Tokyo Workshop on International Development　2015

Workshop: "Incentives, Preferences, and Management in Developing and Developed Countries"

April 9, 2015 （Thursday）　※場所にご注意下さい。

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップ 、ミクロ経済学ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科棟　６階 大会議室
Meeting Room on the 6th floor of the Economics Research Building [Map]

 

9:55-10:00 Opening Remark by Yasuyuki Sawada

Session 1: Management Performance (Chaired by Yasuyuki Sawada)
10:00-11:00 Oriana Bandiera (London School of Economics)
"Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work" (joint with Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun)

11:00-11:50 Tsutomu Miyagawa (Gakusyuin University)
"Is Productivity Growth Correlated with Improvements in Management Quality?  An empirical study using interview surveys in Korea and Japan (joint with Keun Lee, Kazuma Edamura, Young Gak Kim, Hosung Jung)

11:50-12:50 Lunch

Session 2: Incentives and Preferences (Chair Hideshi Itoh)
12:50-13:40 Albert Park (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
"Promotion Incentives in the Public Sector: Evidence from Chinese Schools" (Joint with Naureen Karachiwalla)

10 min. break

13:50-14:40 Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)
"Incentives and Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from a Seemingly Inefficient Traditional Labor Contract" (joint with Jun Goto,Takeshi Aida, and Keitaro Aoyagi)

14:40-15:30 Hideo Owan (The University of Tokyo)
"Monetary Incentives for Corporate Inventors: Intrinsic Motivation, Project Selection and Inventive Performance (joint with Sadao Nagaoka and Koichiro Onishi)

30 min. Break

Session 3: Public service delivery (Chaired by Hideo Owan)
16:00-16:50 Andrew Griffen (The University of Tokyo)
"Election, Implementation, and Social Capital in School-Based Management: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of COGES Project in Burkina Faso" (joint with Yasuyuki Sawada, Takeshi Aida, Eiji Kozuka, Haruko Noguchi, and Yasuyuki Todo)

16:50-17:50  Imran Rasul (University College London)
"Management of Bureaucrats and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service" (joint with Daniel Rogger)

 

May 29, 2015 (Friday) 12:10-13:10

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Yuhei Miyauchi (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Interest Rate Cap, Relationship Lending and Bank Competition in Bangladesh

I study the short-term and long-term impact of the interest rate cap on loans for large and medium enterprises introduced in 2009 and lifted in 2011 and 2012 in Bangladesh. Using the branch-level variation of pre-regulation interest rates and loans for consumer goods as a placebo, I find that the introduction of the interest rate cap significantly increased the aggregate outstanding amount, though the removal of the cap had a minor negative impact. This persistence of the policy is consistent with a model of relationship banking, where banks with market power face borrowers with unknown types over multiple periods. In such an environment, banks "under-experiment" borrowers by setting high interest rates, and the lending rate cap "forces" banks to experiment more borrowers. This predicts that banks have information about more borrowers ex-post, hence the credit supply and the per-period profit increases after the cap is lifted. Overall, the results show that there is a distortion in the banking market in Bangladesh due to under-experimentation and insufficient competition, and the lending rate cap was effective in resolving it.

Workshop on Natural Disasters: "What Can We Learn from Natural Disasters? Empirical Investigations"

June 11, 2015 （Thursday）　

※　ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

 

9:15-9:45 Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)
                   "How Does a Natural Disaster Change People's Preference? Evidence from the Convex Time Budget Experiments in Japan and the Philippines" (joint with Yusuke Kuroishi)

9:45-10:15 Hitoshi Shigeoka (Simon Fraser University)
                   "Do Risk Preferences Change? Evidence from Panel Data Before and After the Great East Japan Earthquake" (joint with Chie Hanaoka and Yasutora Watanabe)
                   
10:15-10:45 Naoki Kondo (The University of Tokyo)
                   "Building Community Social Capital after Disasters: Evidence from Great East-Japan Earthquake"

