Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 
Author-Name: Tsukada, Rachel
Author-Email: tsukada@merit.unu.edu
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT
Author-Name: Lehmann, Christian
Author-Email: clehmann.unb@gmail.com
Author-workplace-name: Universidade de Brasilia
Title: The impact of rainwater harvesting on household labor supply  
Abstract: This paper explores the effects of rainwater harvesting (RWH) on 
	 aggregate household labor supply in areas prone to droughts. Using a 
	 Brazilian survey on rainwater harvesting, we find that having a RWH 
	 infrastructure at the homestead increases household wellbeing through 
	 three channels: (i) a direct time allocation effect - since households 
	 spend less time fetching water from distant sources, the time saved is 
	 allocated to other productive activities; (ii) a direct input effect - 
	 since water is an essential input for agricultural households and more 
	 labor hours are available, the cistern technology may contribute to 
	 increase the household's agricultural production. Both direct effects 
	 associate the labor-saving technology with an increase in productive 
	 labor supply. Finally, there is (iii) an indirect consumption effect - 
	 as a consequence of larger production, households can exchange larger 
	 quantities of own production against market goods, further increasing 
	 the household wellbeing.
Keywords: poverty, access to water, risk coping, labor supply
Classification-JEL: I32, I38, L95, O15, Q25
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20160830
Number: 2016-045
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2016/wp2016-045.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2016045