The literature examining the effect of institutions on the spread of conflict remains scarce despite 100 civilians being killed in armed conflicts every day as per United Nations statistics. We employ the two-part model to study the effect of institutions on the spread of conflict in 190...

In this paper we study the impact of multi-way means of communication on corruption by exploring the relationship between social media and corruption. Our cross-country analysis of over 150 countries shows that Facebook penetration (a proxy for social media) has a negative and economically...

While the importance of municipal bonds for the provision of public services is well-documented, the consequences of municipal bankruptcies remain understudied. We contribute to this literature by studying the effects of municipal bankruptcies on crime. Using the staggered...

This study adds to largely non-existent literature on corruption and foreign direct investment (FDI) in natural resources by examining the association between the two using a panel of 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries from 1995 to 2020. We find that higher levels of corruption are...

The election of corrupt politicians remains a crucial global problem, yet our knowledge regarding factors determining electorates' tolerance for corruption remains extremely limited. This paper explores individual characteristics and macroeconomic factors that determine an individual's...

Outbreaks of infectious diseases bring behavior and policy responses into sharp focus since societies face acute constraints and uncertainties. This paper compares two infectious disease outbreaks: the Covid-19 pandemic and the 1665 London plague outbreak described by Daniel Defoe in A Journal...

This paper argues that the availability of arable land in antiquity created gender norms that continue to affect current gender inequality. We show that countries with greater ancestral arable land have lower levels of gender inequality, better female reproductive health outcomes, and greater...

In this paper, I assess the impact of financial reforms on corruption using a panel of 85 countries for 1984-2005. I find that several, but not all, of the policies targeted towards financial liberalization reduce corruption. Specifically, the abolition of entry barriers, credit controls, and...

We posit that historical resource scarcities played a role in the emergence of gender norms inimical to women that persist to this day. This thesis is supported by our finding that nations' historical resource endowments, as measured by the historical availability of arable land, are...