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作者：Busso, Matias; Galiani, Sebastian
作者单位：Inter-American Development Bank; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
摘要：This paper provides experimental evidence on the effect of increased competition on prices and quality in the retail sector. We randomized the entry of 61 firms into 72 markets serving the beneficiaries of a conditional cash transfer program in the Dominican Republic. Six months after the intervention, entry into the market led to reductions in prices ranging from 2 to 6 percent and to a statistically significant improvement in self-reported service quality. Prices dropped more in areas where ...
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作者：He, Jiaxiu; Liu, Haoming; Salvo, Alberto
作者单位：National University of Singapore; Western University (University of Western Ontario)
摘要：We examine day-to-day fluctuations in worker-level output at two manufacturing sites in China. Ambient fine-particle (PM2.5) pollution is severe but significantly variable, largely due to exogenous atmospheric ventilation. We obtain an insignificant immediate output response from concurrent (same-shift) variation in particle pollution. We then allow worker outcomes to respond to day-to-day variation in pollution with up to 30 days of delay. We uncover statistically significant adverse output e...
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作者：Deserranno, Erika
作者单位：Northwestern University
摘要：I study the role of financial incentives as signals of job characteristics when these are unknown to potential applicants. To this end, I create experimental variation in expected earnings and use that to estimate the effect of financial incentives on candidates' perception of a brand-new health-promoter position in Uganda and on the resulting size and composition of the applicant pool. I find that more lucrative positions are perceived as entailing a lower positive externality for the communi...
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作者：Kearney, Melissa S.; Levine, Phillip B.
作者单位：University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; National Bureau of Economic Research; Wellesley College
摘要：We investigate whether preschool-age children exposed to Sesame Street when it aired in 1969 experienced improved educational and labor market outcomes. We exploit geographic variation in broadcast reception derived from technological factors, namely UHF versus VHF transmission. This variation is then related to census data on grade-for-age status, educational attainment, and labor market outcomes. The results indicate that Sesame Street improved school performance, particularly for boys. The ...
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作者：Nguyen, Hoai-Luu Q.
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要：This paper studies whether distance shapes credit allocation by estimating the impact of bank branch closings during the 2000s on local access to credit. To generate plausibly exogenous variation in the incidence of closings, I use an instrument based on within-county, tract-level variation in exposure to post-merger branch consolidation. Closings lead to a persistent decline in local small business lending. Annual originations fall by $453,000 after a closing, off a baseline of $4.7 million, ...
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作者：Bolhaar, Jonneke; Ketel, Nadine; van der Klaauw, Bas
作者单位：University of Gothenburg; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
摘要：We combine a randomized experiment with administrative data to study the effects of mandatory job search periods in the Dutch welfare system. Job search periods postpone the first welfare benefits payment and encourage applicants to start searching for jobs actively. Job search periods substantially reduce benefits take up. The decline in benefits receipt is permanent, but fully compensated by increased earnings because of higher reemployment rates. We do not find detectable effects on health ...
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作者：Allcott, Hunt; Kessler, Judd B.
作者单位：New York University; National Bureau of Economic Research; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：Nudge-style interventions are often deemed successful if they generate large behavior change at low cost, but they are rarely subjected to full social welfare evaluations. We combine a field experiment with a simple theoretical framework to evaluate the welfare effects of one especially policy-relevant intervention, home energy social comparison reports. In our sample, the reports increase social welfare, although traditional evaluation approaches overstate gains because they ignore significan...
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作者：Chang, Tom Y.; Zivin, Joshua Graff; Gross, Tal; Neidell, Matthew
作者单位：University of Southern California; University of California System; University of California San Diego; National Bureau of Economic Research; Boston University; Columbia University
摘要：We investigate the effect of pollution on worker productivity in the service sector by focusing on two call centers in China. Using precise measures of each worker's daily output linked to daily measures of pollution and meteorology, we find that higher levels of air pollution decrease worker productivity. These results manifest themselves at levels of pollution commonly found in large cities throughout the developing and developed world.
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作者：de Mel, Suresh; McKenzie, David; Woodruff, Christopher
作者单位：University of Peradeniya; The World Bank; University of Oxford
摘要：A field experiment in Sri Lanka provided wage subsidies to randomly chosen microenterprises to test whether hiring additional labor benefits such firms and whether a short-term subsidy can have a lasting impact on firm employment. Using 12 rounds of surveys to track dynamics 4 years after treatment, we find that firms increased employment during the subsidy period. Treated firms were more likely to survive, but there was no lasting impact on employment and no effect on profitability or sales e...
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作者：Billings, Stephen B.; Deming, David J.; Ross, Stephen L.
作者单位：University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; Harvard University; University of Connecticut
摘要：Social interactions may explain the large variance in criminal activity across neighborhoods and time. We present direct evidence of social spillovers in crime using random variation in neighborhood residence along opposite sides of a newly drawn school boundary. We first show evidence for agglomeration effects-within small neighborhood areas, grouping more disadvantaged students together in the same school increases total crime. We then show that these youths are more likely to be arrested fo...
