We estimate whether opening of new schools increases educational attainment and affects civic engagement, political participation, and political selection in Malian villages. We compare the differences in educational attainment between individuals below and above the age of 9 as of school opening date by using a donut regression discontinuity design. Opening of schools drastically increases school enrollment. Using this exogenous variation in school enrollment as an instrument, we show that education increases participation in village associations, involvement in local political life, and the number of elected politicians from a village. Most of the effect of education is concentrated among individuals belonging to well-established families. This suggests a redistribution of roles to the dominant group of a village.
{"title":"Education, Civic Engagement and Political Participation: Evidence From School Construction in Malian Villages","authors":"P. Maarek, P. André","doi":"10.1086/719622","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719622","url":null,"abstract":"We estimate whether opening of new schools increases educational attainment and affects civic engagement, political participation, and political selection in Malian villages. We compare the differences in educational attainment between individuals below and above the age of 9 as of school opening date by using a donut regression discontinuity design. Opening of schools drastically increases school enrollment. Using this exogenous variation in school enrollment as an instrument, we show that education increases participation in village associations, involvement in local political life, and the number of elected politicians from a village. Most of the effect of education is concentrated among individuals belonging to well-established families. This suggests a redistribution of roles to the dominant group of a village.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48254655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Thornton, H. Bhorat, Adaiah Lilenstein, Jabulile Monnakgotla, Kirsten van der Zee
How might South Africa's concentrated income inequality affect the incidence of burglary? Theoretically, burglary increases with income and inequality, but the linearity of these relationships can be interrupted by investment in private security. This idea has not been thoroughly tested before, and South Africa presents an interesting context in which to do so, given its high level of income inequality and fear of crime. We find both income and inequality have inverse U-shaped relationships with burglary, rationalized as the outcome of elites investing in private security. Our results also suggest that income and inequality interact: when precincts are richer, more inequality leads to more burglary, but when precincts are poorer, more inequality leads to less burglary. We suggest that when areas are already poor and unequal, more inequality could mean the widening of an already insurmountable gap between the ability of elites to protect themselves and the ability of low-income individuals to break and enter.
{"title":"Crime, income and inequality: non-linearities under extreme inequality in South Africa","authors":"A. Thornton, H. Bhorat, Adaiah Lilenstein, Jabulile Monnakgotla, Kirsten van der Zee","doi":"10.1086/719646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719646","url":null,"abstract":"How might South Africa's concentrated income inequality affect the incidence of burglary? Theoretically, burglary increases with income and inequality, but the linearity of these relationships can be interrupted by investment in private security. This idea has not been thoroughly tested before, and South Africa presents an interesting context in which to do so, given its high level of income inequality and fear of crime. We find both income and inequality have inverse U-shaped relationships with burglary, rationalized as the outcome of elites investing in private security. Our results also suggest that income and inequality interact: when precincts are richer, more inequality leads to more burglary, but when precincts are poorer, more inequality leads to less burglary. We suggest that when areas are already poor and unequal, more inequality could mean the widening of an already insurmountable gap between the ability of elites to protect themselves and the ability of low-income individuals to break and enter.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45662502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the impact of massive refugee inflows on the mobility patterns of host communities. We rely on panel data from before and after the Syrian war and exploit the geographical distribution of Syrians across Jordanian subdistricts. Using difference in differences, we find that native outflows of the camp-hosting areas increased by 27%. This increased residential mobility out of the camp-hosting areas seems to be triggered by an increase in rents and a crowding out of Jordanian students by Syrians in schools. Our results also show that the Syrian presence increased Jordanians’ job location mobility into the camp areas.
{"title":"Syrian Refugees and the Migration Dynamics of Jordanians: Moving In or Moving Out?","authors":"Nelly El-Mallakh, J. Wahba","doi":"10.1086/717281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717281","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the impact of massive refugee inflows on the mobility patterns of host communities. We rely on panel data from before and after the Syrian war and exploit the geographical distribution of Syrians across Jordanian subdistricts. Using difference in differences, we find that native outflows of the camp-hosting areas increased by 27%. This increased residential mobility out of the camp-hosting areas seems to be triggered by an increase in rents and a crowding out of Jordanian students by Syrians in schools. Our results also show that the Syrian presence increased Jordanians’ job location mobility into the camp areas.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48905793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In light of global climate change, the variance of rainfall is projected to increase substantially, affecting every country. In this paper, we examine how exposure to rainfall during the first 1,000 days of life influences women’s long-term human capital accumulation in the context of 28 African countries. Exploiting the exogenous deviations of rainfall from the historical norms, we document a positive relationship between rainfall during the first 1,000 days and women’s educational attainment. The effects mostly come from rainfall variability in agricultural season. There is also suggestive evidence that larger impacts are detected among women from low-income countries and women living in areas with poor market integration.