15 min. break

11:00-11:30 Keiko Iwasaki (The University of Tokyo)
                   "Determinants of Mental Health after Natural-Technological Disaster: Evidence from Fukushima Evacuees" (joint with Yasuyuki Sawada and Daniel Aldrich)

11:30-12:00 Christian Dimmer (The University of Tokyo)
                   "Pluralising Place-Making Practices, Emerging Place Governance, and Empowerment in Post-Tsunami Ishinomaki"

12:00-12:30 Masahiro Shoji (Seijo University)
                    "Peer Effects in Employment Status: Evidence from Housing Lotteries for Forced Evacuees in Fukushima" (joint with Ayako Kondo)

12:30-13:00 Keynote Speech by Daniel Aldrich (Purdue University)

 

July 13, 2015 (Monday) 12:10-13:10　

※　ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of th

e Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Menno P. Pradhan　（VU University and University of Amsterdam）

Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on the Impact of an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase on Student Performance in Indonesia (Joint with Joppe de Ree, Karthik Muralidharan, and Halsey Rogers)

How does a large unconditional increase in salary affect employee performance in the public sector? We present the first experimental evidence on this question to date in the context of a unique policy change in Indonesia that led to a permanent doubling of base teacher salaries. Using a large-scale randomized experiment across a representative sample of Indonesian schools that affected more than 3,000 teachers and 80,000 students, we find that the doubling of pay significantly improved teacher satisfaction with their income, reduced the incidence of teachers holding outside jobs (and the hours worked on them), and reduced self-reported financial stress. Nevertheless, after two and three years, the doubling in pay led to no improvements in measures of teacher effort or student learning outcomes, suggesting that the salary increase was mostly a transfer to teachers with no discernible impact on student outcomes. While higher salaries may increase teacher quality on the extensive margin in the long-run, we find no evidence of meaningful positive impacts of teacher salary increases on student learning from intensive margin increases in teacher effectiveness as predicted by gift-exchange, and efficiency wage models of employee behavior.

July 17, 2015 (Friday) 14:00-15:00, 15:00-16:00

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

※日時・会場にご注意下さい。

東京大学大学院経済学研究科棟3階 第3教室
in Lecture Hall No. 3 on the 3rd floor of the Economics Research Building [Map]

※会場は「経済学研究科棟」になります。

1) 14:00-15:00 Yi Lu (the National University of Singapore)

Do Place-Based Policies Work? Micro-Level Evidence from China's Economic Zones Program [PDF]

2) 15:00-16:00 Menghan Shen (Columbia University)

Intergenerational Effect of Political Influence

 

1) This paper examines the impact of a prominent place-based program in China – the Economic Zones program on economic activity of the targeted areas. To do so, we exploit two geo-coded comprehensive waves of Chinese …firm censuses, which allow the construction of a panel dataset for areas before and after the zone establishment. By pairing areas across zone boundaries, we …find that, …first, the economic zones have a positive effect on the employment, output and capital of the targeted area. The program has also increased the number of fi…rms located in the zones. Second, the extensive margin (…firm births and deaths) plays a larger role in explaining the SEZ effect than the intensive margin (incumbents). Finally, the zones’effectiveness depends on program features. Across sectors, for fi…rms in more capital-intensive sectors, the zones exhibit larger positive impacts on fi…rm performance than those in more labor- intensive sectors. Meanwhile, location characteristics such as market potential and transportation accessibility are not critical factors in enhancing the program effects.

2) This paper considers the effect of fathers’ political influence on offspring’s labor market outcomes. Political influence refers to the ability to convert political power into economic benefits. The empirical strategy identifies the dissolution of political influence by exploiting an age-based mandatory retirement rule in China. I present a difference-in-difference approach that exploits the variation of political influence in three dimensions: bureaucrat status, retirement status instrumented by retirement policy, and offspring gender. Using cross-section data from China Household Income Survey, I find the retirement of a bureaucrat translates into a decrease in offspring’s income of 13 percent. In addition, I find the effect of bureaucrat retirement on labor market is larger when there’s more scope for political influence.

