About

I'm an Applied Microeconomist and Ph.D. Candidate at the LFS, Food and Resource Economics Group at the University of British Columbia. I will join the Department of International Affairs at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2023.

I work at the intersection of Environmental and Development Economics. My current research agenda focuses on

1. Understanding the effects of air and lead pollution on non-health-related outcomes and the behavioral and adaptation responses of individuals to these threats.
2. Studying the causes and consequences of female empowerment in developing countries.

I'm a member of the Centre for Food, Resource, and Environmental Economics and the Wildlife and Conservation Economics Lab at UBC.

Before starting my Ph.D., I worked for the Development Impact Evaluation unit (DIME) at the World Bank, the Education Division and the Caribbean Country Department at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Center for Studies on Economic Development (CEDE) at Universidad de los Andes and at Fedesarrollo.

You can find my curriculum vitae, here and my LinkedIn profile, here.

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Contact Information

Email: tatianazarateb@gmail.com | Scholar | IDEAS | |
Address: 2357 Main Mall, Office 318, Vancouver, Canada

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References

Professor Siwan Anderson (Co-Chair), Professor Carol McAusland (Co-Chair), and Professor Thorsten Rogall.

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Working Papers

• "Too Polluted to Sin? Dirty Skies, Crime, and Adaptation Responses in Mexico City" Job Market Paper, October 2022
      Abstract | Paper

Awards: Lasserre-Renzetti Prize for best student paper at the Canadian Resource and Environmental Economics Association (CREEA) conference October 2021

This paper estimates the non-monotonic effects of air pollution on criminal activity in a highly polluted mega-city. The identification strategy relies on highly dimensional fixed-effect models, non-parametric estimations of dose-response functions, and an instrumental variable approach that employs wind speed and wind direction as instruments for air pollution. My results uncover a causal, inverted U-shaped relationship between air pollution and crime. Specifically, there is an inflection point after which marginal increases in air pollution negatively affect criminal activity. By examining the emotional tone of social media posts, I further explore how air pollution may influence individuals' emotional states and mobility decisions, ultimately contributing to the observed inverted U-shape. Overall, my findings shed light on how environmental regulation tailored to reduce air pollution must consider the presence of behavioral responses in their design.

• "Yes They Can: Empowering Women"
with Thorsten Rogall, August, 2022
      Abstract | Paper

We study how giving women political and domestic independence can lead to persistent female empowerment and overall welfare improvements. Using Rwandan post-genocide data, we exploit local variation in gender imbalances that caused a power vacuum which women filled as household heads and local politicians. In office, they provide more public goods. Overall, in female-led villages, women are healthier, better educated, wealthier, less likely to accept and experience domestic violence, and enjoy more sexual and financial autonomy. Importantly, younger women are carrying these changes and gender norms changed. In villages were men stayed in power, we find negative or no effects.

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Work in Progress

• "The Impact of Lead Exposure on Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Mexico"
with Erin Litzow and Bianca Cecato
      Abstract

Exposure to lead pollution, even in minimal quantities, has serious health consequences, especially for children. While lead exposure remains high in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), most lead-related research has been undertaken in high-income countries like the United States (U.S.). In this study, we estimate the impact of increased lead pollution levels on education outcomes in Mexico. To do this, we use administrative data and exploit a policy change that led to increased lead emissions from used lead acid battery (ULAB) recycling in Mexico. We use a difference-in-difference identification strategy to compare students who attended schools near ULAB facilities with those far away before and after the 2009 policy change. Preliminary results show that the effect is negative and stronger than those identified in rich countries, given the relatively lax environmental regulation and enforcement in Mexico and the weaker social programs, which have been shown to mitigate the effects of lead exposure in other settings. The results of this study shed light on the costs of lead pollution in lower-resource settings, where adaption options are limited, and public services that could offset the costs may not be available.

