Air Pollution and Agricultural Productivity in a Developing Country

I document externalities in the agricultural sector of India due to air pollution. Using variation in pollution induced by changes in wind, I show that higher levels of particulate matter lead to decreased agricultural productivity, with changes in productivity of 10 percent being common. Combining wind direction with the rollout of coal plants, results indicate pollution from coal plants has a larger effect on agricultural productivity than other types of pollution. Given that the agricultural sector is a refuge for the poor in many developing countries, these results suggest that the effects of pollution may hit the poorest particularly hard