Temperature, labor reallocation, and industrial production: Evidence from India
- American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
- 13(4), Oct, 2021: p.101-124
To what degree can labor reallocation mitigate the economic consequences of weather-driven agricultural productivity shocks? I estimate that temperature-driven reductions in the demand for agricultural labor in India are associated with increases in nonagricultural employment. This suggests that the ability of nonagricultural sectors to absorb workers may play a key role in attenuating the economic consequences of agricultural productivity shocks. Exploiting firm-level variation in the propensity to absorb workers, I estimate relative expansions in manufacturing output in more flexible labor markets. Estimates suggest that, in the absence of labor reallocation, local economic losses could be up to 69 percent higher. – Reproduced