Essays on responses to environmental factors in Mexico

Environmental conditions shape human behavior in fundamental ways, influencing health, productivity, and safety. Rising temperatures, changes in precipitation, and shifts in natural light cycles affect how people work, commute, and interact. This thesis examines how temperature and daylight influence labor supply and crime in Mexico, using high-frequency survey and administrative data combined with satellite-based measures of weather and greenness.

The first chapter investigates the impact of extreme temperatures on labor supply. Weekly microdata from the Mexican National Employment Survey (ENOE) reveal a concave response: moderate warmth increases working times, while harmful heat reduces them. The analysis uncovers sharp heterogeneity: urban, formal, and higher-income workers cut hours in hot weeks, while agricultural workers paradoxically increase labor supply. In major urban areas, vegetation cover mitigates heat-related losses, highlighting green space as an adaptation mechanism.

The second chapter examines Daylight Saving Time (DST) and crime in Mexico City. Exploiting DST transitions and its elimination in 2022, the chapter uses regression discontinuity, and difference-in-differences approaches to show that extended evening daylight lowers crime, particularly property crime, underscoring the role of natural light in shaping public safety.

Overall, the thesis demonstrates that environmental conditions affect economic behavior across multiple domains and that adaptation — through green areas, institutional design, or labor mobility — can mitigate these effects.