So: Here's how severely-polluting industrial clusters affect predicted crop yields. Downstream = positive distance = right side

You can see the damage, but it’s small (3%) and the conf. interval includes 0

Plus these are local effects that will decay further downstream

To solve problem 3 (what areas are exposed) we develop new methods to carefully define and map upstream/downstream hydrological relationships

Defining these relationships is trickier than you might think. We discuss 4 ways prior methods can go very wrong

Industrial clusters coincide with a huge jump in river pollution of 300-600%. India’s government names and rates these clusters but doesn’t release public estimates of how polluting they are. We do

To solve problem 1 (bad pollution data) we look at India’s giant industrial clusters and just estimate the effect of being downstream of a cluster. The spatial RD is obvious in Delhi here

Out today in JAERE! We measure water pollution released at India's industrial clusters. Does it hurt agriculture? Surprisingly: Not by much

Come for how we published a paper of null results & with no regression tables

Stay for new ways to proxy for crop yields & map hydrological relationships

🧵

We are hiring at Montana State! Link in thread

If you aren't sure whether you fit the posted topic areas, please don't pre-screen yourself out, let our committee decide!

I'm not on the search committee but happy to answer any general questions

YES PLEASE

Save the date! Announcing the inaugural BIG SKY WORKSHOP on the Economics of Agriculture and the Environment

Hosted by Montana State University and PERC in Bozeman, MT -- June 19-20, 2025

Call for abstracts in January. Travel funding available for grad students

www.bigskyworkshop.net

did an endangered eagle write this??

Mentoring and networking is about more than brief access to top journal editors and other famous economists, sorry to say @aeainformation.bsky.social

(I appreciate all the individual participants! The issue is the overall approach)