Research

Job Market Paper

Impacts of Water Shortages on Labor Supply: Evidence from Mexico City

Abstract:
Urban water shortages are an increasingly urgent challenge in large cities, driven by population growth, climate change, and aging infrastructure. In Mexico City—where households lack alternative sources— disruptions to piped supply force residents to wait for public deliveries, buy water from private suppliers, or rely on bottled water, often requiring someone to stay home. These disruptions create trade-offs between paid and unpaid work. This paper estimates the short-run effects of piped water shortages on hours worked in Mexico City. I use variation in upstream reservoir storage—driven by rainfall—and distance to their entry point, assuming more distant neighborhoods are more affected. I validate this proxy by showing it predicts declines in water use. Water shortages reduce hours worked overall: a one standard deviation increase in shortages leads to a 3.3% drop in weekly hours. Effects are highly heterogeneous. Female formal employees reduce hours worked, likely reallocating time toward caregiving and household duties, while female informal employees increase hours, potentially to offset the financial burden of shortages. These findings highlight how gender roles and job informality jointly mediate labor supply responses to water insecurity in urban settings.

Publications

Rico-Straffon, J., Wang, Z., Loucks, C.J. & Pfaff, A. (2025).
When Do Extraction Rights Help Forests? Robustness & heterogeneity for logging interventions in the Peruvian Amazon.
Conservation Science and Practice, e70081.

Rico-Straffon, J., Wang, Z., Panlasigui, S., Swenson, J., Loucks, C.J. & Pfaff, A. (2023).
Forest Concessions & Eco-Certifications in the Peruvian Amazon: Deforestation Impacts of Logging Rights and Restrictions.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 118, 102780.

Panlasigui, S., Rico-Straffon, J., Pfaff, A., Swenson, J., & Loucks, C. (2018).
Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013.
Biological Conservation, 227, 160–166.

Working Papers

Rico-Straffon, J., Wang, Z., & Pfaff, A. (2022).
Comparing Protection Types in the Peruvian Amazon: Multiple-Use Protected Areas Did No Worse for Forests.
CAF Working Paper #2022/20.
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