Malaria is a major public health problem in Africa. Traditional methods of controlling malaria no longer provide adequate protection against transmission, and future approaches likely require a combination of technical solutions and behavioral change. We use a cluster randomized controlled trial to study the impacts of an intervention that combines house screening with a behavioral intervention based on health messaging. While house screening provides modest positive benefits, these benefits can be leveraged if it is combined with health messaging. We provide tentative evidence that the impact of messaging varies with the design of the choice architecture: loss-framed health messages seem to do better than gain-based messages––our data suggest they may have larger and more durable effects on behavior and health outcomes.
{"title":"A tale of framing and screening: How health messaging and house screening affect malaria transmission in Ethiopia","authors":"Solomon Balew , Erwin Bulte , Zewdu Abro , Abebe Asale , Clifford Mutero , Menale Kassie","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103407","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103407","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Malaria is a major public health problem in Africa. Traditional methods of controlling malaria no longer provide adequate protection against transmission, and future approaches likely require a combination of technical solutions and behavioral change. We use a cluster randomized controlled trial to study the impacts of an intervention that combines house screening with a behavioral intervention based on health messaging. While house screening provides modest positive benefits, these benefits can be leveraged if it is combined with health messaging. We provide tentative evidence that the impact of messaging varies with the design of the choice architecture: loss-framed health messages seem to do better than gain-based messages––our data suggest they may have larger and more durable effects on behavior and health outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103407"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103402
Lina Meng , Pengfei Liu , Yinggang Zhou , Yingdan Mei
We quantitatively assess the impacts of onshore wind turbines on bird diversity using citizen science data in China. Results show that a one-standard-deviation increase in wind turbines reduces bird abundance by 9.75% and leads to a 12.2% reduction in bird species richness at the county level. The negative impacts are more significant in migrant birds, birds in forests, urban and farmlands than others. Biodiversity protection helps to safeguard bird abundance against wind turbines. We also find that habitat loss rather than food chain change after the wind turbine installations contributes to biodiversity loss. The net impact of wind turbines on the environment is positive when considering the carbon reduction effects.
{"title":"Blaming the wind? The impact of wind turbine on bird biodiversity","authors":"Lina Meng , Pengfei Liu , Yinggang Zhou , Yingdan Mei","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103402","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103402","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We quantitatively assess the impacts of onshore wind turbines on bird diversity using citizen science data in China. Results show that a one-standard-deviation increase in wind turbines reduces bird abundance by 9.75% and leads to a 12.2% reduction in bird species richness at the county level. The negative impacts are more significant in migrant birds, birds in forests, urban and farmlands than others. Biodiversity protection helps to safeguard bird abundance against wind turbines. We also find that habitat loss rather than food chain change after the wind turbine installations contributes to biodiversity loss. The net impact of wind turbines on the environment is positive when considering the carbon reduction effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103402"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103395
Diether W. Beuermann , Bridget Hoffmann , Marco Stampini , David L. Vargas , Diego Vera-Cossio
A key challenge for policymakers in low- and middle-income countries is to design a method to select beneficiaries of social programs when income is unobservable and volatile. We use a unique panel dataset of a random sample of households in Colombia’s social registry that contains information before, during, and after the 2020 economic crisis to evaluate a traditional static proxy-means test (PMT) and three policy-relevant alternatives. We consider targeting metrics and social welfare under different curvatures of governments’ social welfare function, aggregate economic environments, and budgetary and political constraints. Updating the PMT data does not improve social welfare relative to the static PMT. Relaxing the eligibility threshold reduces the exclusion error, increases the inclusion error, and increases social welfare. A dynamic method that uses data on shocks to estimate a variable component of income reduces exclusion errors and limits the expansion in coverage, increasing social welfare during the economic crisis.
{"title":"Shooting a moving target: Evaluating targeting tools for social programs when income fluctuates","authors":"Diether W. Beuermann , Bridget Hoffmann , Marco Stampini , David L. Vargas , Diego Vera-Cossio","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103395","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103395","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A key challenge for policymakers in low- and middle-income countries is to design a method to select beneficiaries of social programs when income is unobservable and volatile. We use a unique panel dataset of a random sample of households in Colombia’s social registry that contains information before, during, and after the 2020 economic crisis to evaluate a traditional static proxy-means test (PMT) and three policy-relevant alternatives. We consider targeting metrics and social welfare under different curvatures of governments’ social welfare function, aggregate economic environments, and budgetary and political constraints. Updating the PMT data does not improve social welfare relative to the static PMT. Relaxing the eligibility threshold reduces the exclusion error, increases the inclusion error, and increases social welfare. A dynamic method that uses data on shocks to estimate a variable component of income reduces exclusion errors and limits the expansion in coverage, increasing social welfare during the economic crisis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103395"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103398
Christopher Hoy
This paper examines how the progressivity of taxes and government transfers impacts tax morale through a randomized survey experiment with over 30,000 respondents across eight developing countries. Respondents increased (decreased) their tax morale when they received accurate information that taxes in their country are progressive (not progressive). These effects were predominantly driven by respondents in cases where the information they received was counter to their prior beliefs and/or consistent with their preferences. These results suggest changes in policies that increase (decrease) the progressivity of tax systems may also lead to increases (decreases) in tax compliance.
