Jimena Rico-Straffon

Biography

Jimena is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research lies at the intersection of environmental, labor, and development economics. Her current work examines how urban piped-water shortages affect labor supply in Mexico City, documenting heterogeneous impacts by gender and type of worker. She uses quasi-experimental methods and geospatial analysis to study the socioeconomic and conservation impacts of environmental policies and shocks, drawing on granular panel data from household surveys, administrative records, and remote sensing.

Publications

Rico-Straffon, J., Wang, Z., Loucks, C.J., & Pfaff, A. (2025). When Do Extraction Rights Help Forests? Robustness and heterogeneity for logging interventions in the Peruvian Amazon. Conservation Science and Practice, e70081.

Rico-Straffon, J., Wang, Z., Panlasigui, S., Swenson, J., Loucks, C.J., & Pfaff, A. (2023). Forest Concessions and Eco-Certifications in the Peruvian Amazon: Deforestation Impacts of Logging Rights and Restrictions. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 118, 102780.

Panlasigui, S., Rico-Straffon, J., Pfaff, A., Swenson, J., & Loucks, C.J. (2018). Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000–2013. Biological Conservation, 227, 160–166

Job Market Paper Title

"Impacts of Piped Water Shortages on Labor Supply: Evidence from Mexico City"

Abstract

Urban water shortages are an increasingly urgent challenge in large cities, driven by population growth, climate change, and aging infrastructure. In Mexico City—where households lack alternative sources—disruptions to piped supply force residents to wait for public deliveries, buy water from private suppliers, or rely on bottled water, often requiring someone to stay home. These shocks can affect both time and income, creating theoretically ambiguous effects on labor supply. This paper estimates the short-run effects of piped water shortages on hours worked in Mexico City. I use variation in upstream reservoir storage—driven by rainfall—and distance to their entry point because more distant neighborhoods are more affected. Water shortages reduce hours worked overall: a one standard deviation increase in shortages leads to a 3.3% drop in weekly hours. Effects are heterogeneous: female formal employees—with access to job protections—reduce hours worked, likely reallocating time toward caregiving and household duties, while female informal employees increase hours, potentially to offset the financial burden of shortages. These findings highlight how gender roles and job informality jointly mediate labor supply responses to water insecurity in urban settings.

Keywords: water shortages, piped water, labor supply, informal employment, gender, urban infrastructure, developing countries

JEL Codes: Q25, J22, O13, H42, J16