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作者:Drago, Francesco; Nannicini, Tommaso; Sobbrio, Francesco
作者单位:University of Naples Federico II; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Bocconi University; Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
摘要:This paper uses an original dataset covering the presence of local news in medium-large Italian cities in the period 1993-2010 to evaluate the effects of newspaper entry and exit on electoral participation, political selection, and government efficiency. Exploiting discrete changes in the number of newspapers, we show that newspaper entry increases turnout in municipal elections, the reelection probability of the incumbent mayor, and the efficiency of the municipal government. We do not find a...
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作者:Cunha, Jesse M.
作者单位:United States Department of Defense; United States Navy; Naval Postgraduate School
摘要:Welfare programs are often implemented in-kind to promote outcomes that might not be realized under cash transfers. This paper tests whether such paternalistically motivated transfers are justified compared to cash, using a randomized controlled trial of Mexico's food assistance program. In relation to total food consumption, the in-kind transfer was infra-marginal and nondistorting. However, the transfer contained ten food items, and there was large variation in the extent to which individual...
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作者:Hendel, Igal; Spiegel, Yossi
作者单位:Northwestern University; Tel Aviv University; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)
摘要:We document the evolution of productivity in a steel mini mill with fixed capital, producing an unchanged product with Leontief technology working 24/7. Despite-almost-unchanged production conditions, output doubled within the sample period (12 years). We decompose the gains into downtime reductions, more rounds of production per time, and more output per run. After attributing productivity gains to investment and an incentive plan, we are left with a large unexplained component. Learning by e...
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作者:Behaghel, Luc; Crepon, Bruno; Gurgand, Marc
作者单位:INRAE; Institut Polytechnique de Paris; ENSAE Paris; Institut Polytechnique de Paris; ENSAE Paris; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
摘要:This paper reports the results of a large-scaled randomized controlled experiment comparing the public and private provision of counseling to job seekers. The intention-to-treat estimates of both programs are not statistically different, but more workers were enrolled in the private program, implying an effect per beneficiary that is twice as large under the public as under the private program. We find suggestive evidence that the private firms may have insufficiently mastered the counseling t...
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作者:Chinkhumba, Jobiba; Godlonton, Susan; Thornton, Rebecca
作者单位:University of Malawi; CGIAR; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
摘要:This paper measures the demand for adult medical male circumcision using an experiment that randomly offered varying-priced subsidies and comprehensive information to 1,600 uncircumcised men in urban Malawi. We find low demand for male circumcision: only 3 percent are circumcised over a three month period. Despite the low overall level of take-up, both price and information are significant determinants of circumcision. Still, the main barriers to male circumcision-cultural norms and fear of pa...
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作者:Lundborg, Petter; Nilsson, Anton; Rooth, Dan-Olof
作者单位:Lund University; Lund University; Lund University; Linnaeus University
摘要:We use the Swedish compulsory school reform to estimate the causal effect of parental education on sons' outcomes. To this end, we use data from the Swedish military enlistment register on the entire population of males and consider outcomes, such as cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, and various dimensions of health at the age of 18. We find positive effects of maternal education on sons' skills and health status but no effects of paternal education. One reason behind this result may be t...
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作者:Beaudry, Paul; Lewis, Ethan
作者单位:University of British Columbia; National Bureau of Economic Research; Dartmouth College
摘要:Male-female wage gaps declined significantly over the 1980s and 1990s, while returns to education increased. In this paper, we use cross-city data to explore whether, like the return to education, the change in the gender wage gap may reflect changes in skill prices induced by the diffusion of information technology. We show that male-female and education-wage differentials moved in opposite directions in response to the adoption of PCs. Our most credible estimates imply that changes in skill ...
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作者:Hornbeck, Richard; Keskin, Pinar
作者单位:Harvard University; Wellesley College
摘要:Agriculture on the American Plains has been constrained historically by water scarcity. Post-WWII technologies enabled farmers over the Ogallala aquifer to extract groundwater for large-scale irrigation. Comparing counties over the Ogallala with nearby similar counties, groundwater access increased agricultural land values and initially reduced the impact of droughts. Over time, land use adjusted toward water intensive crops and drought sensitivity increased. Viewed differently, farmers in nea...
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作者:Avitabile, Ciro; Clots-Figueras, Irma; Masella, Paolo
作者单位:The World Bank; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; University of Sussex
摘要:Citizenship rights are associated with better economic opportunities for immigrants. This paper studies how in a country with a large fraction of temporary migrants the fertility decisions of foreign citizens respond to a change in the rules that regulate child legal status at birth. The introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany in 2000, represented a positive shock to the returns to investment in child human capital. Consistent with Becker's quality-quantity model of fertility, we fin...
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作者:Wang, Yang
作者单位:Lafayette College
摘要:We set up a dynamic discrete choice model with subjective expectations data to explain adult smokers' smoking decisions. We find important differences between subjective survival probabilities and those estimated using observed mortality data. Subjectively, individuals attach less weight to their health conditions and smoking choices and more weight to such factors as age, race, and parents' longevity. Moreover, adult smokers are found to care more about their health and to be more forward-loo...