Research
Working Papers
When Protection Fails: Military Bases and Sexual Violence in Colombia
(with Sakina Shibuya)[Paper][Online Appendix]
Abstract: Government soldiers are among the most frequently reported perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict, yet little is known about how expanding state military presence affects civilians. Using a novel municipality-level panel that tracks Colombian army bases from 1998 to 2016 and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we estimate the effects of military base expansion. Base introduction sharply increases recorded sexual violence, implying cumulative rises of 52% in registered and 72% in indicted cases over sixteen years. Reporting-sensitive crimes show no comparable increase. We interpret this as causal evidence that military base presence raises civilian exposure to recorded sexual violence.
Watch Your Step: The Economic and Behavioral Responses of Rural Households to Landmines During Conflict
(with Sakina Shibuya)[Paper]
Abstract: Antipersonnel landmines instill fear in people living in contaminated areas, disrupting economic activity and altering household decision-making. This paper examines how recent landmine-related events affect rural households' livelihoods. Using administrative records of landmine events combined with spatial household data from the Colombian Longitudinal Survey, we identify incidents near households' residences and employ a fixed effects model to estimate their impact. Our findings indicate that households reduce risky activities, such as agricultural labor and healthcare-seeking, following recent landmine events. Specifically, individuals are 16% less likely to work in long-term agricultural jobs and 12% less likely to work on their own fields if a nearby landmine event occurred shortly before the planting season. These households are also more likely to hire external agricultural workers, likely substituting for their own labor. Furthermore, exposed adults are less inclined to seek formal preventative healthcare. However, responses differ by liquidity constraints: while wealthier households reduce agricultural labor, liquidity-constrained households turn to agricultural day labor to offset income losses from reduced work in other agricultural and non-agricultural occupations. This study sheds light on the unequal risk-bearing capacities of rural households in conflict zones.
Work in Progress
Killing in the Amazon: Local Political Power and Violence Over Land and the Environment in Brazil
(with Robert Blair, Mariana Carvalho, and Débora Duque)
Informants and Hostages: Local Recruitment and Counterinsurgency in Colombia
(with Robert Blair, Gabriela Ramírez, and Michael Weintraub)
Competition and Product Quality: Experimental Evidence from Kenya [Pre-registry]
(with Joshua W. Deutschmann, Jeremy Foltz, Timothy Njagi, and Emilia Tjernström)
Data collection finished! Analyzing premilinary results
Boosting Adoption of Agricultural Inputs: Lab-in-the-Field Evidence from the Entry of a High-Quality Seller [Pre-registry]
(with Joshua W. Deutschmann and Emilia Tjernström) Data collection finished! Analyzing preliminary results