Corrupt government hiring is common in developing countries. This paper uses original data to document the operation and consequences of corrupt a health bureaucracy. Hires pay bribes averaging 17 months salary, but contrary conventional wisdom, their observable quality comparable counterfactual merit-based hires. Exploiting variation across jobs, I show that allocations depend on correlation b...

The Supply of Child Labour The paper develops a theoretical framework, and a diagrammatic apparatus, for explaining the supply of child labour. It examines the effect of credit, insurance, and poverty (defined as more than just low income). It also explains bonded child labour, a modern form of slavery closely associated with the worst forms of child exploitation. The analysis is positive, but ...

This paper examines whether receipt of an RSA grant has a causal impact on plant TFP. To tackle the problem of self-selection into the treatment group, propensity score matching is employed. In order to control for the endogeneity of other variables in the model, estimations are performed using the system GMM estimator. The results show that for low technology manufacturing, receipt of an RSA g...

Creativity and the Family Tree: Human Capital Endowments and the Propensity of Entrepreneurs to Patent In this paper we show that the patenting behavior of creative entrepreneurs is correlated with the patenting behavior of their fathers, which we refer to as a source of the entrepreneurs’ human capital endowments. Our argument for this relationship follows from established theories of developm...

This paper uses panel and retrospective life history data from an important new data source the British Household Panel Survey to establish some stylised facts about the unemployment experiences of men. In particular we investigate the proportion of the sample who suffer from repeated unemployment spells, the origin and destination states of unemployment spells, some reasons for entering unempl...

Drawing on the author’s work, this lecture presents evidence on U.S. income and wealth inequality. It presents series for top income and wealth shares, and the distribution of economic growth by income groups. It discusses the mechanisms behind the evolution of U.S. income and wealth inequality from historical and comparative perspectives. It analyzes the role of public policy and in particular...

We show that children who are born at or just before the weekend less likely to be breastfed, owing poorer breastfeeding support services in hospitals weekends. use this variation estimate effect of on children's development first seven years life, for a sample births low-educated mothers. find large effects cognitive but no health noncognitive during period childhood we consider. Regarding mec...

Goldin (2014) offers a narrative in which gender differences home production responsibilities create gaps labor market outcomes. We carry out model-based quantitative assessment of this and find that it can account for significant share occupational choice, wages, hours. Our analysis emphasizes the significance two key elements not highlighted by Goldin: heterogeneity comparative advantage mult...

We study the geographic incidence and efficiency of an income tax by estimating a spatial equilibrium model with heterogeneous workers. The US shifts households out high-productivity cities, leading to locational inefficiency 0.25 percent output. Removing distortions increases inequality because more educated are mobile own larger shares land. Flattening schedule, or introducing cost-of-living ...

We measure the effects of firm policies on racial pay differences in Brazil. Non-Whites are less likely to be hired by high-wage firms, explaining about 20 percent wage gap for both genders. Firm-specific premiums non-Whites also compressed relative Whites, contributing another 5 that gap. A counterfactual analysis reveals two-thirds underrepresentation at higher-wage firms is explained race-ne...