THE BERLIN OFFICE OF RWI

Speaker: Raji Jayaraman (ESMT Berlin / University of Toronto)

Location: Hybrid – Berlin Office and Teams Link

Time: 10:15 am – 11:45 am

Titel: Growing Gherkins in Extreme Heat

Abstract: We examine the causal effect of sub-seasonal extreme heat on the productivity and earnings of smallholder farmers cultivating gherkins in South India. While existing research has focused primarily on staple crops and harvested seasonally, our study uses granular daily data on yields, earnings, and temperature from a large number of  smallholders producing a high-value, labor-intensive, horticultural cash crop. The study area spans multiple villages within a geographically homogeneous region, with outcomes measured at high temporal resolution across a narrow planting window. Leveraging variation in daily maximum temperatures—constructed using high-frequency satellite data—we use semi-parametric methods to identify a clear thermal tipping point at 33°C, beyond which both yields and earnings decline sharply. Parametric panel specifications reveal an economic and statistically significant “heat penalty”: when maximum temperatures exceed this tipping point, farmers lose 20% of their daily yield, with comparable drops in daily earnings per acre. Temporal temperature variation, combined with basic plant and human biology, allows us to uncover whether heat penalties are driven by agronomy or physiognomy. We show that contemporaneous heat penalties are driven by constraints on labor supply, while lagged heat effects reflect both labor and plant stress. The effects are cumulative: each additional hot day in the preceding week lowers total yield and earnings.

When: 27 October 2025
Where: Berlin, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft

ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, DIW Berlin (the German Institute for Economic Research), WZB (Berlin Social Science Center), and RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research are pleased to invite to the Leibniz Open Science Day 2025: Better Science for Better Policies.

With the growing importance of social sciences in addressing societal challenges, the significance of a meta-scientific perspective is also increasingly on the rise. We need a deeper understanding of how evidence is generated and communicated to society and policymakers.

The keynote speech will be given by Johanna Rickne (Stockholm University)

We invite researchers to submit their extended abstracts (max. 750 words) via e-mail to Heike Henningsen (h.henningsen@zbw.eu) by 1 August. Notifications will be sent by 1 September. 

Registration will also be possible from 1 September on. 

Limited travel assistance is available for junior researchers (doctoral students, non-tenured postdocs, and assistant professors). Please indicate in your submission whether you will require funding.

More information about the event and the program can be found here.

Location: WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin

Time: 8:30 am - 15:45 pm

Further information and the programme are available here.

Location: Hybrid – Berlin Office and Teams Link

Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm

Title: The Immediate and Lasting Effects of Heat Waves On Workers

Abstract: This paper examines how prolonged exposure to heat affects the labor force’s ability to work in the short and long run. Linking administrative public health insurance records for one-third of the German working-age population to the quasi-experimental occurrence of heat waves, we provide the first comprehensive characterization of the occupation-specific heterogeneity in how heat-induced health damages materialize in decreased labor supply, and its distributional implications. An average hot day increases the number of new sick leave cases, and the effects build with prolonged heat. After seven consecutive days of heat exposure, the impact is roughly three times greater than on the first day. Workers who are already disadvantaged in terms of their income and working conditions are more vulnerable to heat stress. Those who are more flexible in scheduling and adjusting their working hours are less at risk. Our results also reveal a longer-term decrease in labor supply in the years following heat wave exposure, and suggest sustained increases in expenditures for healthcare.

Location: Hybrid – Berlin Office and Teams Link

Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm

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