level export data and leverage variation in blueberry farm openings and export quantities across space and time to identify causal effects. We find that exposure to blueberry exports significantly reduces the prevalence of IPV. We provide evidence that these results operate through improvements in the quality of women’s employment, with blueberry expansion shifting women from informal to formal jobs and increasing their earnings relative to their partners. These labor market gains are accompanied by improvements in household decision-making and higher divorce rates, consistent with a bargaining power mechanism.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea26:404602

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404602

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