Historically, improvements in municipal water quality led to substantial mortality decline today’s wealthy countries. However, disinfection has not consistently produced large benefits lower-income We study this issue by analyzing a large-scale program Mexico that increased chlorination coverage urban areas from 58 percent over 90 within 18 months. estimate the reduced childhood diarrheal disea...

This paper documents an increasing intergenerational income persistence in China since economic reforms were introduced 1979. The elasticity increases from 0.390 for the 1970–1980 birth cohort to 0.442 1981–1988 cohort; this increase is more evident among urban and coastal residents than rural inland residents. We also explore how changes correlated with market reforms, development, policy chan...

This paper estimates the impact of first nationwide e-commerce expansion program on rural households. To do so, we combine a randomized control trial with new survey and administrative microdata. In contrast to existing case studies, find little evidence for income gains producers workers. Instead, are driven by reduction in cost living minority households that tend be younger, richer, more rem...

This paper investigates the interrelationship between urbanization, structural transformation, and post-2000 Chinese housing boom through lens of a dynamic spatial equilibrium model that features migration rich market structure with mortgages. Urbanization transformation emerge as key drivers China's house price boom, while at same time rising prices impede these forces economic transition. Pol...

Regional Economic Growth and Human Capital: The Role of Overeducation The paper analyses the link between human capital and regional economic growth in the European Union. Using various indicators of human capital calculated from census microdata, we conclude that the recent economic performance of European regions is associated with an increase in overeducation. In fact, measures of educationa...

This paper examines whether the average level of human capital in a region affects the earnings of an individual residing in that region in a manner that is external to the individual’s own human capital. I find little evidence of an external effect of human capital, which suggests that human capital spillovers of the form postulated by the new growth literature are unlikely to matter much in p...

We use a policy experiment in Indonesia to show how local political boundaries affect ethnic tension. Redrawing district borders along group lines reduces conflict. However, the gains stability are undone or even reversed when new increase polarization. Greater polarization leads more violence around majoritarian elections but has little effect lower-stakes, proportional representation election...

Can targeting information to network-central farmers induce more adoption of a new agricultural technology? By combining social network data and field experiment in 200 villages Malawi, we find that central is important spur the diffusion process. We also provide evidence one explanation for why centrality matters: process governed by complex contagion. Our results are consistent with model whi...

Industrial agglomeration policies may limit competition. We develop, validate, and apply a novel approach for measuring competition based on the comovement of markups market shares among firms in same location industry. Then we develop model how this reduction affects aggregate income. our to well-known special economic zones (SEZs) China. estimate that SEZs exhibit cooperative pricing almost t...

We study the impact of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT ) for individuals selected from general population poor households in rural Ghana (N = 7,227). Results one to three months after program show strong impacts on mental and perceived physical health, socioemotional skills, economic self-perceptions. These effects hold regardless baseline distress. argue that this is because CBT ...