The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a fragile, post-conflict country with high demographic growth and poor governance, all of which have devastated institutions, the economy and the social fabric. The DRC was devastated by war in the 1990s and early 2000s, which claimed millions of lives...

This paper is an attempt to broaden economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas the concept of the decision-maker in standard economics is the rational actor and, in early work in behavioral economics,...

Infant mortality among Hindus is higher than among Muslims in India, and religious differences in sanitation practices have been cited as a contributing factor. To explore whether religion itself is associated with differences in sanitation practices, this study compares sanitation practices of...

A core insight from early behavioral economics is that much of human judgment and behavior is influenced by "fast thinking" that is intuitive, associative, and automatic; very little human thinking resembles the rational thinking that characterizes homo economicus. What is less well-recognized is...

How does law change society? In the rational actor model, law affects behavior only by changing incentives and information-the command and coordination function of law. Under the view that humans are social animals, law is also a guidepost for social norms that regulate behavior-the expressive...

Since the 1970s, the world has embarked on a new financial globalization era. Cross-country capital flows have significantly increased in developed and developing countries. However, the characteristics of financial globalization differ from what was originally expected. Various examples...

Global value chains have altered the nature of global trade and offer significant opportunities for developing countries to expand exports, access technology, and raise productivity. Policy makers rightly seek to understand what it takes to participate in global value chains. In practice, this...

Integration into global markets can improve the efficiency of the Argentinian economy, providing opportunities for private investment to flourish and for the associated benefits to accrue to consumers. Among many policies that are important for integrating into the global economy, particularly...

"Over a decade has passed since the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers marked the onset of the largest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis revealed major shortcomings in market discipline, regulation, and supervision, and reopened important policy...