Essays in Environmental and Applied Economics

Abstract

This dissertation includes three distinct chapters looking at different challenges faced by developing countries. The first chapter examines the situation of farmers under climate change by mapping future climatic conditions onto the distribution of agricultural revenue in India. The second chapter uses the Mexican conditional cash transfer (CCT) program Progresa to investigate the relationship between income, education and fertility. Finally, the third chapter studies the extent to which preferential tariffs extended by OECD countries have helped least developing countries (LDC) diversify their exports. Given the issues explored by these essays, I contribute to several distinct strands of the economic literature, yet each paper is motivated by its policy relevance and is embedded in the issues faced by developing economies.