This chapter contrasts the process of urbanization in China and in India. It characterizes the differences in outcomes with regard to the provision of urban infrastructure and the development of informality in each country. The role of local autonomy and governance structures help to explain...

In this study, I explore the enduring consequences of early colonial alliances on developmental outcomes, focusing on the impact of political autonomy within the context of local colonial institutions. I specifically investigate the case of Tlaxcala, Mexico, a province that gained distinct...

This paper examines the role of human capital persistence in explaining long-term development. We exploit variation induced by a state-sponsored settlement policy that attracted a pool of immigrants with higher levels of schooling to particular regions of Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th...

This paper examines the role of human capital persistence in explaining long-term development. We exploit variation induced by a state-sponsored settlement policy that attracted a pool of immigrants with higher levels of schooling to particular regions of Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th...

This paper examines the role of human capital persistence in explaining long-term development. We exploit variation induced by a state-sponsored settlement policy that attracted a pool of immigrants with higher levels of schooling to particular regions of Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th...

Brazil is frequently portrayed as exhibiting persistent and structural economic inequality that is rooted in the early colonial experience, and is believed to undermine development in the long run. I construct original measures of agricultural inequality for 1905 in what is today Brazil's...

Existing empirical studies of the price and quantity effects on new dwellings from developer charges (DCs), or impact fees, are limited by a lack of naturally occurring variation in the DC size. It is therefore difficult to isolate any behavioural effect from the mechanical relationship of DC...

Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy hold to a pessimistic belief in historical persistence -- they believe that Latin America has always had very high levels of inequality, suggesting it will be hard for modern social policy to create a more egalitarian society. This paper argues...

We can enhance development by making it easier for people to “vote with their feet” between jurisdictions. Few, if any, policy reforms can achieve such enormous increases in economic growth and opportunity. Foot voting is, in several crucial respects, a better mechanism of political...

We analyze investment decisions when information is costly, with and without delegation to an agent. We use a rational-inattention model and compare it with a canonical signal-extraction model. We identify three "investment conditions". In "sour" conditions, no information is acquired and no...