• "The Unintended Consequences of Illicit Crops on Rural Women"
      Abstract

Cultivating coca has become the main livelihood for rural families in many regions of Colombia. It has, however, transformed women's roles within their communities. Female farmers today act as equal partners in the cultivation process, including planting, harvesting, and transferring seeds and inputs for coca production. This paper aims to bring evidence of the effects of coca cultivation on females' social leadership and time usage within the household in Colombia. The empirical strategy exploits anti-drug policies' temporal and spatial distribution and coca cultivation coverage levels before the eradication policies to test whether coca crops influence men's and women's outcomes differently. Since coca crops' location is not random, this paper uses the exogenous change in the international price of cocaine and a coca suitability index to identify the causal effect of coca cultivation on the outcomes of interest.

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Publications

• "Valuing Blue Carbon: Carbon Sequestration Benefits Provided by the Marine Protected Areas in Colombia"
with Jorge H Maldonado
Plos One, May 2015, 10(5)
      Abstract | Paper | Journal

Marine protected areas are aimed to protect and conserve key ecosystems for the provision of a number of ecosystem services that are the basis for numerous economic activities. Among the several services that these areas provide, the capacity of sequestering (capturing and storing) organic carbon is a regulating service, provided mainly by mangroves and seagrasses, that gains importance as alternatives for mitigating global warming become a priority in the international agenda. The objective of this study is to value the services associated with the capture and storage of oceanic carbon, known as Blue Carbon, provided by a new network of marine protected areas in Colombia. We approach the monetary value associated to these services through the simulation of a hypothetical market for oceanic carbon. To do that, we construct a benefit function that considers the capacity of mangroves and seagrasses for capturing and storing blue carbon, and simulate scenarios for the variation of key variables such as the market carbon price, the discount rate, the natural rate of loss of the ecosystems, and the expectations about the post-Kyoto negotiations. The results indicate that the expected benefits associated to carbon capture and storage provided by these ecosystems are substantial but highly dependent on the expectations in terms of the negotiations surrounding the extension of the Kyoto Protocol and the dynamics of the carbon credit's demand and supply. We also find that the natural loss rate of these ecosystems does not seem to have a significant effect on the annual value of the benefits. This approach constitutes one of the first attempts to value blue carbon as one of the services provided by conservation.

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Policy Reports

• "Matching Educational and Criminal Records at the Individual Level in Trinidad and Tobago: Methodology and Implementation" Inter-American Development Bank, Dec 2016 | Report

• "Economic Efficiency and Licensing of Mobile Wireless Services in Colombia" Fedesarrollo, Jul 2015 | Report

• "Agriculture Technical Assistance Programs in Colombia" Fedesarrollo, Dic 2014 | Report

• "Mining and the Environment in Colombia" Fedesarrollo, Nov 2014 | Report

• "Economic Valuation of Marine Protected Areas in Colombia: Analysis for Policy Makers" Documentos CEDE, Nov 2013 | Report

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Teaching

At the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Curriculum Design

GPP 501 - Economics for Public Policy, Graduate
FRE 601 - Advanced Microeconomics for Food and Resource Economics,Graduate
FRE 603 - Advanced Food and Resource Economics, Graduate

Teaching Assistant

ECON 544 - Economics of Poverty, Graduate
GPP 501 - Economics for Public Policy, Graduate
FRE 460 - Economics of Food Consumption, Undergraduate
FRE 420 - International Trade and the Environment, Undergraduate
FRE 374 - Land and Resource Economics, Undergraduate
FRE 474 - Economics of Global Resource Use and Conservation, Undergraduate
FRE 521E - Topics in Food and Resource Economics, Graduate
ECON 234 Wealth and Poverty of Nations, Undergraduate

At Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá DC, Colombia)

EECO 5213 - Macroeconomics and Markets, Graduate
ECON 2101 - Intermediate Microeconomics, Undergraduate
IIND 3400 - Finance, Undergraduate

© Tatiana Zárate Barrera, 2022