About
I'm an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of International Affairs at Texas A&M University.
My research interests span the fields of environmental and development economics.
I completed my Ph.D. at the
University of British Columbia with a disciplinary focus on Environmental and Development Economics. I hold MA, BA, and B.Sc degrees in economics and industrial engineering from
Universidad de los Andes.
Outside of academia, I have 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.
Contact Information
Email:
tatianazarate@tamu.edu |
Scholar | IDEAS |
|
Working Papers
• "The Off Target Effects of Targeted Policy: Evidence from Colombia"
with Raahil Madhok
Abstract
Spatially targeted policies risk causing collateral damage to non-targeted areas, but evidence on these spillovers is scarce. This paper documents the off-target effects of the world's largest place-based drug eradication effort—Colombia's aerial glyphosate spraying of coca fields—on legitimate agricultural production. Using a novel atmospheric dispersion model to measure wind-borne herbicide exposure, along with a two-way fixed effects design, we show that glyphosate drift reduces legal crop harvests by 13 percent. The damage is persistent and adaptation is minimal in the medium run. After aerial spraying was banned in 2015, difference-in-difference estimates show that legal crop production in previously-exposed municipalities recovers only modestly. Cropland that failed to recover transitions toward grassland and shrubland. As Colombia considers reinstating aerial spraying, our policy simulations show that targeting only the largest coca hotspots could avoid \$USD 611 million in spillover damages, equivalent to 3.7\% of agricultural GDP.
• "Too Polluted to Sin? Dirty Skies, Crime, and Adaptation Responses in Mexico City"
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.
• "Two Legacies of Political Mass Killings"
with Thorsten Rogall
and Sofia Nordeving
Previously circulated as "Yes They Can: Empowering Women"
Abstract
We show that the socioeconomic effects of conflict crucially depend on the type of perpetrator. Using Rwandan post-genocide data, we exploit two instrumental variables to estimate the impacts of violence committed by (a) organized army and militia groups and (b) local perpetrators. Guided by a simple theoretical framework, we argue that better-armed, coordinated units were deployed to kill harder-to-target adult men, whereas locally organized groups using rudimentary weapons disproportionately killed women. These distinct victimization patterns produced different shifts in local sex ratios, generating divergent long-term outcomes. Ten to fifteen years later, villages exposed primarily to organized violence exhibit higher levels of women's empowerment and political representation, greater public welfare investments, and lower subsequent political violence. By contrast, in villages affected mainly by local violence, where more men survived, we observe the opposite patterns.
• "Toxic Recycling: The Cost of Used Lead-Acid Battery Processing in Mexico"
with Erin Litzow, Bianca Cecato and Mauricio Romero
Abstract |
Paper
Environmental regulation can create incentives for polluting activities to relocate across borders. While previous studies have theorized about and empirically documented this `pollution haven' phenomenon, few have examined the costs borne by recipient communities. We study, a 2009 tightening of environmental standards in the United States that caused used lead-acid battery recycling, an industry that emits large amounts of lead pollution, to shift to Mexico. We estimate the effects of this shift on student learning in recipient communities in Mexico. We use data from a nationwide test in Spanish and math, conducted from 2006 to 2013. We compare test scores before and after the 2009 U.S. policy change among students attending schools near and downwind of Mexican recycling facilities and those studying farther away. We estimate effects on test scores of negative 0.05--0.09 standard deviations, with effects being slightly stronger for math than Spanish. Comparing dynamic effects across grades, we find suggestive evidence that effects are stronger for students who were younger in 2009. The costs are heavily concentrated in communities that were already worse off before the 2009 change in lead-acid battery recycling activity. The results of our study underline the importance of considering unintended consequences and cross-border spillovers when regulating toxic pollutants. The heterogeneity of effects across communities underscores the need for further research on the costs of lead pollution exposure in low- and middle-income countries, where the vast majority of exposure currently occurs.
Work in Progress
• "The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation"
with Juan Felipe Riano
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.
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
Teaching
At Texas A&M University (College Station, TX, USA)
Instructor
INTA 608 - Global Economy, Graduate
INTA 689 - Environmental Issues and Development, Graduate
INTA 203 - Principles of Global Economy, Undergraduate
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
