Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park.
Contact:
Email: sgunnste (at) umd.edu
Office: 2106 Symons Hall
Twitter: @SnaebjornG
Working Papers:
"The Impact of Children's Disabilities on Families", with Herdis Steingrimsdottir (Coming soon; email me for latest version)
Abstract:
We estimate the impact of having a child with a severe disability on parents’ career trajectory, financial health and major life outcomes. We construct a database on the universe of births in Denmark in 1990- 2005 that links together several administrative registers including detailed health records and data from tax authorities and employers. To estimate the causal effect we focus on serious conditions (based on US Social Security rules) that appear relatively randomly in the population and apply an event study frame- work using regression and matching methods. In affected families, earnings lag behind for both mothers (11-19% by 12-14 years) and fathers (1-7%), partnership dissolutions are more common (by 15%) and the mothers subsequent fertility is lower by 15%. We estimate the present value of cumulative lost market earnings at 1.8 M DKK (294,000 USD), 60% of which is compensated by government transfers. After 18 years, net worth in affected families is lower by 60,000 DKK (9,600 USD), or 8% of the uncompensated loss, suggesting that families experience more than 90% of the associated consumption shock while the child is still less than 18 years old.
"Experimental Identification of Asymmetric Information: Theory and Evidence on Crop Insurance in the Philippines (March 2018)"
Abstract:
I study asymmetric information in crop insurance in the Philippines using a two- level randomized field experiment and incentivized preference elicitation. In this first experimental study of moral hazard in non-health insurance, preventable damages double on randomly insured plots among farmers with high trust in the insurance provider. Farmers prefer insurance on plots that are at risk of floods and crop diseases, a sign of classic adverse selection, and plots that are far away from home, a sign of selection on anticipated moral hazard behavior, resulting in 72% higher payouts on preferred plots. Overcoming these challenges requires leveraging new technologies.
"Resilience to Early Life Shocks: Evidence From the Interaction of a Natural Experiment and a Randomized Control Trial" (This version September 2016), with Achyuta Adhvaryu, Parul Christian, Alain Labrique, Jonathan Sugimoto, Abu Ahmed Shamim and Keith P. West, Jr.
Abstract:
Can health investments engender resilience to early life shocks? We address this question by leveraging the confluence of two independent sources of variation: exposure to a large-scale natural disaster (a tornado) and randomized access to vitamin A supplementation at birth. Tornado exposure in utero and in infancy increased the frequency of fevers and decreased birth size and physical growth. But infants who received vitamin A supplementation, which boosts immune system functioning, were protected from these effects. Tornado impacts and protective effects were larger for boys. Our results provide support for wide-scale supplementation policies in disaster-prone areas of low-income countries.
Work in Progress:
Land Property Rights in the Philippines: I lead a research study on land property rights in the Philippines with Prudenciano (Dodong) Gordoncillo, of the University of the Philippines, Los Banos. This project is implemented by Innovations for Poverty Action in collaboration with the Government of the Philippines and funded by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (see project description here).
Soft-skills training of managers in Indian textile factories: I am a co-PI, with Achyuta Adhvaryu and Anant Nyshadam, on a project studying the impact of soft skills training for mid- and upper-level managers in Indian textile factories.
"The Impact of Children's Disabilities on Families", with Herdis Steingrimsdottir (Coming soon; email me for latest version)
Abstract:
We estimate the impact of having a child with a severe disability on parents’ career trajectory, financial health and major life outcomes. We construct a database on the universe of births in Denmark in 1990- 2005 that links together several administrative registers including detailed health records and data from tax authorities and employers. To estimate the causal effect we focus on serious conditions (based on US Social Security rules) that appear relatively randomly in the population and apply an event study frame- work using regression and matching methods. In affected families, earnings lag behind for both mothers (11-19% by 12-14 years) and fathers (1-7%), partnership dissolutions are more common (by 15%) and the mothers subsequent fertility is lower by 15%. We estimate the present value of cumulative lost market earnings at 1.8 M DKK (294,000 USD), 60% of which is compensated by government transfers. After 18 years, net worth in affected families is lower by 60,000 DKK (9,600 USD), or 8% of the uncompensated loss, suggesting that families experience more than 90% of the associated consumption shock while the child is still less than 18 years old.
"Experimental Identification of Asymmetric Information: Theory and Evidence on Crop Insurance in the Philippines (March 2018)"
Abstract:
I study asymmetric information in crop insurance in the Philippines using a two- level randomized field experiment and incentivized preference elicitation. In this first experimental study of moral hazard in non-health insurance, preventable damages double on randomly insured plots among farmers with high trust in the insurance provider. Farmers prefer insurance on plots that are at risk of floods and crop diseases, a sign of classic adverse selection, and plots that are far away from home, a sign of selection on anticipated moral hazard behavior, resulting in 72% higher payouts on preferred plots. Overcoming these challenges requires leveraging new technologies.
"Resilience to Early Life Shocks: Evidence From the Interaction of a Natural Experiment and a Randomized Control Trial" (This version September 2016), with Achyuta Adhvaryu, Parul Christian, Alain Labrique, Jonathan Sugimoto, Abu Ahmed Shamim and Keith P. West, Jr.
Abstract:
Can health investments engender resilience to early life shocks? We address this question by leveraging the confluence of two independent sources of variation: exposure to a large-scale natural disaster (a tornado) and randomized access to vitamin A supplementation at birth. Tornado exposure in utero and in infancy increased the frequency of fevers and decreased birth size and physical growth. But infants who received vitamin A supplementation, which boosts immune system functioning, were protected from these effects. Tornado impacts and protective effects were larger for boys. Our results provide support for wide-scale supplementation policies in disaster-prone areas of low-income countries.
Work in Progress:
Land Property Rights in the Philippines: I lead a research study on land property rights in the Philippines with Prudenciano (Dodong) Gordoncillo, of the University of the Philippines, Los Banos. This project is implemented by Innovations for Poverty Action in collaboration with the Government of the Philippines and funded by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (see project description here).
Soft-skills training of managers in Indian textile factories: I am a co-PI, with Achyuta Adhvaryu and Anant Nyshadam, on a project studying the impact of soft skills training for mid- and upper-level managers in Indian textile factories.