When do citizens support foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries? FDI flows are the single largest source of global capital flows and are considered a conduit for economic growth. However, many studies find a negative impact of FDI inflows, such as an increase in inequality,...

Can public diplomacy efforts effectively change target country public’s perception of the sender country? Public diplomacy has been regarded as a means of promoting a country's soft power, and many countries have been exerted great about of effort and resources in this pursuit by building...

Coalitions led by the president play an important role in the Brazilian legislature, but what do members of the president's coalition gain from joining? We conduct a regression discontinuity analysis of discretionary, politically motivated federal transfers to Brazilian municipalities. Our...

A reliable supply of electricity is essential for economic development, and developing countries across the world have implemented reforms to improve their power sector performance. We publish a dataset of power sector reforms in 142 developing countries from 1982 to 2013 and use the data to...

One of the great questions for scholars of international relations and economics concerns the relationship between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the natural environment. Does membership in the multilateral trade regime constrain environmental regulation and increase the environmental...

Development economists frequently emphasize the importance of good infrastructure for economic growth. Can governments attract private capital in infrastructural investments through policy reform? We address this question by showing that, in the case of electricity generation, a simple...