Special Workshop　　

Poor Economics" in Tokyo: Frontiers of Development Economics

August 3, 2015 (Monday) 13:30-17:40

※ ミクロ実証分析ワークショップ と共催

定員に達したため、応募を打ち切らせて頂きました。

* Registration has been closed since there is no more place available.

 

東京大学大学院経済学研究科棟6階大会議室
in Meeting Room on the 6th floor of the Economics Research Building [Map]

*会場は経済学研究科棟です。
Venue is in the Economics Research Building.

 

 

13:30-14:00 Abu Shonchoy (Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO)
"Does DVD-based Distance Learning Program Enable Rural Students to Enter University? An RCT Experiment in Bangladesh"

14:00-14:30 Yasuyuki Sawada (University of Tokyo) "Election, Implementation, and Social Capital in School-Based Management: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of COGES Project in Burkina Faso"

14:30-15:00 Jun Goto (Hitotsubashi University)
"Incentives and Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from a Seemingly Inefficient Traditional Labor Contract"

15:00-15:30 Minhaj Mahmud (BRAC University)
"Infrastructure and Well-being: Employment Effects of Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh"

15:30-15:40 Break

Keynote lectures

15:40-16:40 Abhijit Banerjee (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
"Information is Power: Identification Cards and Food Subsidy Programs in Indonesia"

16:40-17:40 Esther Duflo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
"Can E-Governance Reduce Capture of Public Programs? Experimental Evidence from a Financial Reform of India's Employment Guarantee"

 

September 14, 2015 (Monday) 12:10-13:10　

※ ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Tomomi Tanaka　（World Bank）

Trait perceptions influence economic out-group bias: Lab and field evidence from Vietnam (joint with Colin F. Camerer) [PDF]

Group favoritism is typically directed toward in-group members and against out-group members, but these cross-group effects often vary. Little is known about why group effects on economic choices vary. We use a survey method developed in social psychology to measure stereotyped attitudes of one group toward another. These attitudes are then associated with prosociality in five experimental games (also using an unusual amount of individual-level sociodemographic control). We present evidence from an artificial field experiment of a majority group with high status (Vietnamese) exhibiting no disfavoritism toward a lower-status out-group (Khmer) and typical disfavoritism to a second out-group (Chinese). Both Vietnamese and Chinese groups see the Khmer as warm but incompetent, attitudes which seem to activate empathy rather than contempt. The results suggest that measuring between-group stereotype attitudes can be used to predict the sign of cross-group favoritism in other natural settings.

September 14, 2015 (Monday) 14:30-15:30　

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Rie Muraoka　（National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies）

The Possibility of a Maize Green Revolution in the Highlands of Kenya:　An Assessment of an Emerging Intensive Farming System (joint with Tomoya Matsumoto, Songqing Jin and Keijiro Otsuka) [PDF]

This study aims to explore the determinants of the new maize farming system, which is characterized by adoption of high-yielding maize varieties, application of chemical fertilizer and manure produced by stall-fed improved dairy cows, and intercropping, especially the combination of maize and legumes, and its impact on land productivity and household income. We examine not only the impacts of new technologies and production practices but also the impacts of the entire new maize farming system by generating an agricultural intensification index based on a principal component analysis. Our estimation results show that an increase in sub-location level population density and a decrease in the land-labor ratio of an individual household accelerate farming intensification, and that adoption of each new technology and production practice has positive and significant impacts on land productivity. These findings are further supported by the significantly positive impacts of the agriculture intensification index on land productivity.

October 5, 2015 (Monday) 16:40-18:00　

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Kei Kajisa　（Aoyama Gakuin University）

Changes in rice farming in the Philippines: Insights from five decades of the Central Luzon Loop Survey

The Central Luzon Loop Survey, started by IRRI in 1966 on the eve of the Green Revolution, is perhaps the longest continuous survey in rice farming and of rice farm families in existence. The dataset is suitable for documenting long-term structural changes and drawing lessons for the future. Topics covered by this seminar will include the (1) lack of successors and aging of farm families, (2) progress of mechanization and outsourcing, (3) history of varietal adoption, (4) emerging problems under climate changes, and (5) changes in the beneficiaries of the Green Revolution.

