State capacity and development clusters Evidence from 25 years of data shows countries form persistent ‘development clusters’ according to their levels of internal peace and state capacity Institutions & Political Economy Tim Besley Chris Dann Torsten Persson Published 23.07.21
God insures those who pay: Formal insurance and religious offerings in Ghana An experiment reveals that church members enrolled in formal insurance give less money to their church and to other charitable organisations Institutions & Political Economy Emmanuelle Auriol Julie Lassébie Amma Panin Eva Raiber Paul Seabright Published 09.04.21
Informality and the effects of trade in developing countries What are the effects of trade amidst a large informal sector? New research studies a model tightly connected to data on firms and workers in Brazil Firms Rafael Dix-Carneiro Pinelopi Goldberg Costas Meghir Gabriel Ulyssea Published 05.03.21
Lasting effects of colonial-era resource exploitation in Congo: Concessions, violence, and indirect rule Concessions granted to private companies to extract natural resources still have negative effects on present-day development in the DRC Institutions & Political Economy Sara Lowes Eduardo Montero Published 11.01.21
Can ‘white elephants’ kill? Evidence from infrastructure development in Peru Incomplete and abandoned sewerage projects can increase risks of early life mortality and impose significant public health costs on populations Infrastructure Antonella Bancalari Published 02.11.20
Land distribution and long-run development in the American frontier Policies 150 years ago that allowed large landlords to obtain thousands of square miles of land lowered investment and property values into the 21st century Macroeconomics & Growth Cory Smith Published 09.10.20
Can taxation stimulate political participation? Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo A property tax campaign in the city of Kananga increased tax compliance and stimulated citizen demand for inclusive and accountable government Public Economics Jonathan Weigel Published 04.09.20
Buy as you need: Nutrition and food storage imperfections in Burkina Faso Creating village-level cooperatives to buy grain from outside sources and sell it locally reduced nutritional stress, especially among the young Agriculture Jeremie Gross Catherine Guirkinger Jean-Philippe Platteau Published 04.05.20
Randomised control trials: Limits and broader application Despite limitations, the use of randomised control trials has led to a paradigm shift in development policy evaluation Methods & Measurement Maitreesh Ghatak Published 25.10.19
