Organizer:  Duncan Thomas

Meeting Schedule: (Not currently open for scheduling. Please contact the seminar organizer listed above.)

    All meetings will be held in the same location as the seminar unless otherwise noted.

    3:30pm - Seminar Presentation (3:30pm to 5:00pm)

    Additional Comments:  ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the impact of an amplified environment of violence on labor market outcomes in the Mexican context. The Mexican Family Life Survey offers a unique opportunity to address this research question as the first follow-up was conducted between 2005 and 2006, a period of low levels of violence, and the second follow-up was performed from 2009 to 2013, during years of greatly elevated violence. This data allows for comparison of outcomes for the same individual in periods of varying degrees of violence, while controlling for a rich set of individual and household characteristics. The results show that a higher homicide rate decreases the labor market participation of self-employed women, but has a positive effect on their hourly and total earnings. This result could be driven by positive selection amongst self-employed women that remain in the labor market, or by increased payments made to self-employed women in order to incentive their participation in the labor market. On the other hand, crime does not affect self-employed males’ labor market participation, but does negatively impact their earnings. Moreover, we find the effect for men is heterogeneous with respect to their attained education. Lastly, this paper provides evidence that exposure to a violent environment had a negative impact on household expenditure and these effects differ depending on the gender of the household head.