Altruism among family members can, in some cases, inhibit cooperation by increasing the utility that players expect to receive in a non-cooperative equilibrium. To test this, we examine agricultural productivity in polygynous households in West Africa. We find that cooperation is greater -...

The migrant selection literature concentrates primarily on spatial patterns. This paper illustrates the implications of migration duration for patterns of selection by integrating two workhorses of the labor literature, a search model and a Roy model. Theory and empirics show temporary migrants...

Internal migration has the potential to substantially increase income, especially for the poor in developing countries, and yet migration rates remain low. We explore the role of psychic costs by evaluating the impacts of internal migration on a suite of well-being indicators using a unique,...

The pragmatic field experiment is a flexible methodology for assessing public policies and programs. This study illustrates the use of the pragmatic approach with a novel program, LIFT-UP, where municipalities offered financial counseling to public water utility customers who were behind on...

The combined supply and demand shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic have created the largest shift in consumer behavior in recent history, while exposing millions of households to material hardships like food insecurity and housing instability. In this study, we draw on national surveys conducted...

This paper investigates how saving the federal tax refund affects gig economy participation forlow-income online tax filers in the six months following tax filing. Using longitudinal surveyand administrative data, we leverage random assignment in a unique refund savings experimentas an...

Many U.S. households — especially those with low- to moderate-incomes (LMI) — struggle to save for retirement. To address this issue, the Department of the Treasury launched myRA, a no-fee retirement account designed primarily to help people who lacked access to employer-sponsored plans...

A large majority of U.S. households have debt, and lower-income households tend to have heavier debt burdens than the general population. These households commonly report using tax refunds to pay existing debts. Building on the limited evidence about the efficacy of providing rules of thumb...