Mikey Jarrell

Bio

I’m an economics PhD student at UC San Diego. I study development and environmental economics to try to improve the lives of the poor. I’m motivated by lead poisoning in developing countries and how to prevent it. I have a master’s from MIT and a bachelor’s from Bowdoin College.

I’m also the Research Director and a founding team member of Partnership for Battery Action, a non-profit dedicated to ending lead poisoning caused by unsafe battery recycling — a problem recently documented by the New York Times.

Contact

Email: mjarrell@ucsd.edu
Phone: +1 (585) 208-2818
LinkedIn: Mikey Jarrell
Twitter: @Mikey_Jarrell

Publications

Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: A Reply to Roodman

(with Esther Duflo, Allan Hsiao, and Nathan Lazarus)

Journal of Comments and Replications in Economics, Vol. 5, 2026

Abstract: Roodman (2026) reexamines the findings of Duflo (2001) on school construction in Indonesia. We endorse his corrections to standard errors and data entry errors, but disagree with his suggestion to drop the control for the number of children in the district. We show that this control is necessary because more populous districts received fewer schools per capita, and this variation is not useful for identification. We also present results from extended datasets, including additional survey waves, which support the original findings.

In Progress

Who's In Charge? Whom to Inform about Pollution from Car Battery Repair

(with Nathan Lazarus)

Abstract: How can an externality from a polluting activity be internalized when not even the internality from same activity is being internalized? Battery technicians (people who repair lead-acid batteries) are a ubiquitous but understudied presence in poor countries. Existing evidence suggests that battery technicians create substantial amounts of lead pollution, causing lead poisoning for themselves and for others, including family members or people who live or work nearby. Technicians, and the community at large, appear to be unaware of this fact. We propose an information intervention to improve safety practices of battery technicians in Lagos, Nigeria.

Lead Pollution and Exposure from Battery Recycling Firms in Nigeria

(with Sifau Adejumo, Gilbert Adie, Rose Alani, Nathan Lazarus, Mary Ogundiran, and Oluseye Vincent Osunkalu)

Abstract: We measure lead pollution and blood lead levels at formal and informal recycling and battery breaking operations in Nigeria to quantify the extent of contamination and characterize its dispersion.

Merely Ideas

Brazilian Battery Boom: Tax-Breaks as Anti-Pollution Policy

(with Nathan Lazarus and David Vargas)

Abstract: In 2005, Brazil began an ambitious attempt at regulating a high-polluting industry: lead-acid battery recycling. They implemented tax breaks for formal (less-polluting) recycling firms, and drove their informal competitors out of business with verification requirements. This led to a centralization of lead battery recycling in a few municipalities that were home to formal recycling factories, increasing their exposure to lead emissions from these factories, which is associated with adverse consequences for children’s cognition. Our preliminary results show that the tax break caused a divergence in elementary school student performance between municipalities that did have these factories and those that did not. This supports the hypothesis that lead pollution fell across the country as informal recycling disappeared, while pollution increased near formal firms as those expanded. We are currently incorporating matched employer–employee data from the Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), which allows us to estimate a first stage (how much recycling firms grew) and provide some of the first evidence on the effects of lead exposure as a child or young adult on labor market outcomes. Additionally, we are in the process of incorporating data on birth outcomes, which will give us a more direct measure of health impacts. We are hopeful that these additional results will paint a complete picture of the effects of this policy change and allow us to judge whether the template created by Brazil should be copied by the many other countries facing this challenge.

O-Ring Theory of Enforcement

Abstract: Why are some countries more corrupt than others? One possibility is that some have regulations that are too complex to effectively be implemented by their resource-constrained enforcement agencies. I write a model of government enforcement of an externality-averting provision that predicts that moving away from the more complex “first-best” provision to a less complex “second-best” provision actually increases externality reduction by decreasing corruption.

Lead Poisoning in Poor Countries: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

Abstract: Despite alarmingly high levels of lead poisoning, little is known about the sources of exposure to lead in poor countries, methods to eliminate that exposure, and the gains from doing so. I propose three studies to address these knowledge gaps: (1) An event study using exogenous variation in the timing of leaded gasoline bans across Africa; (2) a randomized experiment that staggers the rollout of a subsidy for lead-free paint; (3) an experiment that cross randomizes publicly available lead-testing equipment with the introduction of a reputable lead-free turmeric vendor.

Teaching

UCSD

• ECON 145: Economics of Ocean Resources (TA for Dale Squires)
• GPS 457: Cost–Benefit Analysis (TA for Dale Squires)
• ECON 144: Economics of Conservation (TA for Dale Squires)
• ECON 132: Energy Economics (TA for Richard Carson)
• ECON 100B: Microeconomics B (TA for Steven Levkoff; Judson Boomhower)

MIT

• 14.75(0): Political Economy and Economic Development (TA for Esther Duflo and Sara Lowes)
• DEDP Master’s: Math Camp (Instructor)
• 14.73: Challenges of Global Poverty (TA for Esther Duflo and Frank Schilbach)
• 14.009: Economics and Society’s Toughest Problems (TA for Esther Duflo)

Other

• USTalk (online): English as a Second Language (Instructor)
• Building Dignity Community Center (Lima, Peru): Math and English (Tutor)

Previous Lives

Golf: I’m a member of World Long Drive and Ultimate Long Drive with a career longest shot of 427 yards and highest World Ranking of 17. I set an amateur world record with a 400 yard drive to win the 2019 Latino Americano Championship. The highlight of my career was losing by four yards to Bryson DeChambeau in the 2021 World Championships.

Film: Videos that my friends and I made are at Average Content. They range from short comedy sketches to full documentaries. Our best work is El Método Cubano (The Cuban Method), a documentary on the legacy of ballet in Cuba that aired on PBS in Rochester, NY. Some of my credits are on IMDb.

Journalism: At Bowdoin College, I was a writer for the school newspaper, a color commentator for live broadcasts of athletic events, and the host of a sports talk radio show. After college, I wrote for The Sports Quotient and my personal blog.

Wildlife: I’m a Field Guides Association of Southern Africa NQF2 certified safari guide and mammal specialist (Mostumi Bush Courses — Rustenburg, South Africa), a PADI Rescue certified scuba diver, and an enthusiastic wildlife photographer (flickr).

Teaching: I have a Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) from the Institute of Modern Languages (Granada, Spain) and was an online English tutor to children in China.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Education

• Ph.D. in Economics, University of California San Diego, 2029 (expected)
• M.A.Sc. in Data, Economics, and Development Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2022
• B.A. in Romance Languages and Neuroscience, Bowdoin College, 2014

Relevant Experience

• 2025–present: Research Director, Partnership for Battery Action
• 2022–23: Research Assistant to Esther Duflo, J-PAL/MIT

Personal

• Citizenship: United States
• Languages: English (native), Spanish (fluent), French (advanced), Italian (advanced), Portuguese (intermediate)

Other Experience

• 2018–20: Professional Long Drive Golfer, World Long Drive
• 2017–19: Project Manager, 2020 MicroClinic Initiative (Nairobi, Kenya)
• 2014–19: Photographer and Documentary Filmmaker, Average Content
• 2018: Safari Guide, Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (NQF2)
• 2017: Assistant to the Dive Master, Octopus Diving (Grand Case, Saint Martin)
• 2016–17: Sportswriter, The Sports Quotient
• 2014–15: Research Assistant, Forensic Economics Inc. (Rochester, NY)
• 2015: Camp Counselor, Night Eagle Wilderness Adventures (Wallingford, VT)

This website was built with the Hugo theme Academimal. See my GitHub page.