Harvesting the Toll: Rural Hospital Closures and the Health of American Farmers

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Farmers are among the least healthy workers in the United States, and the rural hospitals they rely on for routine care are closing. This paper asks what losing a hospital does to farmers and to the farm economy. I exploit the staggered timing of 197 rural hospital closures and examine the effects of closure at the level of the hospital’s market—i.e., counties that rely on a closing hospital are treated even if the hospital lay elsewhere. I separate these “failing” counties from “absorbing” counties, whose hospitals survive but take in the closed hospital’s patients, and compare each group with isolated counties in the same state that are touched by neither. Using difference-in-differences, I find that closures reduce primary care physicians per resident in failing counties by about 5 percent, and the loss grows over time. The growth rate of agricultural establishments falls by about 4 percent. Farmers become 9.5 percentage points more likely to report worse health. All-cause mortality rises by 1.1 to 1.5 percent, but this increase cannot be attributed to farmers directly. County agricultural GDP, farm income, and total GDP do not change significantly, suggesting that the costs of closures fall on farm households rather than on aggregate output. Absorbing counties face no increase in hospital utilization and no change in mortality, pointing to distance and the loss of local care, rather than congestion at surviving hospitals, as the channel.

Resource Booms or Curses: The impact of avocado export expansion on Michoacán

(Draft available upon request) This paper documents the joint impacts of an export expansion and anti-drug trafficking policy on municipalities in avocado-producing states. I show theoretically that the policies could increase the profitability of avocado production in municipalities but expose them to cartel exploitation. Using a difference-in-difference approach, I show that after the policies are enacted, high-suitability municipalities expand avocado production yet experience only short-term income benefits. Consistent with the model, these municipalities are roughly 24% more likely to face cartel occupation after the policies are enacted. I rule out several alternative explanations and mechanisms for the lack of long-term benefits

When Improving Agricultural Productivity Helps or Hurts: Sector Correlation and Growth Effects of Productivity Shocks

This project investigates how improvements in agricultural productivity affect structural transformation and economic growth. I develop a worker-level model in which the correlation between agricultural and non-agricultural productivity determines whether productivity-enhancing policies shift labor into or out of agriculture. Using district- and household-level data from India and the staggered roll-out of the National Food Security Mission, I estimate sectoral productivity and recover the implied cross-sector productivity correlation. I show that districts with positive correlations experience slower growth following the policy, while those with negative correlations benefit. The findings offer a scalable method for governments to target agricultural interventions to maximize growth.

Mike Gibson, Anja Sautmann, Laura Feeney, and Claire Walsh. Introduction to randomized evaluations. J-PAL Research Resources

This resource gives an overview and non-technical introduction to randomized evaluations, highlighting work from a variety of contexts, including studies on youth unemployment in Chicago, a subsidized rice program in Indonesia, and a conditional cash transfer in Mexico. It includes guidance on when randomized evaluations can be most useful, and also discusses when they might not be the right choice as an evaluation method.

Mike Gibson, Anja Sautmann, Laura Feeney, and Claire Walsh. Elements of a randomized evaluations. J-PAL Research Resources

This resource presents a high-level overview of the steps of a randomized evaluation, while showcasing a selection of J-PAL’s teaching and learning tools that were created as part of their online and in-person capacity building activities.

Mike Gibson, Wim Louw, and Katheryn McDermott. Survey programming. J-PAL Research Resources

This resource covers best practices for programming a survey using computer assisted personal interview (CAPI) software. It primarily relies on examples using SurveyCTO, which is widely used by J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), but applies to all CAPI software

Mike Gibson, and Ben Morse. Data quality checks. J-PAL Research Resources

High-frequency checks, back-checks, and spot-checks can be used to detect programming errors, surveyor errors, data fabrication, poorly understood questions, and other issues. The results of these checks can also be useful in improving your survey, identifying enumerator effects, and assessing the reliability of your outcome measures. This resource describes use cases and how to implement each type of check, as well as special considerations relating to administrative data.

Mike Gibson, Arnesh Chowdhury, Maya Duru, Lipika Kapoor, Sarah Kopper, Wim Louw, Tithee Mukhopadhyay, and Clare Sachsee. Implementation monitoring

Researchers should monitor the implementation of a program to preserve its integrity of the program and collect additional information that can inform the generalizability of the results of the program. There is a variety of methods available to researchers, such as administrative data, site visits, and focus group discussions. This resource provides an overview of monitoring methods, how to select indicators to monitor, and how to choose monitors.

Mike Gibson, Sarah Kopper, Marifatul Amalia, Saurabh Bhajibhakare, Putul Gupta, and Wim Louw. Resources for conducting remote surveys

As with in-person surveys, remote survey work involves considerations at every stage of the project lifecycle. This resource summarizes key points regarding remote surveys and, where applicable, lists J-PAL’s related public resources, in which more detailed guidance can be found.

AREC 365: World hunger, poverty, and nutrition (Professor Kenneth Leonard)

TA: Fall 2021

AREC 240: Introduction to Environmental Economics (Professor Roberton Williams)

TA: Spring 2022

AREC 481: Environmental Economics (Professor Roberton Williams)

TA: Spring 2022

AREC 280: Big Data and Climate Change (Professor Lars Olson)

TA: Fall 2023

AREC 241: Environment, Economics, and Policy (Professor Lars Olson)

TA: Fall 2024, Fall 2026

AREC Special Course: Harvesting History

Instructor of record: Spring 2027