This paper estimates the impact of a large-scale contracting-out program in Guatemala, using two waves of living standard measurement surveys which collected data before and after the expansion of the program and exploiting variation in the timing of the program to estimate treatment effects....

How much do schools differ in their effectiveness? Recent studies that seek to answer this question account for student sorting using random assignment generated by central allocation mechanisms or oversubscribed schools. However, the resulting estimates, while causal, may also reflect peer...

This research focuses on the diesel and diesel/oil mixed fuel combustion particles as the research object and analyzes the characteristics of the two kinds of fuel oil under different parameters. The characteristics of the combustion particulate matter in the DPF discharge of the two fuels...

In recent times, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has faced significant challenges in terms of managing its environment and moving forward with the concept of sustainable economic development. The environmental challenges concern the increasing consumption of fossil fuel energy, which has...

This paper estimates the effect of institutions on economic performance using cross-city data from China. We argue that China's ongoing reforms are part of a long and circuitous historical transition from antiquity to modernity, which started about 150 years ago. Learning from Western countries...