Yuma Noritomo
I’m a PhD student in Development Economics at Dyson, Cornell, and I’m fortunate to be advised by Chris Barrett, Brian Dillon, Johannes Haushofer, and Karlijn Morsink. I had the opportunity to visit the development research groups at PSE and Wageningen. Reach me at yn266[at]cornell.edu.
My research focuses on strategies to reduce chronic poverty and suffering by promoting human capital accumulation in low-income, challenging environments.
Working Paper / Work in Progress
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Yuma Noritomo. Does the timing of productivity shocks in childhood affect educational attainment?
Awards
Kanematsu Award, Nishijima Award
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Christopher Barrett, Nathan Jensen, Karlijn Morsink, Yuma Noritomo, Hyuk Harry Son, Rupsha Banerjee, and Nils Teufel. Long-run effects of catastrophic drought insurance Submitted
Abstract
We study the long-run effects of catastrophic drought insurance on pastoralist households in Kenya and Ethiopia. Instrumenting with randomized premium discounts, we estimate the impacts of insurance coverage a decade later. Insurance induced households to herd fewer small livestock like goats, typically used as precautionary savings, and generated a significant increase in children’s education. These effects are driven by households with small baseline herds, reflecting reduced child labor demand, as well as by suggestive positive income effects. These impacts stem primarily from reduced ex ante risk exposure and the behavioral change it induces, rather than from ex post indemnity payments.
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Takuya Hasebe, Yuma Noritomo, and Bilesha Weeraratne. Restricting mothers' international migration and human capital investment. R&R at World Development
Abstract
International migration offers significant economic opportunities for developing countries, but it can also separate parents from their children, potentially harming child development. This paper examines the effects of restricting mothers' international migration on left-behind children, leveraging a Sri Lankan unique policy that restricted mothers with children under age five from migrating abroad for employment. Using a difference-in-differences approach, the results reveal the following: First, the policy reduces international migration, increasing mothers' presence at home. Second, policy exposure leads to better healthcare outcomes, including a significant reduction in inpatient stays, particularly treatment for illnesses. This improvement appears to result from increased childcare and monitoring by mothers. Although the policy decreases remittances from abroad, this reduction is offset by an increase in domestic remittances. Furthermore, we find evidence of positive spillovers on non-targeted children with younger, policy-targeted siblings, as indicated by reduced grade retention. These findings highlight the trade-offs between a mother's presence and the economic opportunities associated with international migration in shaping human capital development.
- Yoshito Takasaki, Yuma Noritomo, Oliver Coomes, and Christian Abizaid. Site selection causes bias in policy-oriented social science. Submitted
- Yuma Noritomo, Karlijn Morsink, and Kelvin Shikuku. Trading off human capital versus productive asset investment: perceptions of risk and return.
Publication
- Jensen et al. (2025). Index-based livestock insurance to support pastoralists against droughts. Food Policy, 137, 102909.
- Yuma Noritomo and Kazushi Takahashi (2020). Can insurance payouts prevent a poverty trap? Evidence from randomised experiments in northern Kenya, The Journal of Development Studies, 56(11), 2079-2096.
- Kazushi Takahashi, Yuma Noritomo, Munenobu Ikegami, and Nathaniel D. Jensen (2020). Understanding pastoralists' dynamic insurance uptake decisions: Evidence from four-year panel data in Ethiopia, Food Policy, 95, 101910.