{"title":"How does progressivity impact tax morale? Experimental evidence across developing countries","authors":"Christopher Hoy","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103398","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103398","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines how the progressivity of taxes and government transfers impacts tax morale through a randomized survey experiment with over 30,000 respondents across eight developing countries. Respondents increased (decreased) their tax morale when they received accurate information that taxes in their country are progressive (not progressive). These effects were predominantly driven by respondents in cases where the information they received was counter to their prior beliefs and/or consistent with their preferences. These results suggest changes in policies that increase (decrease) the progressivity of tax systems may also lead to increases (decreases) in tax compliance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103398"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explores how forced migration affects ethnic diversity and conflict in 23 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016. Using UNHCR data on refugee camp locations, we predict changes in local ethnic diversity. By integrating Afrobarometer and Ethnic Power Relations-Ethnicity of Refugees datasets, we analyse the link between refugee-induced diversity and conflict occurrence. Findings indicate that refugee-induced polarization increases the risk of local violence, while fractionalization has a mitigating effect. Notably, the number of refugees does not impact the likelihood of conflict; instead, alterations in ethnic diversity, especially polarization, emerge as the primary driver of conflict.
{"title":"Ethnic diversity and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from refugee-hosting areas","authors":"Luisito Bertinelli , Rana Cömertpay , Jean-François Maystadt","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103393","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103393","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how forced migration affects ethnic diversity and conflict in 23 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016. Using UNHCR data on refugee camp locations, we predict changes in local ethnic diversity. By integrating Afrobarometer and Ethnic Power Relations-Ethnicity of Refugees datasets, we analyse the link between refugee-induced diversity and conflict occurrence. Findings indicate that refugee-induced polarization increases the risk of local violence, while fractionalization has a mitigating effect. Notably, the number of refugees does not impact the likelihood of conflict; instead, alterations in ethnic diversity, especially polarization, emerge as the primary driver of conflict.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103393"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142593698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-24DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103394
Amina Ebrahim , Jukka Pirttilä
This paper uses survey and tax administrative data to analyse the effects of a sizeable employer-borne payroll tax credit for young, low-wage workers in South Africa. We find fairly limited impacts of the wage subsidy on the employment of young, low-wage workers relative to two comparison groups: slightly older, low-wage workers and slightly higher-paid, young workers. We find evidence of increases in low-wage youth entry into employment, but these are too small to affect overall employment. However, the female employment rate has increased, and unemployment among women has dropped because of the policy. We find evidence to suggest that the policy has led to a rise in earnings, particularly for men and those earning around the maximum subsidy value.
{"title":"A policy for the jobless youth in South Africa","authors":"Amina Ebrahim , Jukka Pirttilä","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103394","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper uses survey and tax administrative data to analyse the effects of a sizeable employer-borne payroll tax credit for young, low-wage workers in South Africa. We find fairly limited impacts of the wage subsidy on the employment of young, low-wage workers relative to two comparison groups: slightly older, low-wage workers and slightly higher-paid, young workers. We find evidence of increases in low-wage youth entry into employment, but these are too small to affect overall employment. However, the female employment rate has increased, and unemployment among women has dropped because of the policy. We find evidence to suggest that the policy has led to a rise in earnings, particularly for men and those earning around the maximum subsidy value.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103394"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142572354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-24DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103390
Naijia Guo , Wei Huang , Ruixin Wang
Using variations in the timing of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) across rural Chinese counties, we examine its effects on eldercare mode, child investment, and son preference. Our findings are three-fold: (1) After the introduction of NRPS, married sons are less likely to live with and provide care for their parents, while married daughters show no significant change in their caregiving behavior; (2) Parents reduce the brideprice for their sons but not the dowry for their daughters; (3) The sex ratio at birth becomes more balanced, indicating a reduction in son preference. These results suggest that public pension programs can significantly influence traditional family dynamics, including eldercare modes and cultural norms around gender preference.
{"title":"Public pensions and family dynamics: Eldercare, child investment, and son preference in rural China","authors":"Naijia Guo , Wei Huang , Ruixin Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103390","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103390","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using variations in the timing of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) across rural Chinese counties, we examine its effects on eldercare mode, child investment, and son preference. Our findings are three-fold: (1) After the introduction of NRPS, married sons are less likely to live with and provide care for their parents, while married daughters show no significant change in their caregiving behavior; (2) Parents reduce the brideprice for their sons but not the dowry for their daughters; (3) The sex ratio at birth becomes more balanced, indicating a reduction in son preference. These results suggest that public pension programs can significantly influence traditional family dynamics, including eldercare modes and cultural norms around gender preference.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103390"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103391
Kevin Zhengcheng Liu , Xiaoming Zhang
Public organizations are often characterized by rigid rules and procedures. Can discretion in personnel decisions improve governance performance? This paper investigates how discretion in internal appointments affects the functioning of public organizations. We study an organizational reform in China’s imperial bureaucracy that modified the appointments of certain governorships from a rule-based process to a more discretionary method. We find that discretionary appointments improved public goods provision and led to greater state responsiveness. We provide evidence consistent with better selection: (1) discretion increased observable officer quality measured by experiences and civil exam qualifications; (2) exploiting the quasi-random rotations of governors to prefectures, we show that governors having previously been selected by discretion performed better. Evidence also suggests that the incentive effect is another mechanism. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that the benefit of discretion depends on the incentive alignment of decision-makers with the organization.
