Does U.S. military aid make the United States safer? To answer this question, we collect data for 173 countries between 1968 and 2014. Exploiting quasi-random variation in the global patterns of U.S. military aid, we provide causal estimates of U.S. military aid on anti-American terrorism. We...

We investigate the effect of U.S. military aid and U.S. troop deployments on anti-American terrorism, using a sample of 106 countries between 1986 and 2011. We find that greater military commitment leads to more anti-American terrorism. We study the underlying mechanisms using a mediation...

This paper takes a holistic look at the media sector and establishes that press freedom along with reach reduces political instability. Greater reach of media furthers the cause of a free press. It generates an informed populace and increases government responsiveness. The hypothesis is...

Human trafficking has been called the ‘dark side’ of globalization. Interpol estimates that human trafficking is now the third largest transnational crime and the number of victims increases with each passing year. In an effort to combat the crime, the United Nations created the...

While methodologies and survey techniques recorded progress over the years, corruption measurement remains a many-headed monster. Since 2003 and the first publication of Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer, researchers have access to population's feeling about the corruption...

This paper explores the association between corruption and trade policy. A non-technical theoretical framework first outlines the effects of corruption on non-tariff barriers at the political and bureaucratic level. Both parts have incentives to accept bribes in exchange for increasing barriers....

Happiness is considered one of the goals of individuals and nations. Thus, many interdisciplinary efforts have attempted to determine the factors that lead to happiness. However, most of these efforts have ignored some important but less tangible factors, such as having a free press and a...