Using a newly assembled dataset spanning from 1820 to 1998, we study the relationship between the occurrence and magnitude of episodes of mass killing and the levels of development and democracy across countries and over time. Mass killings appear to be more likely at intermediate levels of...

Although it is widely accepted that financial development is associated with higher growth, the evidence on the channels through which credit affects growth at the microeconomic level is scant. Using data from a cross section of Bulgarian firms, we estimate the impact of access to credit, as...

Cover; Contents; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Main Messages; Executive Summary; Overview; Introduction; Labor markets in MENA: Inefficient and inequitable; Figures; O.1 Composition of the working-age population in MENA and two other regions, 2010; O.2 Rates of female labor force...

While some recent evidence suggests that more decentralization is associated with reduced corruption, no empirical work has examined whether different types of decentralization have differential effects on corruption. The theoretical literature has emphasized that expenditure decentralization...

This paper examines the relationship between child labor and access to credit at a cross-country level. Even though this link is theoretically central to child labor, so far there has been little work done to assess its importance empirically. We measure child labor as a country aggregate, and...

Although there is an extensive literature on the determinants of child labor and many initiatives aimed at combating it, there is limited evidence on the consequences of child labor on socio-economic outcomes such as education, wages, and health. We evaluate the causal effect of child labor...

Using four rounds of panel household data from the Kagera region of Tanzania, we show that transitory income shocks ¨C measured by the value of crop lost by farming households ¨C lead to significantly increased child labor. A one standard deviation increase in the shock is associated with a...

Despite the extensive literature on the determinants of child labor, the evidence on the consequences of child labor on outcomes such as education, labor, and health is limited. We evaluate the causal effect of child labor participation among children in school on these outcomes using panel data...