Dought and domestic violence : evidence from rural Chile

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Date
2020
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Abstract
The present work explores the effects of drought on the rate of domestic violence complaints in rural districts of Chile using (i) a Differences-in-Differences with fixed-effects approach, (ii) a Dose Treatment that hinges on the districts’ primary crops growing season, and (iii) a Triple Differences approach exploiting the crop’s water need period. Also, I present an intra-household bargaining model with information asymmetries. It suggests that in the event of a negative income shock to the husband, the rate of domestic violence complaints should decrease, while if the same shock hits the wife, the rate increases. My results show that domestic violence complaints diminish between 2% and 8% when drought hits a location, consistent with the instrumental value theory predictions. In Chile, a drought shock translates into less violence because agriculture is a strongly men-labor intensive industry, which implies, household-wise, that more husbands than wives could suffer a negative income shock under a drought context.
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Tesis (Magíster en Economía)--Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2020
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