Goals and Gaps: Educational Careers of Immigrant Children Michela Carlana, Eliana La Ferrara, Paolo Pinotti Abstract We study the educational choices of children of immigrants in a tracked school system. We first show that immigrant boys in Italy enroll disproportionately into vocational high schools, as opposed to technical and academically-oriented high schools, compared to natives […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 527, November 2017
The Long-run Effects of Agricultural Productivity on Conflict, 1400-1900 Murat Iyigun, Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian Abstract This paper provides evidence of the long-run effects of a permanent increase in agricultural productivity on conflict. We construct a newly digitized and geo-referenced dataset of battles in Europe, the Near East and North Africa covering the period be- […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 526, November 2017
The Rise and Fall of Local Elections in China: Theory and Empirical Evidence on the Autocrat’s Trade-off Monica Martinez-Bravo, Gerard Padró i Miquel, Nancy Qian, Yang Yao Abstract We propose a simple informational theory to explain why autocratic regimes introduce lo- cal elections. Because citizens have better information on local officials than the distant central […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 525, July 2018
Vertical Integration, Supplier Behavior, and Quality Upgrading among Exporters Christopher Hansman, Jonas Hjort,Gianmarco León, Matthieu Teachout Abstract We study the relationship between firms’ output quality and their choice of organizational structure. To do so, we use data on each step of the production and transaction chain that makes up Peruvian fishmeal manufacturing. We first show […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 524, March 2019
Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building Samuel Bazzi, Arya Gaduh, Alexander D. Rothenberg, Maisy Wong Abstract We use a population resettlement program in Indonesia to identify long-run effects of intergroup contact on national integration. In the 1980s, the government relocated two million ethnically diverse migrants into hundreds of new communities. We […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 523, September 2017
Planning Ahead for Better Neighborhoods: Long Run Evidence from Tanzania Guy Michaels, Dzhamilya Nigmatulina, Ferdinand Rauch, Tanner Regan, Neeraj Baruah, Amanda Dahlstrand-Rudin Abstract What are the long run consequences of planning and providing basic infrastructure in neigh- borhoods, where people build their own homes? We study “Sites and Services” projects imple- mented in seven Tanzanian […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 522, May 2017
Reservations and the Politics of Fear Siwan Anderson, Patrick Francois Abstract Reserving political office for members of a particular, usually traditionally disadvantaged, group is a common form of political quota in many parts of the world. We first show that if political dysfunction is due to “politics of fear” factors that make individuals support members […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 521, August 2017
Time vs. State in Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Contract Farming in Kenya Lorenzo Casaburi, Jack Willis Abstract The gains from insurance arise from the transfer of income across states. Yet, by requiring that the premium be paid upfront, standard insurance products also transfer income across time. We show that this intertemporal transfer can help explain […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 520, July 2017
First and Second Generation Impacts of the Biafran War Richard Akresh, Sonia Bhalotra, Marinella Leone, Una Osili Abstract We analyze long-term impacts of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, providing the first evidence of intergenerational impacts. Women exposed to the war in their grow- ing years exhibit reduced adult stature, increased likelihood of being overweight, earlier […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 519, January 2018
The Arrival of Fast Internet and Employment in Africa Jonas Hjort, Jonas Poulsen Abstract To show how fast Internet affects employment in Africa, we exploit the gradual arrival of submarine Inter- net cables on the coast and maps of the terrestrial cable network. Robust difference-in-differences estimates from three datasets covering 12 countries show large positive […]