November 9, 2015 (Monday) 1) 15:00-16:20, 2) 16:30-17:50　

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

1) 15:00-16:20 Tien Manh Vu （Osaka University）

The rise and fall of multinational enterprises in Vietnam: survival analysis using census data during 2000-2011 (joint with Hiroyuki Yamada and Tsunehiro Otsuki)

2) 16:30-17:50 Yukichi Mano (Hitotsubashi University)

Changing saving and investment behavior: the impacts of financial literacy training and reminders on micro and small businesses (joint with Girum Abebe and Biruk Tekle)

1) Using census data from 2000–2011, we examined the survival of multinational enterprises (MNEs) located in Vietnam using Cox hazard models with time–variant covariates. Beside enterprises’ characteristics and performance, we found that the firm characteristics, structure of the ownership and nationalities of the foreign partners are associated with the probability of exiting, which suggests that a joint–venture between a foreign partner and a domestic non–state owned enterprise is more likely to exit than other types of MNEs. Also, a firm with a greater capital share owned by foreign partners was found to survive longer. Furthermore, time cost due to bureaucratic procedures and inspections, among indicators of local government performance, was associated with a greater probability of MNEs exiting.

2) In developing countries saving is an important financial tool particularly for micro-business, with limited credit access. But micro-entrepreneurs often under-save even when they have surplus and desire to save, maybe because of knowledge gap and behavioral biases. We employ an experimental approach relaxing these saving constraints to explore the effects of providing financial literacy training and reminders to micro-entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. While the financial literacy treatment seems less effective, the reminder significantly increases the saving to income ratio by 53.7% (or 0.19 standard deviation) and the percentage of business proceeds reinvested back to business by 89.7% (or 0.51 standard deviation) .

Workshop on “Institutions, Preferences and Economic Development”

December 14, 2015 （Monday）　※場所にご注意下さい。

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第1セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

SNU 2015 Project “Building a Foundation for National Unification”

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップと共催

 

9:00-9:10 Registration

9:10-9:15 Opening Remarks (Byung-Yeon Kim (Seoul National University))

9:15-10:00 Robert Veszteg (Waseda University)
                    "Peer Punishment Does Not Eliminate Free-Riding in Social Dilemmas in Japan"

10:10-10:55 Jiahua Che (Fudan University)
                   "A Three-Person Game of Institutional Resilience versus Transition"
                
11:05-11:50 Syngjoo Choi (Seoul National University)
                   "Institutions, Competition Aversion, and Underconfidence: Experimental Evidence from North Korean Refugees"
                

12:00-13:30 Lunch

13:30-14:15 Tatsuyoshi Saijo (Hitotsubashi University)
                   "Future Design"

14:25-15:10 Harounan Kazianga (Oklahoma State University)
                   "Cash Transfers and Child Schooling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of the Role of Conditionality"

15:20-15:50 Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)
                   "How Does a Natural Disaster Change People’s Preference? Evidence from the Convex Time Budget Experiments in Japan and the Philippines"

15:50-16:05 Tomohiro Hara (The University of Tokyo)
                   "Information from Media and Pro-Social Behavior toward Minority: Evidence from Laboratory Experiment with Korean in Japan "

16:15-17:00 Daniel Aldrich (Northeastern University)
                    "Social Capital’s Role in Reducing Mortality and Speeding Recovery"

 

2015-16 9th Asian Conference on Applied Micro-Economics/Econometrics

January 9 (Saturday), 9:00-17:15 , January 10 (Sunday), 9:30-17:00, 2016

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第2セミナー室
in Seminar Room 2 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map] 　

※日時・場所にご注意下さい。

[Detailed Information (PDF File)]

Risk and Well-Being under Changing Global Societ y Project, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S), The University of Tokyo

Center for Research on Contemporary Economic Systems, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University
一橋大学「現代経済システム研究センター」

