农村道路、农业劳动力退出与农作物焚烧
Rural Roads, Farm Labor Exits, and Crop Fires
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy · 2024 · [{"name": "Teevrat Garg", "affiliation": ["University of California San Diego"]}, {"name": "Maulik Jagnani", "affiliation": ["Tufts University"]}, {"name": "Hemant Pullabhotla", "affiliation": ["Deakin University"]}]
中文摘要
尽管政策制定者试图通过解决劳动力市场摩擦导致的资源错配来促进经济发展，但与之相关的生产性外部性——如空气污染——仍未得到充分探究。利用断点回归设计(RDD)，我们发现农村道路的可及性会增加农业焚烧和颗粒物排放。农业劳动力退出是一个可能的作用机制：农村道路导致劳动力流出农业部门，并促使农民采用焚烧这一节省劳动力但造成污染的技术，以清理农业残留物或降低收割的劳动密集程度。总体而言，由农村道路引致的焚烧行为使下风向地区的婴儿死亡率上升了5.5%。(JEL D62, J43, O13, O18, Q12, Q51, Q53)
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 D62, J43, O13, O18, Q12, Q51, Q53)