{"title":"Early-life Rainfall and Long-term Human Capital Accumulation of African Women","authors":"Kien Le, My Nguyen","doi":"10.1086/718188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718188","url":null,"abstract":"In light of global climate change, the variance of rainfall is projected to increase substantially, affecting every country. In this paper, we examine how exposure to rainfall during the first 1,000 days of life influences women’s long-term human capital accumulation in the context of 28 African countries. Exploiting the exogenous deviations of rainfall from the historical norms, we document a positive relationship between rainfall during the first 1,000 days and women’s educational attainment. The effects mostly come from rainfall variability in agricultural season. There is also suggestive evidence that larger impacts are detected among women from low-income countries and women living in areas with poor market integration.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42762732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business-training programs are typically offered for free. Charging a price for training provides potential benefits such as financial sustainability, but little is known about how price affects demand. We conducted two experiments in Jamaica using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism and take-it-or-leave-it offers to estimate the demand for training. Most entrepreneurs have positive willingness to pay for training, but demand falls sharply as price increases. Offering the chance to pay in installments does not increase demand. Higher prices screen out poorer, less educated entrepreneurs who have smaller firms. However, charging a higher price does increase attendance among those who pay. Finally, our paper points to the limitations of using a BDM mechanism in a context of low contract enforcement and when payments for purchasing an intangible service do not occur immediately.
{"title":"Estimating the Demand for Business Training: Evidence from Jamaica","authors":"A. Maffioli, David McKenzie, D. Ubfal","doi":"10.1086/719031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719031","url":null,"abstract":"Business-training programs are typically offered for free. Charging a price for training provides potential benefits such as financial sustainability, but little is known about how price affects demand. We conducted two experiments in Jamaica using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism and take-it-or-leave-it offers to estimate the demand for training. Most entrepreneurs have positive willingness to pay for training, but demand falls sharply as price increases. Offering the chance to pay in installments does not increase demand. Higher prices screen out poorer, less educated entrepreneurs who have smaller firms. However, charging a higher price does increase attendance among those who pay. Finally, our paper points to the limitations of using a BDM mechanism in a context of low contract enforcement and when payments for purchasing an intangible service do not occur immediately.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47353196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Monserrat Bustelo, A. M. Diaz, J. Lafortune, C. Piras, L. M. Salas, José Tessada
We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit women’s revealed preferences regarding job schedule flexibility (flexible scheduling and part-time employment) in a developing country context. We did so with an incentivized methodology for job seekers. On average, women have a high willingness to pay for a flexible schedule within a full-time contract but a much lower desire to trade wages for part-time contracts. The willingness to pay for a flexible work arrangement is largest for more affluent women, while willingness to pay for part-time employment is highest among those with higher time demands.
{"title":"What Is the Price of Freedom? Estimating Women’s Willingness to Pay for Job Schedule Flexibility","authors":"Monserrat Bustelo, A. M. Diaz, J. Lafortune, C. Piras, L. M. Salas, José Tessada","doi":"10.1086/718645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718645","url":null,"abstract":"We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit women’s revealed preferences regarding job schedule flexibility (flexible scheduling and part-time employment) in a developing country context. We did so with an incentivized methodology for job seekers. On average, women have a high willingness to pay for a flexible schedule within a full-time contract but a much lower desire to trade wages for part-time contracts. The willingness to pay for a flexible work arrangement is largest for more affluent women, while willingness to pay for part-time employment is highest among those with higher time demands.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46867261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Croke, María Elena García Mora, Markus Goldstein, E. Mensah, Michael B. O'Sullivan
Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders—many of whom are women—face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. We present evidence from a randomized controlled trial that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points, on average, among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). We assess competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman’s exit, voice, and loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders’ use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border.
