Working Paper
Lead exposure from battery recycling lowers test scores by 0.18 standard deviations, exceeding the gains from leading school-based interventions.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G. "The Hidden Costs of Recycling: Lead Exposure and Student Learning." Working Paper. /files/Ipapa_HiddenCosts.pdf
Published in Review of Economics and Statistics, 2024
Two labor-market interventions for young women in Nairobi both move women into self-employment with effects that persist six years on. Review of Economics and Statistics, 2024.
Recommended citation: Brudevold-Newman, A., M. Honorati, G. Ipapa, P. Jakiela, and O. Ozier (2024). "A Firm of One's Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice." Review of Economics and Statistics.
Work in Progress
Randomized saturation-design RCT with ~4,000 refugee and host households in urban Nairobi. With Andrew Zeitlin, Billy Jack, and Alex Wendo.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G., A. Zeitlin, B. Jack, and A. Wendo. "Saturating the Safety Net: Cash Transfers, Skills, and Spillovers in an Urban Refugee Economy." Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Extends the Besley (1995) framework to climate-driven land loss; calibrated to Kenya's Rift Valley lakes.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G. "Groundless Claims: Property Rights When Land Ceases to Exist." Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Tests how pre-existing tenure status shapes compensation, adaptation, and recovery after slow-onset climate displacement in Kenya's Rift Valley.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G. "Property Rights, Climate Displacement, and Household Welfare: Evidence from Kenya's Rising Lakes." Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Adds a dedicated early-childhood-development arm (ages 0–8) to the Nairobi cash-and-training RCT, measuring effects on displaced children in the window when cognition, language, and self-regulation form.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G. "Cash, Caregiving, and the Youngest Refugees: Early Childhood Development Effects of Unconditional Transfers and Business Training in Displaced Households in Nairobi." Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Evaluates graduation programs in two Uganda refugee settlements through a natural experiment and a randomized staggered rollout of playgroup and coaching components. With Andrew Zeitlin and Gloria Ayesiga.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G., A. Zeitlin, and G. Ayesiga. "Livelihoods, Allocation, and Early Childhood Development in Refugee Graduation Programs." Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Source attribution, blood-lead biomonitoring, and an in-situ dose-response for children around the 26 recycling plants of the Hidden Costs natural experiment. With Anirban Basu, Arijeet Mitra, and Kathrin Schilling.
Recommended citation: Ipapa, G., A. Basu, A. Mitra, and K. Schilling. "Closing the Chain: From Used Lead-Acid Battery Recycling to Children's Blood Lead, Learning, and Policy in Kenya." Work in Progress.