Description:

Speakers: Vageesha Bainwala and Sebastian Sardon

If you plan to join and have lunch at the presentation, please take the time to confirm your attendance and food preference in this Google spreadsheet by Monday 5/20 at 5:00pm. We hope to see you there.

Vageesha's presentation:

Title: Women's Land Rights and Credit Access (joint work with Mansa Saxena)

Abstract: Throughout much of the developing world, women face significant barriers to accessing, controlling, and owning land, with their rights often less secure than those of men. Further, land as collateral has a pivotal role in credit disbursement. This project aims to examine this age-old theoretical idea of how better land access and rights can improve financial access, specifically in the context of females. Using women’s exposure to Hindu Succession Act in India as a source of exogenous variation in improved land rights, we suggest evidence in favour of improved credit. Analyzing data from the All India Debt and Investment Survey (2002-03), our preliminary findings reveal that extending land rights to women increases the chance of households taking loan by 9 percentage points. Loans from both institutional and non-institutional sources see a substantial increase.

Sebastian's presentation:

Title: Foreign Trade Barriers and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Mexico (joint work with Christopher Sims)

Abstract: The agricultural sector features a large productivity gap between rich and developing countries, as well as substantial trade barriers inhibiting South-North flows in agricultural goods. This project tests whether removing such barriers can boost agricultural productivity in the developing world. We address this issue by studying Mexico, where exporting avocados to the US had been banned since 1914 by American plant health regulations. The ban was gradually lifted over 1997-2007, but only for one Mexican state (Michoacan). Following the ban lift, we find large increases in crop yields in areas of Michoacan that are highly suitable for avocado cultivation. Event study estimates suggest effects as large as $800 USD per hectare in treated municipalities (over 60% of the country’s mean output per hectare). These effects seem to be concentrated in places where communal land holdings are low, suggesting that productivity gains are only realized where land markets are not too frictional. In ongoing work, we test for land consolidation, mechanization, and technology adoption as possible mechanisms, and we measure the environmental consequences of this trade shock.