I am a PhD student in economics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
My research focuses on Development Economics. My interest is the effects of refugee impacts on host communities. The Persistence of Illegal Crops in Rural Latin America.
I completed my Master’s in Economics at Universidad de San Andres and my undergraduate degree in Economics from Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Work in Progress
Illegal Crops and Development - The Effects of Coca Cultivation on Peruvian Local Economic
With Paula Lopez
Abstract: We study how coca production affects the economic outcomes of Peruvian areas exposed to it. To address endogeneity concerns, we use geographic variation in coca suitability combined with exogenous time variation in coca prices generated by eradication policies in Colombia. We combine night-time light intensity, coca density maps from the UNODC, and geolocated household survey data. We find suggestive evidence that areas exposed to coca production experienced increased economic activity from 2003 to 2017.
Food Aid, Money, and Barter: Evidence from Rohingya Refugee Camps
With Francesco Carli, Juan Segnana and Burak Uras
Abstract: This paper investigates the (in)efficiency of humanitarian food aid in refugee economies, using the Rohingya refugee crisis as a case study. We exploit the quasi-natural experiment provided by the World Food Program (WFP)’s transition from in-kind food aid to e-vouchers, which can only be redeemed at WFP stores within camps. The results show households engage in food aid trade (bartering and reselling) under both aid regimes, with e-voucher holders trading significantly less.
When Close is Too Close: Effects of a Refugee Camp Expansion on Hosts' Normative Beliefs
With Juan Segnana and Alvin Etang Ndip
Abstract: We design and implement an in-the-field survey to understand the prevailing social norm of hosts with respect to refugees by eliciting first and second order normative beliefs in the Rohingya refugee-receiving district of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Working Papers/Publications
with Maria Eugenia Genoni, Afsana Iffat Khan, Walker Kosmidou-Bradley, Juan Munoz, Nethra Palaniswamy, and Tara Vishwanath
Abstract: Obtaining representative information on hosts and displaced populations in a single survey is not straightforward. This paper demonstrates the value of combining traditional and nontraditional sampling frames, geospatial information, and listing exercises to design a representative survey of hosts and Rohingya displaced populations in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The paper applies innovative segmentation techniques using geospatial data to delimit enumeration areas in the absence of updated cartography. The paper also highlights the importance of listing exercises to inform stratification decisions and update population counts.
Refugee influx and economic activity: evidence from Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers
Short-term effects of forced displacement on host communities: evidence from the Rohingya crisis," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers.
with Ruth Hill
Abstract: Bangladesh has continued to make remarkable progress in reducing poverty since 2010. In some regards, poverty reduction has continued in a manner consistent with the previous decade. However, important differences emerge when trends are examined more closely. Poverty rates in the poorer West and richer East converged until 2010, then diverged, as poverty reduction in the poorer Western divisions again started to lag. Poverty reduction was concentrated among those in agricultural activities until 2010, while in the more recent period it was not. This paper uses decomposition analysis to examine the changing nature of poverty reduction from 2005 to 2010 and 2010 to 2016. Why was the nature of poverty reduction so different in these two periods? Four insights emerge from the analysis: (1) Reductions in fertility and family size have been important for poverty reduction throughout the periods considered, and have been slower in the Western divisions; (2) Gains in educational attainment were key to improving household fortunes, and can help explain the divergent trajectories of the East and West; (3) Structural change is occurring, but not equally everywhere. Structural change lags in the West, where consumption remains as closely correlated with land ownership as in the past. This is concerning, given declining land holdings in the West; and (4) Special conditions were present in 2010 that increased gains to agriculture, benefiting the more agricultural West of the country and causing a temporary convergence.
with Ruth Hill
Abstract: Bangladesh has documented consistent reductions in poverty since 2000 and has also seen considerable transformation in the sector and location of economic activities. This paper exploits variation in sectoral growth and migration across districts and time to examine whether spatial variation in sectoral growth patterns—growth in agriculture, industry, or services—can explain spatial variation in poverty reduction, and what the role of migration was. We control for district-fixed effects and instrument growth in agriculture and international migration to explore causal effects. We find that reductions in poverty were largest in places where agricultural output growth was highest and where industrial growth was highest. Poverty reduction was greater in districts which were sending larger numbers of international migrants. The relationship between agricultural growth and poverty reduction holds when instrumenting agricultural growth with rainfall data, and manufacturing growth has a significant impact on poverty reduction when proxied by a Bartik-style instrument, indicating that some of these findings are causal.