{"title":"Up before Dawn: Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the DRC-Rwanda Border","authors":"K. Croke, María Elena García Mora, Markus Goldstein, E. Mensah, Michael B. O'Sullivan","doi":"10.1086/718187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718187","url":null,"abstract":"Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders—many of whom are women—face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. We present evidence from a randomized controlled trial that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points, on average, among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). We assess competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman’s exit, voice, and loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders’ use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45056203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the increasing popularity of private secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the return. In this paper, I estimate a private school learning premium in Tanzania, using administrative exam records for 635,000 students. I compare secondary school students with their primary school classmates who achieved the same primary school exam scores and control for peer effects and unobserved ability. On average, private schools improve exam scores by 0.54 of a standard deviation in 2 years. A regression discontinuity design suggests that the effect is causal, and subject-specific estimates are all positive but higher for mathematics relative to Kiswahili and English.
{"title":"When Private Beats Public: A Flexible Value-Added Model with Tanzanian School Switchers","authors":"Kasper Brandt","doi":"10.1086/718893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718893","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the increasing popularity of private secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the return. In this paper, I estimate a private school learning premium in Tanzania, using administrative exam records for 635,000 students. I compare secondary school students with their primary school classmates who achieved the same primary school exam scores and control for peer effects and unobserved ability. On average, private schools improve exam scores by 0.54 of a standard deviation in 2 years. A regression discontinuity design suggests that the effect is causal, and subject-specific estimates are all positive but higher for mathematics relative to Kiswahili and English.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42168718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Grandparents are an important source of childcare, especially when formal childcare supply is low. In this paper, I explore whether grandmothers’ retirement affects their daughters’ employment when they have young children. I exploit a pension reform in Argentina that induced an arguably exogenous variation in grandmothers’ retirement decisions. I find that mothers of young children coresiding with retirement-eligible grandmothers are significantly more likely to participate in the labor market and to be employed, and the effects are large. Although I find suggestive evidence that the underlying mechanism is an increase in grandmothers’ time availability, I cannot fully rule out an income effect. Also, I find no evidence that the policy affected fertility or household composition.
{"title":"Stay at Home With Grandma, Mom Is Going to Work: The Impact of Grandmothers' Retirement on Mothers' Labor Decisions","authors":"M. Pinto","doi":"10.1086/719161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719161","url":null,"abstract":"Grandparents are an important source of childcare, especially when formal childcare supply is low. In this paper, I explore whether grandmothers’ retirement affects their daughters’ employment when they have young children. I exploit a pension reform in Argentina that induced an arguably exogenous variation in grandmothers’ retirement decisions. I find that mothers of young children coresiding with retirement-eligible grandmothers are significantly more likely to participate in the labor market and to be employed, and the effects are large. Although I find suggestive evidence that the underlying mechanism is an increase in grandmothers’ time availability, I cannot fully rule out an income effect. Also, I find no evidence that the policy affected fertility or household composition.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45823439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
People often underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. We investigate the causes of such overoptimism through a lab-in-the-field experiment with microfinance clients in Bolivia testing the contribution of uncertainty, personality, and financial incentives. Our results are consistent with theories of time-inconsistent beliefs postulating the existence of anticipatory benefits, where the incentives at stake shape optimism. Correlational evidence also suggests that optimists have greater real-life outstanding debt. We propose that time preference models be adjusted to include anticipatory utility and that the role of repayment incentives in shaping overoptimistic expectations of microfinance clients should not be overlooked.
{"title":"The Origins of Optimism: a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment among Microfinance Clients in Bolivia","authors":"F. Cecchi, Elske Voermans, R. Lensink","doi":"10.1086/718237","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718237","url":null,"abstract":"People often underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. We investigate the causes of such overoptimism through a lab-in-the-field experiment with microfinance clients in Bolivia testing the contribution of uncertainty, personality, and financial incentives. Our results are consistent with theories of time-inconsistent beliefs postulating the existence of anticipatory benefits, where the incentives at stake shape optimism. Correlational evidence also suggests that optimists have greater real-life outstanding debt. We propose that time preference models be adjusted to include anticipatory utility and that the role of repayment incentives in shaping overoptimistic expectations of microfinance clients should not be overlooked.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43294592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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