How do radical reforms of the state shape economic development over time? In 1790, France’s first Constituent Assembly overhauled the kingdom’s organization to set up new administrative entities and local capitals. In a subset of departments, new capitals were chosen quasi-randomly as the...

We introduce a neighborhood structure in waiting games where the players decide when to "stop" (exit a market, adopt a technology). The payoff of stopping increases each time a neighbor stops. We show that the dynamic evolution of the network starkly depends on initial parameters and can take...

In situations where a biased sender provides verifiable information to a receiver, in order to influence her decision, we study how strategic reporting affects the incentives to search for information. Research provides series of signals that can be used selectively in reporting. We show that...

Using French data, we provide: a) causal evidence that a drop in local public goods provision decreases private sector activity, and b) evidence consistent with monopsony power of the public sector in local labor markets. We introduce a public sector with these two key characteristics in an...