Most countries around the world implement some form of a safety net program for poor households. A widespread concern is that such programs crowd out private-sector jobs. But they could also improve workers' welfare by allowing them to take on more risk, for example through self-employment. This...

Short-term re-election strategies are widely used by governments around the world. This is problematic if governments can maximize their re-election chances by prioritizing short-term spending before an election over long-term reforms. This paper tests whether longer program exposure has a...

There is a growing awareness that government programs may be important in the fight against internal conflict. Using a regression-discontinuity design, we analyze the impact of the world's largest public-works program, the Indian employment guarantee scheme NREGS, on conflict intensity. We argue...

Value-added taxes (VAT) are a common way of raising revenue. While many countries have adopted a VAT in the last 30 years, they often adopt systems that deviate from textbook principles. The net effect on firms is therefore unclear. We construct a dataset of product- and state-specific tax rates...