A New Step in the Development of Suicide Pr evention Policy by Interdisciplinary Approach with An International Scope funded by Japan ese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Project Number H26-Seishin-Ippan-003 (2014-2016)), Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップ

 

Day 1) January 9 (Saturday) , 2016

Opening Remarks
9:00-9:05

Session 1: Labor I
9:05-11:20

Chair: Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)

1. Jinyoung Kim (Korea University)
   “Research Teamwork in Technology Race”

2. Yoonsoo Park (Korea Development Institute)
    ”Employment protection and long-term employment relationship”

3. Daiji Kawaguchi (Hitotsubashi University)
    “Estimating the causal impact of alcohol consumption on earnings using genotype as the instrumental variable”

Session 2: Ability, Morbidity and Mortality
11:30-12:15

Chair: Daiji Kawaguchi (Hitotsubashi University)

1. Hitoshi Shigeoka (Simon Fraser University)
    “Evaluating the ‘Least Restrictive Environment’ Mandate:
    The Effects of Mainstreaming on Cognitive and Noncognitive Development”

12:15-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:00

2. Kamhon Kan (Academia Sinica)
    “The Impact of Schooling on Morbidity”

3. Tetsuya Matsubayashi (Osaka University) and Michiko Ueda (Syracuse University)
    “Relative Age in School and Suicide among Young Individuals in Japan:
    A Regression Discontinuity Approach”

Session 3: Labor II
15:15-17:30

Chair: Jinyoung Kim (Korea University)

1. Andrew Sim (The University of Tokyo)
    “Schooling Investment in Frictional Labor Markets”

2. Carl Sanders (Washington University in St.Louis)
    “The Dimensionality of Worker Skills”

3. Drew Griffen (The University of Tokyo)
    “Evaluating the Effects of Child Care Policies on Children's Cognitive Development and Maternal Labor Supply”

Day 2) January 10 (Sunday) 2016

Session 4: Political Economy
9:30-11:45

Chair: Jungmin Lee (Sogang University)

1. Eric Weese (Yale University)
    “Coalition structures of insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan”

2. Gordon B. Dahl (University of California San Diego)
    “Do Politicians Change Public Attitudes?”

3. Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)
    “Election, Implementation, and Social Capital in School-Based Management: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of COGES Project in Burkina Faso”

Session 5: Competition, Discrimination, and Segregation
11:45-12:30

Chair: Kamhon Kan (Academia Sinica)

1. Yi Lu (National University of Singapore)
    “Does Competitive Experience Affect Gender Difference in Economic Preference and Academic Performance?”

12:30-13:30    Lunch

13:30-15:00

2. Jungmin Lee (Sogang University)
    “Ripped Off? Price Discrimination against Foreign Shoppers: Evidence from a Field Experiment at a Shopping Mall”

3. Menghan (Mandy) Shen (Columbia University)
    “The　Intergenerational Effect of School Desegregation”

Session 6: Econometric Theory and Applications
15:15-17:30

Chair: Yasuyuki Sawada (The University of Tokyo)

1. Arthur Lewbel (Boston College)
   “Unobserved Preference Heterogeneity in Demand Using Generalized Random Coefficients”

2. Hidehiko Ichimura (The University of Tokyo)
    “The Influence Function of Semiparametric Estimators”

3. Myoung Jae Lee (Korea University)
    “Regression discontinuity with integer running variables” 

 

January 15, 2016 (Friday) 8:30-10:00

※日時に注意

ミクロ実証分析ワークショップ 、ミクロ経済学ワークショップと共催

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Mari Tanaka 　（Stanford University）

Exporting Sweatshops? Evidence from Myanmar [PDF]

There is a long-standing debate over the impact of global trade on workers and firms in developing countries. In this paper I investigate the causal effect of exporting on working conditions and firm performance in Myanmar. This analysis draws on a new survey I conducted on Myanmar manufacturing firms from 2013 to 2015. I use the rapid opening of Myanmar to foreign trade after 2011 alongside firm product, geographic and industry variations to obtain causal estimates of the impact of trade. I find that exporting has large positive impacts on working conditions in terms of improved fire safety, health-care, union recognition, and wages. My results also indicate that exporting increases firm sales, employment, management practice scores, and the likelihood of receiving a labor audit.

