Submitted by Ethan A. LIGON on
Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. These can affect households and communities through destruction of property and infrastructure, through effects on health and livelihoods, but also potentially through psychological trauma. These effects might be most severe for poor farm households in low-income countries which depend on agriculture for their livelihood and are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. This project analyzes the impacts of major flooding in 2022 on farm households in Jigawa State in Nigeria, using household survey data collected in summer 2023.
We are interested in studying two main categories of outcomes. First, we explore impacts on household and individual livelihood and labor supply decisions. Second, we analyze how floods affect survey respondents' mental health, aspirations, cognitive burdens, and risk attitudes. We then explore whether these impacts vary by household and community characteristics, and test the effect of randomly providing households with information about the history and future risk of flooding their area.
Results of this study will help inform government policies to strengthen economic resilience and livelihoods of the poor in the face of climate change and weather-related disasters. To promote policy relevance in Nigeria we are in communication with the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency and Nigeria Emergency Management Agency as well as our survey partners at Ahmadu Bello University to create channels for dissemination.
Students will work under the supervision of ARE PhD candidate Pierre Biscaye on this project.
The undergraduate researcher(s) will work on cleaning and analysis of household survey data collected in Summer 2023. Specific tasks will include:
- Supporting data monitoring and quality checks during the data collection
- Cleaning, summarizing, and visualizing the survey data
- Conducting preliminary analyses with the cleaned survey data
- Summarizing and reporting findings
- Drafting text for preliminary reports
The analysis will contribute to the preparation of a research brief to be disseminated to funders and research partners, and of an academic paper for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
Strong candidates will have the following qualifications:
- Excellent communication skills
- High level of attention to detail
- Ability to troubleshoot tasks and identify potential solutions
- Completed courses in econometrics and/or data analysis
- Experience doing statistical analysis (preferably in Stata, but R or Python ok)
- Experience working with household survey data or other publicly available datasets is desired but not required
- Interest in issues in development economics, environmental economics, labor economics, behavioral economics, and/or climate change