We estimate the impact of exchange rate volatility on firms' investment decisions in a developing country setting. Employing plant-level panel data from the Colombian Manufacturing Census, we estimate a dynamic investment equation using the system-GMM estimator developed by Arellano and Bover...

Using detailed plant-level manufacturing Census data from the Colombian Agri-food industries, we show that exports raise plant-level productivity by about 15 to 20 percent. However, the estimates reveal that efficiency in plants that become persistent exporters, i.e. plants that service foreign...

We evaluate the impact of USDA’s low-cost broadband loan programs on the U.S. agricultural sector. The broadband loan programs increase access to high-speed internet in recipient communities, which can raise farm sales by increasing both farm output and prices received by producers. Further,...

We estimate the effect of legalization on the wages and benefits of foreign-born agricultural workers. Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, we employ propensity score matching techniques to compare legal permanent residents in the United States with an appropriate control...

Unlike manufacturing employers, "small" agricultural employers are generally not required to participate in the Unemployment Insurance system, which leaves many farm workers ineligible for unemployment benefits. Theory implies that displaced workers who are ineligible for benefits experience...

I extend <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="R7">Cho, Sheldon, and McCorriston's (2002)</xref> analysis of the effect of exchange rate volatility on agricultural trade among the G-10 countries to a broad sample of developed and developing nations. I replicate their original finding that exchange rate volatility has a large negative impact on...

We empirically evaluate whether participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Broadband Loan Program, which began making loans in 2002, has had measurable positive impacts on zip code-level economic outcomes. Using difference in differences and propensity score matching program...

The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have become important exporters of many types of services to Western Europe. We identify the sources of CEE's advantages over competing exporters, such as India, China and Brazil, using disaggregated data on service exports and a novel...