Rural Roads, Farm Labor Exits, and Crop Fires

Teevrat Garg, Maulik Jagnani and Hemant Pullabhotla

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 420-50

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: D62 J43 O13 O18 Q12 Q51 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220422

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