Low adoption of productive agricultural technologies is a puzzle. Agricultural extension services rely on external agents to communicate with farmers, although social networks are known to be the most credible source of information about new technologies. We conduct a large-scale field...

We study the effects of explosive growth in the Bangladeshi ready-made garments industry on the lives on Bangladeshi women. We compare the marriage, childbearing, school enrollment and employment decisions of women who gain greater access to garment sector jobs to women living further away from...

This paper examines whether an intra-household externality prevents adoption of a technology with substantial implications for population health and the environment: improved cookstoves. Motivated by a model of intra-household decision-making, the experiment markets stoves to husbands or wives...

Much recent political economy and political science literature views democracy in terms of political rights. This view, often referred to as electoral democracy, is particularly pronounced in the empirical literature. We reincorporate the role of civil liberties, which are at the core of modern...

As recently as 1999, 13 million measles cases and 500,000 measles-related deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa per year. Over the past decade, vaccination coverage across the continent has improved dramatically, largely as a result of the Measles Initiative, an international effort coordinating...

This study evaluates the effect of Measles Catchup Campaigns on child mortality in Africa.

Does being a migrant in a developing country cause an individual to receive less access to credit? Migrant status can be a useful signal for lenders in settings with weak contract enforcement and in the absence of well-developed information markets. I investigate this contract...

In many developing countries, aging or inadequate infrastructure is a binding constraint to economic growth. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US government agency providing development assistance, has committed more than $4 billion to upgrade or rehabilitate roads, ports,...

We explore the relationship between property crime and growth among microenterprises in Mexico. We use data on microenterprises and crime incidence from victimization surveys. We find that higher rates of property crime are associated with a significantly lower probability an enterprise plans to...

This study explores how initial endowments at the start of transition have shaped reform outcomes and reform trajectories in 27 former communist countries in Europe andCentral Asia. Countries of the former Russian Empire that had a large resources sector at the start of transition underperformed...