{"title":"Discretion, talent allocation, and governance performance: Evidence from China’s imperial bureaucracy","authors":"Kevin Zhengcheng Liu , Xiaoming Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103391","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103391","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public organizations are often characterized by rigid rules and procedures. Can discretion in personnel decisions improve governance performance? This paper investigates how discretion in internal appointments affects the functioning of public organizations. We study an organizational reform in China’s imperial bureaucracy that modified the appointments of certain governorships from a rule-based process to a more discretionary method. We find that discretionary appointments improved public goods provision and led to greater state responsiveness. We provide evidence consistent with better selection: (1) discretion increased observable officer quality measured by experiences and civil exam qualifications; (2) exploiting the quasi-random rotations of governors to prefectures, we show that governors having previously been selected by discretion performed better. Evidence also suggests that the incentive effect is another mechanism. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that the benefit of discretion depends on the incentive alignment of decision-makers with the organization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103391"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142535239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-18DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103389
Leah K. Lakdawala , Diana Martínez Heredia , Diego Vera-Cossio
One out of two working children worldwide works in hazardous conditions. We study the effects of a law that introduced benefits and protections for child workers and temporarily lowered the de facto legal working age from 14 to 10 in Bolivia. We employ a difference-in-discontinuity approach that exploits the variation in the law’s application to different age groups. Work decreased for children under 14, whose work was newly legalized and regulated under the law, particularly in areas with a higher threat of inspections. The effects disappear after the law is reversed. We do not find evidence of improvements in work safety. Thus, the effects do not appear to be driven by increased hiring costs to ensure worker safety. Instead, the effects appear to be driven by a reduction in the most visible forms of child work, suggesting that firms and parents (households) may have reduced employment of young children to minimize the risk of being subject to legal and social sanctions.
{"title":"The effects of expanding worker rights to children","authors":"Leah K. Lakdawala , Diana Martínez Heredia , Diego Vera-Cossio","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103389","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103389","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>One out of two working children worldwide works in hazardous conditions. We study the effects of a law that introduced benefits and protections for child workers and temporarily lowered the de facto legal working age from 14 to 10 in Bolivia. We employ a difference-in-discontinuity approach that exploits the variation in the law’s application to different age groups. Work decreased for children under 14, whose work was newly legalized and regulated under the law, particularly in areas with a higher threat of inspections. The effects disappear after the law is reversed. We do not find evidence of improvements in work safety. Thus, the effects do not appear to be driven by increased hiring costs to ensure worker safety. Instead, the effects appear to be driven by a reduction in the most visible forms of child work, suggesting that firms and parents (households) may have reduced employment of young children to minimize the risk of being subject to legal and social sanctions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103389"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142535240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-18DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103386
Sutirtha Sinha Roy , Roy van der Weide
The last expenditure survey released by India’s National Sample Survey organization dates back to 2011, which underpins the last official estimates of poverty and inequality. This paper adopts a new approach to estimate India’s poverty and inequality trajectory since 2011 using a newly available household panel survey conducted by the private sector. The results suggest that (1) extreme poverty is estimated to be lower in 2019 than in 2011, with greater poverty reductions likely in rural areas, and (2) coinciding with the demonetization event, urban poverty likely rose in 2016. The results should not be interpreted as definite proof. While the estimated trends in poverty sit well with a range of corroborative evidence, significant uncertainty remains stemming from sampling and non-sampling errors associated with the private-sector survey.
{"title":"Estimating poverty for India after 2011 using private-sector survey data","authors":"Sutirtha Sinha Roy , Roy van der Weide","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103386","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The last expenditure survey released by India’s National Sample Survey organization dates back to 2011, which underpins the last official estimates of poverty and inequality. This paper adopts a new approach to estimate India’s poverty and inequality trajectory since 2011 using a newly available household panel survey conducted by the private sector. The results suggest that (1) extreme poverty is estimated to be lower in 2019 than in 2011, with greater poverty reductions likely in rural areas, and (2) coinciding with the demonetization event, urban poverty likely rose in 2016. The results should not be interpreted as definite proof. While the estimated trends in poverty sit well with a range of corroborative evidence, significant uncertainty remains stemming from sampling and non-sampling errors associated with the private-sector survey.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103386"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142662771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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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