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Irrigation and the spatial pattern of local economic development in India

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  • Blakeslee, David
  • Dar, Aaditya
  • Fishman, Ram
  • Malik, Samreen
  • Pellegrina, Heitor S.
  • Bagavathinathan, Karan Singh

Abstract

We study the long-term impact of large-scale irrigation infrastructure on the composition of local economic activity in India. Our analysis uses high-resolution spatial data covering approximately 150,000 villages and towns and exploits spatial discontinuities in the coverage of irrigation projects. Irrigation increases agricultural output, wealth, and population density in rural villages. However, in towns it reduces population and nightlight density, the size of the non-agricultural sector, and large-firm activity. These results highlight the heterogeneous impacts that agricultural productivity gains can have on the patterns local economic development.

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  • Blakeslee, David & Dar, Aaditya & Fishman, Ram & Malik, Samreen & Pellegrina, Heitor S. & Bagavathinathan, Karan Singh, 2023. "Irrigation and the spatial pattern of local economic development in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:161:y:2023:i:c:s0304387822001390
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102997
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lu, Man & Bai, Heju & Wu, Yiming, 2024. "Anti-corruption, credit supply, and agricultural economic development," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Casagrande, Dieison & Emanuel, Lucas & Freitas, Carlos & Oliveira, Felipe, 2024. "Climate adaptation policies and rural income: Evidence from social technologies in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. Remi Jedwab & Federico Haslop & Roman Zarate & Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan, 2023. "The Effects of Climate Change in the Poorest Countries: Evidence from the Permanent Shrinking of Lake Chad," Working Papers 2023-06, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    5. Yanlei Gao & Yuan Tian & Guangwan Tan & Xiudong Wang, 2023. "Impact of Urbanization on Cropping Structure: Empirical Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Kulshreshtha, Shobhit, 2024. "Access to Information and Adoption of New Farming Practices: A Spatial Analysis," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1435, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Manh Hung Do & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2023. "Does irrigation development mitigate weather extremes’ impacts and reduce poverty? Evidence from rural Southeast Asia," TVSEP Working Papers wp-034, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Project TVSEP.
    8. Sedithippa J. Balaji & Munisamy Gopinath, 2023. "Spatial growth and convergence in Indian agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 761-777, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Irrigation; Urbanization; Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

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