The correlation between health and economic performance is extremely robust across communities and over time. Many factors exogenous to income play an important role in determining health status, including a number of geographical, environmental, and evolutionary factors. This suggests the...

This paper addresses the complex relationship between geography and macroeconomic growth. We investigate the ways in which geography may matter directly for growth, controlling for economic policies and institutions, as well as the effects of geography on policy choices and institutions. We find...

This paper presents a theoretical model to analyze the effects of technology change on growth rates of income and human capital. We set up an overlapping generations model in which young agents invest in both width and depth of human capital in order to adopt new technologies. The model develops...

Subsidized loans have a history of being diverted to the rich. Yet recently microcredit programs, such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, have become popular among donors and governments as a way to channel funds to the poor. This paper uses a unique panel dataset from two Bangladeshi villages...

This paper explores some of the central debates in the application of political economy to development policy making. It is particularly concerned with the connection between theory, empirical observation, and the practice of policy decision making. It explores distinct traditions of political...

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...