Spreading the love around: how do temporary weather shocks influence the demand for family, hired and exchange labor?
This paper characterizes the nature of rural agricultural labor markets in sub-Saharan Africa, and identifies distinct mechanisms influencing the use of family and hired labor. I evaluate the responsiveness of agricultural labor markets to unexpected changes in weather by matching a multivariable drought index, village-by-village and crop-by-crop, to household survey data from six countries. At the household level I observe small but statistically significant positive effects on the probability of farmers hiring or using exchange workers during droughts and periods of excess rainfall. Farmers slightly increase their use of hired and exchange labor as a share of total labor during droughts and periods of excess rainfall. Though hired labor becomes more concentrated during periods of drought, farmers are also more likely to spread family labor around. The results provide empirical backing for the different mechanisms influencing family and hired labor use.Â
Asymmetric information, the digital divide, and the gender price gap
(Joint w/Jawoo Koo (IFPRI))
This paper analyzes transaction data from agricultural surveys carried out in five countries in the developing world to test for a difference in the prices received by men and by women marketing the same crop in the same village. In a unique finding, we identify a gap between the price received by women and the price received by men on three separate continents. Echoing similar results from other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we provide evidence, using mobile phone ownership and use data, to suggest that women who farm likely suffer from unequal access to information. The presence of asymmetric information is therefore indicated to be a limiting factor in women's ability to receive a fair unit price.
Let the data shine: focusing in on nighttime lights
(w/Jean-Louis Arcand, Global Development Network)
This paper links the newest generation of nighttime satellite images, which offer a resolution 45 times higher than the previous generation, to administrative panel-data on population and income from the United States and Brazil for 2012-2020. We confirm that nighttime light increases with income per capita at a high geospatial resolution, even after controlling for the effect of population density on nighttime light.
Assessing Land Area from Above: Evidence from Armenia
(Joint w/Sydney Gourlay and Alberto Zezza (World Bank))
Using primary data collected by the World Bank in Armenia as part of a randomized controlled trial, we evaluate the use of a satellite image tracing to measure agricultural land in the context of a household survey. Satellite tracing offers several benefits, including a large reduction in the cost of measuring land, the potential to measure more parcels of land, and improved security for survey enumerators. We find the satellite tracing approach yields consistent results, and requires 42% less time than measuring with GPS, and provides value-added over self-reported estimates. Due to the potential cost savings, and other non-trivial benefits, we suggest that land measurement via satellite image tracing offers significant value, though is not as accurate as land area estimates conducted with a handheld GPS.