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作者:Dickens, Andrew
作者单位:Brock University
摘要:African political leaders have a tendency to favor members of their own ethnic group. Yet for all other ethnic groups in a country, it is unclear whether having a similar ethnicity to the leader is beneficial. To shed light on this issue, I use a continuous measure of linguistic similarity to quantify the ethnic similarity of a leader to all ethnic groups in a country. Combined with panel data on 163 ethnic groups partitioned across 35 sub-Saharan countries, I use within-group time variation i...
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作者:McIntosh, Craig; Alegria, Tito; Ordonez, Gerardo; Zenteno, Rene
作者单位:University of California System; University of California San Diego; Colegio Frontera Norte; University of Texas System; University of Texas at San Antonio
摘要:This paper reports on the results of a large infrastructure investment experiment in which $68 million in spending was randomly allocated across a set of low-income urban neighborhoods in Mexico. We show that the program resulted in substantial improvements in access to infrastructure and increases in private investment in housing. While a pre-committed index of social capital did not improve, we find an apparent decrease in the incidence of personal assault and teen misbehavior in neighborhoo...
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作者:Nyqvist, Martina Bjorkman; Corno, Lucia; de Walque, Damien; Svensson, Jakob
作者单位:Stockholm School of Economics; Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; The World Bank; Stockholm University
摘要:We investigate the effect of a financial lottery program in Lesotho with relatively low expected payments but a chance to win a high prize conditional on negative test results for sexually transmitted infections. The intervention resulted in a 21.4 percent reduction in HIV incidence over two years. Lottery incentives appear to be particularly effective in targeting individuals with ex ante risky sexual behavior, consistent with the hypothesis that lotteries are more valued by individuals willi...
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作者:Billings, Stephen B.; Schnepel, Kevin T.
作者单位:University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Sydney
摘要:Lead pollution is consistently linked to cognitive and behavioral impairments, yet little is known about the benefits of public health interventions for children exposed to lead. This paper estimates the long-term impacts of early life interventions (e.g., lead remediation, nutritional assessment, medical evaluation, developmental surveillance, and public assistance referrals) recommended for lead-poisoned children. Using linked administrative data from Charlotte, NC, we compare outcomes for c...
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作者:Garlick, Robert
作者单位:Duke University
摘要:I study the relative academic performance of students tracked or randomly assigned to South African university dormitories. Tracking reduces low-scoring students' GPAs and has little effect on high-scoring students, leading to lower and more dispersed GPAs. I also directly estimate peer effects using random variation in peer groups across dormitories. Living with higher-scoring peers raises students' GPAs, particularly for low-scoring students, and peer effects are stronger between socially pr...
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作者:Nicoletti, Cheti; Salvanes, Kjell G.; Tominey, Emma
作者单位:University of York - UK; University of Essex; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Norwegian School of Economics (NHH); Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of York - UK
摘要:The historical rise in female labor force participation has flattened in recent decades, but the proportion of mothers working full time has increased. We provide the first empirical evidence that the increase in mothers' working hours is amplified through the influence of family peers. For identification, we exploit partially overlapping peer groups. Using Norwegian administrative data, we find positive and statistically significant family peer effects, but only on the intensive margin of wom...
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作者:Blattman, Christopher; Dercon, Stefan
作者单位:University of Chicago; University of Oxford; University of Oxford
摘要:Working with five Ethiopian firms, we randomized applicants to an industrial job offer, an entrepreneurship program of $300 plus business training, or control status. Industrial jobs offered more and steadier hours but low wages and risky conditions. The job offer doubled exposure to industrial work but, since most quit within months, had no impact on employment or income after a year. Applicants largely took industrial work to cope with adverse shocks. This exposure, meanwhile, significantly ...
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作者:Saggi, Kamal; Stoyanov, Andrey; Yildiz, Halis Murat
作者单位:Vanderbilt University; York University - Canada; Toronto Metropolitan University
摘要:We investigate the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on tariffs of nonmember countries. In our multi-country model, the formation of an FTA leads members to reduce their exports to the rest of the world. Such external trade diversion weakens the ability of nonmembers to manipulate their terms of trade vis-a-vis FTA members, a mechanism that induces them to lower their tariffs on FTA members. We empirically confirm this insight using industry-level trade data for 192 importing and 253 exp...
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作者:Somville, Vincent; Vandewalle, Lore
作者单位:Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
摘要:Access to banks is rapidly increasing worldwide, and allows account-based instead of cash transfers. We conduct a randomized experiment documenting the impact of the payment method on savings behavior. In India, we allocate identical weekly payments into a bank account (treated) or in cash (control). Savings in the account increase by 131 percent within 3 months, and the effect is long lasting. We also show that cash payments increase consumption and that-once everyone is paid in cash again-th...
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作者:Eren, Ozkan; Mocan, Naci
作者单位:Louisiana State University System; Louisiana State University
摘要:Employing the universe of juvenile court decisions in a US state between 1996 and 2012, we analyze the effects of emotional shocks associated with unexpected outcomes of football games played by a prominent college team in the state. We find that unexpected losses increase sentence lengths assigned by judges during the week following the game. Unexpected wins, or losses that were expected to be close contests ex ante have no impact. The effects of these emotional shocks are asymmetrically born...