Data and Code for: Money (Not) to Burn: Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Crop Residue Burning.

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) B. Kelsey Jack, UC Berkeley; Seema Jayachandran, Princeton University; Namrata Kala, MIT Sloan School of Management; Rohini Pande, Yale University

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Replication package_2024-09-20			09/20/2024 04:11:PM

Project Description

Summary: We test whether payments for ecosystem services (PES) can curb the highly polluting practice of crop residue burning in India. Standard PES contracts pay participants after verification that they met a pro-environment condition (clearing fields without burning). We randomize paying a portion of the money upfront and unconditionally to address liquidity constraints and farmer distrust, which may undermine the standard contract’s effectiveness. Incorporating contracts with partial upfront payment increase compliance by 10 percentage points, which is corroborated by satellite-based burning measurements. The cost per life saved is $3600 to $5400. The standard PES contract has no effect on burning.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Environmental externalities; agricultural burning; financial incentives; payments for ecosystem services

JEL Classification:
      D86 Economics of Contract: Theory
      O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
      Q12 Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
      Q15 Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
      Q18 Agricultural Policy; Food Policy
      Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
      Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy

Geographic Coverage: India

Universe: Adult farmers.

Data Type(s): census/enumeration data; experimental data; geographic information system (GIS) data; images: photographs, drawings, graphical representations; survey data

Methodology

Data Source: Primary data collection, Sentinel-2, Planet imagery

Unit(s) of Observation: Farmer, plot

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-03-07]

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