Rebuilding Irrigation Infrastructure and Institutions: Evidence from Afghanistan
利用卫星数据研究阿富汗战后灌溉系统重建对作物产量的影响，发现重建使小麦产量提升25%，且灌溉协会制度未直接提高产量但减少了水资源流失。
We study the rebuilding of irrigation infrastructure and associations in a postconflict setting, where conflict risks, corruption, and farmer uncertainty can undermine such efforts. To do so, we use satellite measures of crop greenness in the catchment areas around 80 canals and spatiotemporal variation in their rehabilitation. We find sizable gains due to the rebuilding efforts, equal to a 25% improvement in wheat yields. Gains are particularly large in districts seeing reductions in conflict, suggesting investments in irrigation can generate large gains within just a few years, even in areas recovering from violent conflict. In addition, the irrigation association institutions set up under the project did not themselves lead to higher yields, but gains near the start of a canal are not considerably bigger than those near its end and the perimeter’s outlying edges, suggesting that the associations successfully limited water diversion and loss (and in some cases disproportionately benefited the least advantaged farms).