Sabina Shaikh | University of Chicago (original) (raw)

Papers by Sabina Shaikh

Livelihood diversification strategies in developing countries are influenced by access to financi... more Livelihood diversification strategies in developing countries are influenced by access to financial credit, to markets and to forests. Understanding their interrelated impacts has important implications for development policy, for market access, credit provision, and forest conservation. Using a survey of 2,417 households in 64 villages in four Provinces in Cambodia and satellite data on forest extent, we test hypotheses and quantify the relative contributions and first-order interactions effects of market and road access, forest access, and formal and informal financial credit access on household expenditures and livelihood incomes. We test hypotheses about their statistical interactions, their relative contributions to incomes, and how their effects differ within and outside the Mekong River floodplain. Market and road access are significant with gross income and expenditures, as well as portfolio shifts to off-farm business activities. Forest access contributes significantly to gross income and expenditures. Credit utilization is significant with gross income, expenditures, off-farm business, and livestock activities. Households below the poverty line use financial credit primarily for consumption and agricultural investments, but above the poverty line for business investment and purchasing assets. Market access and financial credit are more important for incomes in the Mekong floodplain area, while forest access is more important outside it. Using dominance analysis, we find that financial credit contributes more than market or forest access to gross income, expenditures, and livestock income. However, market access is more important than credit for off-farm, on-farm and crop incomes, and forest access contributes more to gross income than formal credit access. We also test for first-order interactions between these effects and find they are statistically significant, confirming a synergistic interaction between credit, market and forest access. Market access improves the impact of credit use, as credit use improves gross and off-farm incomes with improved access to large cities, and improves livestock incomes with improved road access. Forests and roads act synergistically to improve household incomes in areas with good city market access, as forest access contributes more to gross income, expenditures and off-farm incomes in areas with good primary road access, and to on-farm incomes in areas with good secondary road access. Our findings show that market, road, credit and forest effects are interconnected and interdependent, but support each other, and significant interaction effects between forest and market access suggest that policies for poverty reduction and forest conservation should be coordinated with the development of roads to improve potential forest returns.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, cities across Asia continue to emerge and expand. Ca... more As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, cities across Asia continue to emerge and expand. Cambodian cities reflect this trend with rapid growth due principally to significant and continuing in-country migration. However, following the forced evacuation of cities during the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975, and subsequent rapid repopulation in the 1980’s, Cambodia’s urbanization is more recent than other Asian countries and, as a result, less investigated. This study examines rural-to-urban migration in five southern provinces around Phnom Penh—the capital and largest city in Cambodia—from the perspective of urban migrants and their rural family members. We examine how economic, environmental, and socio-cultural factors influence migrants’ current and desired movements, rural livelihoods, and the permanency of urban migration. While finding evidence to support three major theories of migration—income-differentials, environmental change, and social networks—we argue that none of these alone are sufficient to understand current migration patterns or urban migrants’ desire to return to their home village. We argue that explanations of Cambodian migration must account for the powerful, socio-cultural attraction of one’s home village and kinship, as well as the inseparability of two factors specific to provinces around Phnom Penh: the proliferation of access to microfinance and the rise of the garment industry. When these dimensions are considered, distinct patterns of migration become legible with significant implications for the viability of microfinance-backed adaptation strategies and rural livelihoods.

This research examines effects of various factors on farmer participation in agricultural tree pl... more This research examines effects of various factors on farmer participation in agricultural tree plantations for economic, environmental, social and carbon-uptake purposes. Using data from a survey of Canadian agricultural landowners, a discrete choice random utility model is used to determine the probability of farmers' participation and corresponding mean willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for a tree-planting program. WTA includes positive and negative nonmarket benefits to landowners from planting trees. Estimates of WTA are less than foregone agricultural rents, but average costs of creating carbon credits still exceed their projected value under a CO2-emissions trading scheme

Using a survey of Chicago beachgoers, this research examines the effect of uncertain response opt... more Using a survey of Chicago beachgoers, this research examines the effect of uncertain response options on the willingness to pay to reduce swimming bans. Various recoding options are tested and implemented, as well as multinomial model for choice. Estimates are compared to those from a dataset with certainty, as well as to those from revealed preference methods. The reasons and sources for uncertainty are explored and compared across samples.

