BREAD Working Paper No. 628, January 2024

Outsourcing Policy and Worker Outcomes: Causal Evidence from a Mexican Ban Alejandro Estefan, Roberto Gerhard, Joseph P. Kaboski, Illenin O. Kondo, and Wei Qian   Abstract A weakening of labor protection policies is often invoked as one cause of observed monopsony power and the decline in labor’s share of income, but little evidence exists on […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 627, December 2023

Long-run Impacts of Forced Labor Migration on Fertility Behaviors: Evidence from Colonial West Africa Pascaline Dupas, Camille Falezan, Marie Christelle Mabeu, and Pauline Rossi   Abstract Is the persistently high fertility in West Africa today rooted in the decades of forced labor migration under colonial rule? We study the case of Burkina Faso, considered the […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 626, December 2023

Digital Information Provision and Behavior Change: Lessons from Six Experiments in East Africa Raissa Fabregas, Michael Kremer, Matthew Lowes, Robert On, Giulia Zane   Abstract Mobile phone-based informational programs are popular worldwide, though there is little consensus on how effective they are at changing behavior. We present causal evidence on the effects of six mobile-based […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 625, November 2023

Revisiting the Eswaran-Kotwal Model of Tenancy Maitreesh Ghatak and Dilip Mookherjee   Abstract Persistence of sharecropping tenancy and increases in farm productivity following regulations protecting tenant rights have been observed in many developing countries. This paper examines if these can be explained by alternative models of sharecropping with two sided efforts/investments, namely, complete contract models […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 624, November 2023

Public Service Delivery, Exclusion and Externalities: Theory and Experimental Evidence from India Alex Armand, Britta Augsburg, Antonella Bancalari and Maitreesh Ghatak   Abstract This study explores the interaction between the quality of public services, the implementation of user fees, and the resulting potential for exclusion, that can lead to negative externalities. Our theoretical framework takes […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 623, September 2023

Zero-Sum Thinking, the Evolution of Effort-Suppressing Beliefs and Economic Development Jean-Paul Carvalho Augustin Bergeron Joseph Henrich Nathan Nunn Jonathan L. Weigel   Abstract We study the evolution of belief systems that suppress productive effort. These include concerns about the envy of others, beliefs in the importance of luck for success, disdain for competitive effort, and […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 622, July 2023

Globalization and Inequality in Latin America Rafael Dix-Carneiro and Brian K. Kovak   Abstract: We survey the recent literature studying the effects of globalization on inequality in Latin America. Our focus is on research emerging from the late 2000s onward, with an emphasis on empirical work considering new mechanisms, studying new dimensions of inequality, and […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 621, June 2023

On the Importance of African Traditional Religion for Economic Behavior Lewis Dunia Butinda, Aimable Amani Lameke, Nathan Nunn, Max Posch and Raul Sanchez de la Sierra   Abstract Within the field of economics, despite being widespread, African traditional religions tend to be perceived as unimportant and ignored when studying economic decision-making. This study tests whether […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 620, June 2023

Chat Over Coffee? Diffusion of Agronomic Practices and Market Spillovers in Rwanda Esther Duflo, Daniel Keniston, Tavneet Suri and Celine Zipfel Abstract Agricultural extension programs often train a few farmers and count on diffusion through social networks for the innovation to spread. However, if markets are imperfectly integrated, this may also inflict negative externalities. In […]

BREAD Working Paper No. 619, June 2023

Does Combating Corruption Reduce Clientelism? Gustavo J. Bobonis, Paul J. Gertler, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, and Simeon Nichter   Abstract Does combating corruption reduce clientelism? We examine the impact of a prominent anti-corruption program on clientelism using a novel representative survey of rural Brazilians. Randomized audits reduce politicians’ provision of campaign handouts, decrease citizens’ demands for private […]