Event Details

Speaker: Dr Rudi Rocha (Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, Brazil)

It is a pleasure to announce the next talk of our Lancaster Nova Seminar Series in Health Economics and Policy in the Summer Term 2021/2022 will go live on Thursday, 23 June 2022 at 11.30 am (UK time). The webinar lasts one hour (45/50 minutes presentation and 15/10 Q&A).

Speaker: Dr Rudi Rocha (Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, Brazil)

Title: Glyphosate Use in Agriculture and Birth Outcomes of Surrounding Populations (joint with Mateus Dias and Rodrigo R. Soares)

This paper assesses the impact of glyphosate use in agriculture on birth outcomes of human populations in surrounding areas. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. Still, despite ongoing controversy, little is known about its effects on human populations at large. Our empirical strategy relies on the fact that glyphosate is strongly complementary to the use of genetically modified seeds in soybean production. We use an instrument based on the gains in productivity from adoption of genetically modified soybeans and look at externalities across municipalities sharing the same water resources. We detect negative and statistically significant effects of glyphosate use on birth outcomes. Our results indicate externality effects of glyphosate use on populations distant from the original locations of use, but receiving water from these locations.

Glyphosate Use in Agriculture and Birth Outcomes of Surrounding Populations | IZA - Institute of Labor Economics

Find out more information about Rudi in the following link: Rudi Rocha | Research and Teaching, Economics