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Risk and Return in Village Economies
Townsend, Robert M.; Samphantharak, Krislert - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2013
We present a framework for the study of risk and return of household enterprise in developing economies. We make predictions from two polar benchmarks: (1) an economy with Pareto optimal allocations under full risk sharing, and (2) an economy in which each autarky household absorbs risk in...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010821669
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Stopping Suicide Attacks: Optimal Strategies and Unintended Consequences
McBride, Michael; Richardson, Gary - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2010
Governments fighting terrorists have many tactical options, yet these options often yield unintended and counterproductive consequences. This paper models a terrorist organization, a religious group from which the terrorists recruit suicide bombers, and the society in which the terrorists are...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008777359
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Modest, Secure and Informed: Successful Development in Conflict Zones
Berman, Eli; Felter, Joseph; Shapiro, Jacob N.; … - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2013
Most interpretations of prevalent counterinsurgency theory imply that increasing government services will reduce rebel violence. Empirically, however, development programs and economic activity sometimes yield increased violence. Using new panel data on development spending in Iraq, we show that...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010821767
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Family Ties, Inheritance Rights, and Successful Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Ghana
Kutsoati, Edward; Morck, Randall - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2012
Ghanaian custom views children as members of either their mother's or father's lineage (extended family), but not both. Patrilineal custom charges a man's lineage with caring for his widow and children, while matrilineal custom places this burden on the widows' lineage - her father, brothers,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011271427
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Must Love Kill the Family Firm?
Morck, Randall; Mehrotra, Vikas; Shim, Jungwook; … - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2010
Family firms depend on a succession of capable heirs to stay afloat. If talent and IQ are inherited, this problem is mitigated. If, however, progeny talent and IQ display mean reversion (or worse), family firms are eventually doomed. This is the essence of the critique of family firms in...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008534201
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Instruments of Commerce and Knowledge: Probe Microscopy, 1980-2000
Mody, Cyrus C. M. - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2006
Longstanding debates about the role of the university in national culture and the global economy have entered a new phase in the past decade in most industrialized, and several industrializing, countries. One important focus of this debate is corporate involvement in academic scientific...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005777662
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Social Structure and Institutional Design: Evidence from a Lab Experiment in the Field
Breza, Emily; Chandrasekhar, Arun G.; Larreguy, Horacio - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2014
In settings with poor formal contract enforcement, profitable investments are likely unrealized. While social closeness can mitigate contractual incompleteness, we examine how to improve the preponderance of cases where contracting parties cannot rely upon social ties. We ask if a community can...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010821816
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"Unfinished Business": Ethnic Complementarities and the Political Contagion of Peace and Conflict in Gujarat
Jha, Saumitra - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2013
I examine how the historical legacies of inter-ethnic complementarity and competition influence contemporary electoral competition and its effects on patterns of ethnic violence. Using local comparisons within Gujarat, a single Indian state known for its non-violent local traditions yet also for...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010674280
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The Importance of Trust for Investment: Evidence from Venture Capital
Bottazzi, Laura; Hellmann, Thomas; Rin, Marco Da - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2011
We examine the effect of trust on financial investment and contracting decisions in a micro-economic environment where … trust is exogenous. Using hand-collected data on European venture capital, we show that the Eurobarometer measure of trust … partners further contributes to the effect of trust. Education and work experience reduce the effect of trust but do not …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008919717
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Making Property Productive: Reorganizing Rights to Real and Equitable Estates in Britain, 1660 to 1830
Bogart, Dan; Richardson, Gary - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - 2008
Between 1660 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, and improve land previously bound by inheritance rules and other legal legacies. The loosening of...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005830552