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Dams

Author

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  • Esther Duflo
  • Rohini Pande

Abstract

This paper studies the productivity and distributional effects of large irrigation dams in India. Our instrumental variable estimates exploit the fact that river gradient affects a district's suitability for dams. In districts located downstream from a dam, agricultural production increases, and vulnerability to rainfall shocks declines. In contrast, agricultural production shows an insignificant increase in the district where the dam is located but its volatility increases. Rural poverty declines in downstream districts but increases in the district where the dam is built, suggesting that neither markets nor state institutions have alleviated the adverse distributional impacts of dam construction.

Suggested Citation

  • Esther Duflo & Rohini Pande, 2007. "Dams," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 601-646.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:122:y:2007:i:2:p:601-646.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1162/qjec.122.2.601
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Delaney, Jason & Jacobson, Sarah, 2014. "Those outsiders: How downstream externalities affect public good provision," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 340-352.
    2. Dinkelman, Taryn & Schulhofer-Wohl, Sam, 2015. "Migration, congestion externalities, and the evaluation of spatial investments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 189-202.
    3. Petia Topalova, 2010. "Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-41, October.
    4. Maurizio Bussolo & Rafael de Hoyos & Denis Medvedev, 2012. "Distributional Effects of the Panama Canal Expansion," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2012), pages 79-129, August.
    5. Sarsons, Heather, 2015. "Rainfall and conflict: A cautionary tale," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 62-72.
    6. Datta, Saugato, 2012. "The impact of improved highways on Indian firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 46-57.

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