We examine the impact of uncertainty on contingent valuation responses using (1) a survey of Cana... more We examine the impact of uncertainty on contingent valuation responses using (1) a survey of Canadian landowners about willingness to accept compensation for converting cropland to forestry and (2) a survey of Swedish residents about willingness to pay for forest conservation. Five approaches from the literature for incorporating respondent uncertainty are used and compared to the traditional RUM model with assumed certainty. The results indicate that incorporating uncertainty has the potential to increase fit, but could introduce additional variance. While some methods for uncertainty are an improvement over traditional approaches, we caution against systematic judgments about the effect of uncertainty on contingent valuation responses.

An alternative methodology for determining marginal willingness to pay values for recreational fi... more An alternative methodology for determining marginal willingness to pay values for recreational fishing trips is developed based on inverse demand systems and the distance function. Our empirical application uses joint estimation of several species-specific site equations from a recreation fishing data set. Results are compared to a random utility model.

Multiproduct, multispecies revenue functions are estimated for the midwater and bottom-trawl poll... more Multiproduct, multispecies revenue functions are estimated for the midwater and bottom-trawl pollock fisheries off Alaska. There are strong year and seasonal effects on coefficient estimates, and the technology is joint in outputs for each major operation type. The model is a step toward prediction of fishery regulatory effects.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

Should nonhuman animals possess cost-benefit analysis (CBA) standing, and if so, to what extent? ... more Should nonhuman animals possess cost-benefit analysis (CBA) standing, and if so, to what extent? A lack of standing for animals does not mean that their interests are ignored; rather, it implies that their interests are only accounted for to the extent that those with standing – humans – feel some regard for animal welfare. This paper addresses farm animal policy in the United States and looks at how CBAs are altered as animal interests range from “no standing” to “human-equivalent” standing. Even with no standing for animals, the degree of animal welfare offered by current animal agricultural practices is inefficiently low: human preferences for animal welfare are less than fully reflected in the economic and political marketplaces. Policies that counter existing shortcomings in the markets for animal welfare could be paired with transparency measures that would help ensure that consumers and voters are better informed about the conditions under which farmed animals are raised. Uncertainty concerning the appropriate degree of animal standing counsels for the avoidance of policies that would be highly undesirable if the proper extent of standing turns out to be significantly smaller or larger than expected.

Journal of Diabetes Investigation, 2019

Aims/Introduction: Caloric excess and physical inactivity fail to fully account for the rise of d... more Aims/Introduction: Caloric excess and physical inactivity fail to fully account for the rise of diabetes prevalence. Individual environmental pollutants can disrupt glucose homeostasis and promote metabolic dysfunction. However, the impact of cumulative exposures on diabetes risk is unknown. Materials and Methods: The Environmental Quality Index, a county-level index composed of five domains, was developed to capture the multifactorial ambient environmental exposures. The Environmental Quality Index was linked to county-level annual ageadjusted population-based estimates of diabetes prevalence rates. Prevalence differences (PD, annual difference per 100,000 persons) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using random intercept mixed effects linear regression models. Associations were assessed for overall environmental quality and domain-specific indices, and all analyses were stratified by four rural-urban strata. Results: Comparing counties in the highest quintile/poorest environmental quality to those in the lowest quintile/best environmental quality, counties with poor environmental quality demonstrated lower total diabetes prevalence rates. Associations varied by ruralurban strata; overall better environmental quality was associated with lower total diabetes prevalence rates in the less urbanized and thinly populated strata. When considering all counties, good sociodemographic environments were associated with lower total diabetes prevalence rates (prevalence difference 2.77, 95% confidence interval 2.71-2.83), suggesting that counties with poor sociodemographic environments have an annual prevalence rate 2.77 per 100,000 persons higher than counties with good sociodemographic environments. Conclusions: Increasing attention has focused on environmental exposures as contributors to diabetes pathogenesis, and the present findings suggest that comprehensive approaches to diabetes prevention must include interventions to improve environmental quality.

Current Diabetes Reports, 2018

Purpose of Review-Diabetes is a burgeoning threat to public health in the USA. Importantly, the b... more Purpose of Review-Diabetes is a burgeoning threat to public health in the USA. Importantly, the burden of diabetes is not equally borne across society with marked disparities based on geography, race/ethnicity, and income. The etiology of global and population-specific diabetes risk remains incompletely understood; however, evidence linking environmental toxicants acting as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as particulate matter and arsenic, with diabetes suggests that environmental policies could play an important role in diabetes risk reduction. Recent Findings-Evidence suggests that disproportionate exposures to EDCs may contribute to subgroup-specific diabetes risk; however, no federal policies regulate EDCs linked to diabetes based upon diabetogenic potential. Nevertheless, analyses of European Union data indicate that such regulation could reduce diabetes-associated costs and disease burden. Summary-Federal laws only regulate EDCs indirectly. The accumulating evidence linking these chemicals with diabetes risk should encourage policymakers to adopt stricter environmental standards that consider both health and economic impacts.

