About:

• I am a third year PhD student in Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
• Previously, I worked as a research assistant at the Climate Impact Lab.
• I hold a BA from Bowdoin College in Economics.

Email: m [dot] a [dot] norman [at] columbia [dot] edu

Working papers:

click title for abstract

Bottle Redemption, Wealth Transfers, and Informal Wages (link)

This paper shows that waste policy can improve birth outcomes in marginalized populations to a similar extent as EITC, a widely studied welfare program. Between 1973 and 1990, ten states introduced deposit refund programs for beverage containers. Policy introductions are associated with a .6-3.7% reduction in the incidence of low birth weight among mothers with less than a high school education. A simple labor supply model implies that deposit refund programs create opportunities for informal labor among the working poor. This paper’s results indicate that informal work in recycling alleviated gaps in welfare policy during the study period.