TY  - BOOK
AU  - Garg, Teevrat
AU  -  Jagnani, Maulik
AU  -  Pullabhotla, Hemant K.
TI  - Rural Roads, Farm Labor Exits, and Crop Fires
SN  - 1945-7731
PB  - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
KW  -  Economic Development: Agriculture
KW  -  Natural Resources
KW  - Agricultural Labor Markets
N2  - 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
UR  - https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20220422
ER  -