The problem with public spending programs intended for the poor is that they often enrich the ineligible. This paper introduces a hotline mechanism to target the poor efficiently. The poor are induced to tell on cheaters. The rich are deterred from cheating because they will be identified,...

This paper surveys the microeconomic evidence on the determinants of and returns to education and health in sub-Saharan Africa. A year of education is associated with 3-14% increases wages and productivity. The introduction or removal of user fees can have dramatic effects on take-up of health...

Using a unique data set, we study the trading behavior of foreign portfolio investors in Korea before and during the currency crisis. Different categories of investors have significant differences as well as similarities. First, non-resident institutional investors are always positive feedback...

Ethnicity plays an ambiguous role in the great transformation. On the one hand, ethnicity creates: by providing incentives that organize the flow of resources across generations, it provides the capital for urban migration and the acquisition of skills for industrial employment. On the other...

This paper centers around the question of ownership of firms and managerial competition and how these affect managers and employees' incentives to invest in human capital. We argue that employees' incentives in human capital investment are affected by both ownership and competition since both...

Geographic information systems (GIS) data was used on a global scale to examine the relationship between climate (ecozones), water navigability, and economic development in terms of GDP per capita. GDP per capita and the spatial density of economic activity measured as GDP per km2 are high in...