Voting for Quality? The Impact of School Performance Information on Electoral Outcomes Marina Dias, Claudio Ferraz Abstract We use data from polling stations and public primary schools to estimate the electoral effects of making school quality information available to voters. We exploit the introduction of a school-level accountability system in Brazil that provides, for the […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 566, December 2020
Competition in Network Industries: Evidence from the Rwandan Mobile Phone Network Daniel Björkegren Abstract This paper analyzes the potential for competition policy to affect welfare and in- vestment in a network industry. When a network is split between competitors, each internalizes less network effects, but may still invest to steal customers. I structurally estimate the […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 565, August 2019
Housing Prices, Inter-generational Co-residence, and “Excess” Savings by the Young: Evidence using Chinese Data Mark R. Rosenzweig, Junsen Zhang Abstract In many countries of the world the co-residence of young adults aged 25-34 with their parents is not uncommon and in some countries the savings rates of these age groups exceed those of the middle-aged […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 564, June 2019
Leader Identity and Coordination Sonia Bhalotra, Irma Clots-Figueras, Lakshmi Iyer, Joseph Vecci Abstract This paper examines policy effectiveness as a function of leader identity. We experimentally vary leader religious identity in a coordination game implemented in India, and focus upon citizen reactions to leader identity, controlling for leader actions. We find that minority leaders improve […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 563, March 2019
Nostalgic Demand Daniel Björkegren Abstract This paper attempts to understand demand for local and other nostalgic production in food. In U.S. household scanner data, nostalgically produced foods sell for a large premium. Controlling for income and demographics, experts who work in food production and health are no less likely to purchase nostalgic milk and eggs, […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 562, July 2019
Leader Identity and Coordination Abhijit Banerjee, Eliana La Ferrara, Victor Orozco Abstract We test the effectiveness of an entertainment education TV series, MTV Shuga, aimed at providing information and changing attitudes and behaviors related to HIV/AIDS. Using a simple model we show that “edutainment” can work through an ‘individual’ or a ‘social’ channel. We conducted […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 561, May 2019
Assessing the Benefits of Long‐Run Weather Forecasting for the Rural Poor: Farmer Investments and Worker Migration in a Dynamic Equilibrium Model Mark R. Rosenzweig, Christopher Udry Abstract The livelihoods of the majority of the world’s poor depend on agriculture. They face substantial risk from fluctuations in weather conditions. Better risk, credit and savings markets can […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 560, 2019
The Effects of Schooling on Costless Health Maintenance: Overweight Adolescents and Children in Rural China Abstract Obesity is an important global health problem. Although obesity is not directly related to access to health care or constrained by resource deprivation, overweight status is predominantly found in poor, less-educated populations. This paper seeks to identify the causal […]
BREAD Working Paper No. 559, 2019
Cashing In (and Out): Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Mobile Money in Malawi Shilpa Aggarwal, Valentina Brailovskaya, Jonathan Robinson Download paper in PDF format
BREAD Working Paper No. 558, March 2019
Brazil’s Missing Infants: Zika risk changes reproductive behavior Marcos A. Rengel, Jenna Nobles, Amar Hamoudi Abstract Zika virus epidemics have potential large-scale population effects. Controlled studies of mice and non-human primates indicate Zika effects on fertility, raising concerns about mis- carriage in human populations. In regions of Brazil, Zika risk peaked months before residents learned […]