Numerous national transfer programs around the world are designed with uniform benefit schedules imposed by central governments, but implemented by local governments. The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) in Ethiopia, the second largest safety net in Sub Saharan Africa, is one such program....

Does the provision of livestock insurance raise the unintended consequence of stimulating excessive herd accumulation and less environmentally-sustainable herd movement patterns? The impact of insurance is theoretically ambiguous: if precautionary savings motives for holding livestock assets...

This paper embeds an analysis of self-employment into the framework of international trade and local economies, seeking to explain how entrepreneurship can shape local labor market response to trade shocks. We investigate the cross-effect of self-employment and change in Chinese imports on US...

As of 2011, 39% of drinking water systems on Canadian First Nations’ reserves could be classified as high risk, or unequipped to safely deal with the infiltration of a pollutant (Neegan Burnside 2011a). In recent years, some First Nations have contracted water services from neighboring...

Wildfire threat is an intrinsic part of life in rural communities in the arid Western U.S. Western U.S. continues to experience a rapid population growth of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas, an increase in the frequency of wildfire due to increase human-caused ignition (Cardille et al....

Recent drilling innovations allowing access to unconventional resources like tight oil and shale gas have spurred a number of drilling booms around the United States. One side effect is rising housing prices caused by migrating oil and gas industry workers who create a positive housing demand...