The New Economics of Outdoor Recreation

The Social Science Journal, 1999

ABSTRACT

Review of Economics and Statistics, 2003

Page 1. A TWO-CONSTRAINT ALMOST IDEAL DEMAND MODEL OF RECREATION AND DONATIONS Sabina L. Shaikh a... more Page 1. A TWO-CONSTRAINT ALMOST IDEAL DEMAND MODEL OF RECREATION AND DONATIONS Sabina L. Shaikh and Douglas M. Larson AbstractAn incomplete demand system is developed for recreation and donation ...

Land Economics, 2002

Land-use change and forestry projects are considered a low-cost option for addressing climate cha... more Land-use change and forestry projects are considered a low-cost option for addressing climate change mitigation. In Canada, afforestation is targeted to sequester enough carbon to meet one-fth of its international obligations, and at lower cost than emissions reduction. We examine economic aspects of the institutions and incentives needed to encourage landowners in Canada to adopt tree planting on a large scale. Based on data from a survey of landowners, the transaction costs of getting landowners to convert their land from agriculture to plantation forests appear to be a signi cant obstacle, possibly increasing the costs of afforestation projects beyond what conventional economic analysis suggests. (JEL Q25

Environmental Practice, 2011

In cities with a hub-and-spoke style transportation system, each individual's transit decision pr... more In cities with a hub-and-spoke style transportation system, each individual's transit decision produces externalities contained within a particular transit spoke. When spokes vary in the typical number of drivers, in the capacity of the infrastructure, or in the average income of commuters, the efficient tax to charge drivers to minimize the externalities may vary across spokes. The size and importance of this variation are evaluated by comparing the potential welfare benefits of a congestion tax in Chicago, which is different rates for different highways to a tax that is a single rate. Using the 2000 United States Census Public Use Microdata to estimate wage distribution and data from the Illinois Department of Transportation on vehicle speed and road occupancy, this research provides estimates of optimal taxes for each neighborhood and for the city in aggregate. Results show that optimal tax rates vary substantially, from a low of 6.75pervehicleperdaytoahighof6.75 per vehicle per day to a high of 6.75pervehicleperdaytoahighof16.50, but that the overall welfare difference between charging a neighborhoodspecific tax and charging a citywide tax is minor. This occurs because the number of drivers changes very slowly at high tax rates, meaning that a wide range of taxes can produce nearly optimal results in terms of welfare. An optimal congestion tax of 11.25perdayisestimatedtoresultin400,000fewerdowntowncommutesperday,reducingpollutioncostsvaluedat11.25 per day is estimated to result in 400,000 fewer downtown commutes per day, reducing pollution costs valued at 11.25perdayisestimatedtoresultin400,000fewerdowntowncommutesperday,reducingpollutioncostsvaluedat2.9 million per year.

Economic Inquiry, 2004

Anapproach to jointly estimating an endogenous marginal value of time function and a recreation b... more Anapproach to jointly estimating an endogenous marginal value of time function and a recreation budget share equation is developed. Thespecifhation requirements for the marginal value of time function, to ensure consistency with the matnlained hypothesis of two binding constraints on choice, are articulated. The estimating model consistent with these requirements that nests several conventional treatments of the marginal value of time is highly significant. The general endogenous marginal value of time model outperforms other approaches and .shows a more complex relationship between the marginal value of time and the individual's wage ihan has been u.sed in previous work. {JEL J22, Q26)

Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, 2007

This research examines the effects of various factors on farmer participation in agricultural tre... more This research examines the effects of various factors on farmer participation in agricultural tree plantations for economic, environmental, social and carbon-uptake purposes, and potential costs of sequestering carbon through afforestation in western Canada. Using data from a survey of landowners, a discrete choice random utility model is used to determine the probability of landowners' participation and corresponding mean willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for a tree-planting program. WTA includes positive and negative benefits to landowners from planting trees, benefits not captured by foregone returns from agricultural activities on marginal land. Estimates of WTA are less than foregone returns, but even so average costs of creating carbon credits still exceed their projected value under a CO 2-emissions trading scheme.