February 15, 2015 (Monday) 13:00-14:30, 14:40-16:20

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

 

1) 13:00-14:30 Mohammad Abdul Malek (BRAC)

How does shock matter for credit intervention? Evidences from a field experiment with a specialized micro-credit programme for tenant farmers in Bangladesh

2) 14:40-16:20 Seung-Gyu (Andrew) Sim (The University of Tokyo)

A Quantitative Study on Endogenous Formation of Comparative Advantage in South Korea (joint with Dongwoo Yoo)

 

1)

2) This paper incorporates search friction and human capital accumulation into an international trade framework to analyze the endogenous formation of comparative advantage induced by long-term employment relationship. The calibrated model demonstrates that the long-term employment relationship, by enhancing human capital accumulation and facilitating physical capital formation, has contributed to South Korea's rapid 'export-oriented industrialization.' The counterfactual experiment reports that aggregate output in 2013 would have been reduced by 25 percent and 10 percent, if South Korea had stayed as an autarky economy or pursued a protective trade policy, respectively. Further counterfactual experiments find that had a typical worker's job duration been 2.3 years from 1960s to 2010s, roughly one forth the actual average job duration, output in 2013 would have been reduced by roughly 43 percent. Also, South Korea might have exported primary products, not secondary products with even shorter job duration or less efficient learning-by-doing.

February 22, 2016 (Monay) 15:00-16:40

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Tomoki Fujii (Singapore Management University)

Impact of Rural Electrification on Children's Nutrition Status in Bangladesh

We study the impact of electrification in the nutrition status of children under five in rural Bangladesh. Using four rounds Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data at individual level, adoption of electricity is found to positively affect children's nutritional status as measured by their height-for-age z-score, the results are robust after controlling for variables that are proxy of the household wealth status. The results are further supported by pseudo-panel analysis using two sets of synthetic data after taking the location specific effect and mother cohort specific effect into consideration. Our estimation results show that access to electricity helps improve the height-for-age of children by around 0.2 standard deviation. Another way to address the potential endogeneity problem is to use the indicators for quality of electricity service delivery and infrastructure development as instrumental variables for electrification status at household level. The positive and significant effect still holds with instrumental variable approach. We also discuss about the possible channels to achieve such an impact.

March 11, 2016 (Friday) 12:10-13:15

東京大学大学院経済学研究科 学術交流棟 （小島ホール）１階 第１セミナー室
in Seminar Room 1 on the 1st floor of the Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall) [Map]

Mushfiq A. Mobarak (Yale University)

"Does Development Aid Undermine Political Accountability? Leader and Constituent Responses to a Large-Scale Intervention" (joint with Raymond Guiteras) [paper]

We study political economy responses to a large scale intervention in Bangladesh, where four sub-districts consisting of 100 villages (12,000 households) were randomly assigned to control, information or subsidy treatments to encourage investments in improved sanitation. In theory, leaders may endogenously respond to large interventions by changing their allocation of effort, and their constituents’ views about the leader may rationally change as a result. In one intervention where the leaders’ role in program allocation was not clear to constituents, constituents appear to attribute credit to their local leader for a randomly assigned program. However, when subsidy assignment is clearly and transparently random, the lottery winners do not attribute any extra credit to the politician relative to lottery losers. The theory can rationalize these observations if we model leaders’ actions and constituent reactions under imperfect information about leader ability. A third intervention returns to program villages to inform a subset of subsidy recipients that the program was run by NGOs using external funds. This eliminates the excess credit that leaders received from treated households after the first intervention. These results suggest that while politicians may try to take credit for development programs, it is not easy for them do so. Political accountability is not easily undermined by development aid.

R. Guiteras, J. Levinsohn and A. M. Mobarak, “Encouraging Sanitation Investment in the Developing World: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial,” Science 348 (6237): 903-906.[paper]