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Brown bag seminar | Structural transformation and environmental externalities

In the next SITE brown bag seminar, Maulik Jagnani, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Denver, will present his paper where he examines the first evidence that policies that address misallocation due to frictions in labor markets can generate environmental externalities.

Structural transformation and environmental externalities

By: Teevrat Garg, Maulik Jagnani, and Hemant K. Pullabhotla

Abstract

Even as policymakers seek to encourage economic development by addressing mis- allocation 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 responsible for the increase in agricultural fires: 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 rate by 5.5% in downwind locations.

About the speaker

Maulik Jagnani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado Denver. (...)

Prior to joining University of Colorado Denver, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. He graduated from Cornell University with a PhD in Applied Economics in 2019. His research focuses on microeconomic topics in environmental health and human capital in lower-income countries.

Learn more about the speaker >>

Interested in attending the SITE brown bag seminar at SSE or online via Zoom?

The link to the seminar will be distributed by invitation only. If you are interested in attending the seminar – please contact site@hhs.se. Follow the instructions below:

  • Type the subject box with “Brown bag seminar *INSERT SEMINAR TITLE*”
  • Indicate your affiliation and field of interest
  • Please also indicate if you want to attend in person or online

For registered applicants, a Zoom link will be provided prior to the event via email with further instructions.

Photo by Dima Sobko, Shutterstock.com

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