Social Structure and Conflict: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa Jacob Moscona, Nathan Nunn, James A. Robinson Abstract We test the long-standing hypothesis that ethnic groups that are organized around ‘segmentary lineages’ are more prone to conflict and civil war. Ethnographic accounts suggest that in segmen- tary lineage societies, which are characterized by strong allegiances to distant relatives, […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 537
Governing the Commons? Water and Power in Pakistan’s Indus Basin Hanan G. Jacoby, Ghazala Mansuri Abstract Surface irrigation is a common pool resource characterized by asymmetric appropriation opportunities across upstream and downstream water users. Large canal systems are also predominantly state-managed. We study water allocation under an irrigation bureaucracy subject to corruption and rent-seeking. Data […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 536, February 2018
Labor Supply Responses to Health Shocks: Evidence from High-Frequency Labor Market Data from Urban Ghana Rachel Heath, Ghazala Mansuri, Bob Rijkers Abstract Workers in developing countries are subject to frequent health shocks. Using ten weeks of high frequency labor market data that we collected in urban Ghana, we document that men are 11 percentage points […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 535, February 2018
Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh Ricardo Maertens, Alessandro Tarozzi, Kazi Matin Ahmed, Alexander van Geen Abstract Lack of access to reliable information on environmental exposure limits opportunities for risk- avoiding behavior, particularly in developing countries. Private markets could potentially play a role in providing […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 534
Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines Dean Karlan, Sendhil Mullainathan, Benjamin N. Roth Abstract A debt trap occurs when someone takes on a high-interest rate loan and is barely able to pay back the interest, and thus perpetually finds themselves in debt (often by re-financing). Studying such practices is […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 533, February 2020
Unpacking a Multi-Faceted Program to Build Sustainable Income for the Very Poor Abhijit Banerjee, Dean Karlan, Robert Osei, Hannah Trachtman, Christopher Udry Abstract A multi-faceted program comprising a grant of productive assets, training, coaching, and savings has been found to build sustainable income for those in extreme poverty. We focus on two important questions: whether […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 532, January 2018
Longevity, Education, and Income: How Large is the Triangle? Hoyt Bleakley Abstract While health affects economic development and wellbeing through a variety of path- ways, one commonly suggested mechanism is a “horizon” channel in which increased longevity induces additional education. A recent literature devotes much attention to how much education responds to increasing longevity, while […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 531, May 2018
The Political Boundaries of Ethnic Divisions Samuel Bazzi, Matthew Gudgeon Abstract This paper argues that redrawing subnational political boundaries can transform ethnic divisions. We use a natural policy experiment in Indonesia to show how the effects of ethnic diversity on conflict depend on the political units within which groups are organized. Redistricting along group lines […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 530, November 2017
Preventives Versus Treatments Redux: Tighter Bounds on Distortions in Innovation Incentives with an Application to the Global Demand for HIV Pharmaceuticals Michael Kremer, Christopher M. Snyder Abstract Kremer and Snyder (2015) show that demand curves for a preventive and treatment may have different shapes though they target the same disease, biasing the pharmaceutical manufacturer toward […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 529, December 2017
Environmental externalities and free-riding in the household Kelsey Jack, Seema Jayachandran, Sarojini Rao Abstract Water use and electricity use, which generate negative environmental externalities, are susceptible to a second externality problem: with household-level billing, each per- son enjoys private benefits of consumption but shares the cost with other household members. If individual usage is imperfectly […]