Job market paper

Large-scale surface irrigation is essential in keeping agriculture viable in regions prone to drought but it has the potential to exacerbate inequality due to the uneven distribution of its benefits and costs. I investigate this issue in the context of South Africa by estimating heterogeneous effects of irrigation canals on crop productivity and agricultural land expansion by type of farmer. To estimate these effects, I use remote sensing measures of crop yields and a novel land cover classification dataset in a spatial regression discontinuity framework with relative elevation to the nearest canal as the running variable. Areas below the canals serve as the treated group, while areas above serve as the control. The findings show that commercial farmers below canals benefit in terms of higher maize and wheat yields and expand their area under production. Census data further reveal that these expanding commercial farms create employment opportunities for the rural poor. In contrast, subsistence farmers below canals experience lower yields relative to those above and do not expand their cultivated area. Despite the unequal distribution of benefits, a cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that large-scale irrigation infrastructure remains a cost-effective investment.

Media: Econ That Really Matters Blog

Prizes: University of Maryland Visiting Day Poster Competition, First Prize

Working paper

I examine the long-term impacts of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on human capital accumulation. Natural disasters have devastating immediate impacts but their long-term consequences remain underexplored. Through the disruption of schools in the affected areas they can negatively affect enrollment and school completion rates. I study the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on human capital accumulation among the affected children and adolescents. Comparing older and younger cohorts within provinces hit by the tsunami and in the rest of the country in a cross-cohort difference-in-differences framework, I find that the tsunami shock increased primary school completion by 1.8 percentage points, while the effect on lower secondary school completion was negative and insignificant and the effect on upper secondary school completion was positive and insignificant. The young adults affected by the tsunami during lower secondary school age or younger were also more likely to perform unpaid family work. A preliminary exploration of mechanisms suggests that the positive effects on human capital accumulation were concentrated among households who did not migrate away from the affected provinces, thus benefiting from relief aid.

Working paper

This paper examines the impact of interoperability between mobile money providers (MMPs) on mobile money adoption in Tanzania. The introduction of account-to-account (A2A) interoperability, which allows users to transfer funds between accounts across different MMPs, was expected to foster broader adoption by leveraging network externalities and reducing transaction costs. Using data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (NPS), I develop a differentiated product demand model to estimate the effect of interoperability on mobile money adoption. The model captures how household preferences for interoperability vary by key characteristics such as wealth, education, and urban residence. Results show that households, on average, place a positive value on interoperability, with wealthier, more educated, and urban households exhibiting a stronger preference for interoperable services. This study contributes to the literature on financial inclusion and the importance of regulatory framework in driving mobile money adoption.

with Adrien Bouguen

Work in progress

Work in progress

Impact evaluation of the Integrated Soil Fertility Management Dissemination Programme in Burkina Faso, 3ie Impact Evaluation Report 123, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2020, with Adrien Bouguen, Markus Frölich, Estelle Koussoubé, and Eugénie Maïga

Impact Evaluation of the PFR Benin. Endline Report, Center for Evaluation and Development (C4ED), 2023, with Nicholas Barton and Clémentine Sadania