In this paper we study the effects of various tax schedule discontinuities on the behavior of small firms using high-quality and population-wide tax register data from South Africa. We use the bunching method to analyse how these discontinuities affect the firm-size distribution. We first...

This study investigates the ethnic disadvantage in rural Vietnam, focusing on the magnitude of the majority-minority gap and the constraints on ethnic minority households that contribute to the gap. Using a biannual panel dataset spanning the period 2006 - 14, this paper documents large...

Despite a sizeable literature, there is no consensus as to whether and how mineral resources are linked to conflict. In this paper, we estimate the relationship between giant mineral deposit discoveries and the intensity of armed conflict (measured by battle deaths) around the world in the...

This paper investigates the net impact of birth control policy in China on educational attainment of the partially excluded ethnic minorities. Exploring county-level variation in the value of fines levied for unsanctioned births, we show that more stringent enforcement of the birth control...

In this paper, we analyse which channels influence individual preferences concerning the choice of the official language in Zambia. We develop a theoretical framework, which is tested using data on elicited beliefs about the effects of changes in Zambia's language policy on schooling outcomes,...

Research on caste-based inequalities in India has generally focused on differences between large categories such as the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the remainder of the population. We contribute to the literature on horizontal inequalities in India by looking within these...

We investigate whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in children's education in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Viet Nam. We find that in all the four countries, and especially in Viet Nam, children from small ethnic groups have lower education attainment and cognitive ability. The gap in...

In this study, we embark on measuring inequality in Iran. We compute three measures of group-based inequality (Group-weighted Coefficient of Variation, Group-weighted Gini, and Group-weighted Theil) for the following outcomes: education, assets, income, and expenditure per capita. The groups are...

Inequalities between ethnic or racial groups, defined as horizontal inequalities, are pervasive and persistent. They persist due to cumulative and reinforcing inequalities arising from unequal access to different types of capital. Affirmative action policies can provide promising opportunities...

Does economic standing cross-cut ethnicity in African electoral politics? In many countries in the region, ethnicity appears to be a major consideration in individuals' political decision-making. However, there is significant variation in the extent to which coethnics support parties en bloc;...