Publications 

1. Information and Behavior: Evidence from Fertilizer Quantity Recommendations in Bangladesh
   (with Mahnaz Islam and Khandker Wahed Rahman) (accepted Journal of Development Economics)
2. Engaging Teachers with Technology Increased Achievement, Bypassing Teachers Did Not 2022. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, May 2022; 14(2)(with Adrienne Lucas ) 
3. Digitization and Development: Property Rights Security, and Land and Labor Markets (Journal of European Economic Association February 2022; 20(1))
4. Facilitating Real-Time Cost Collection and Evaluating Cost-Effectiveness in a Multi-Armed Study with Government Partners in Ghana (with Shahana Hijri, Bethany Park, Edward Tsinigo, Adrienne Lucas and Anne Fitzpatrick), (Journal of Development Effectiveness. January 2022)
5. Health Knowledge and Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa (with Anne E. Fitzpatrick, Laura C. Derksen, Anne Karing, Jason T. Kerwin, Adrienne Lucas, Natalia Ordaz Reynoso & Munir Squires, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization October 2021; 190.
6. Gender Bias in Performance Assessments: Evidence from Teachers (with Anne Fitzpatrick and Adrienne Lucas.) American Economic Association, Papers and Proceedings. 111, 190-95, May 2021
7. `Rule-of-Thumb’ Instructions to Improve Fertilizer Management? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh (with Mahnaz Islam). Economic Development and Cultural Change , 70 (1), October 2021.
8. Tenancy and clientelism. 2021. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 186, 201-226.
9. Favoritism and Flooding: Clientelism and Allocation of Irrigation Water. 2019. World Development 114, 175-195. 

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Working Papers and Works in Progress

1. “Managing to Learn” (with Anne Fitzpatrick and Adrienne Lucas)

 

2. “The Curse of good Soil” (with Mesay Gebresilasse, Piero Stanig and Leonard Wantchekon) 

Abstract: Using a global poverty map and standard soil productivity measures, we find that the poorest districts in Africa are more likely to have better (not worse) soil quality. Our results are robust to a battery of controls and alternative measures of poverty and soil quality. We test the role of road infrastructure in the poverty-soil relationship by using an IV strategy that exploits least cost paths connecting cities to instrument for actual roads. Our results indicate that transportation costs are the main drivers of poverty in Africa and that isolation might turn soil quality into a curse. More specifically, in districts with poor road infrastructure, the poverty rate increases as soil quality gets better. We find that these results could be attributed to relatively low human capital investment in isolated districts with abundant agricultural resources.

3. Intended and un-intended consequences of a de Factor Inheritance Reform (with Erica Field, Jeremy Lebow and Kate Vyborny)

Abstract: De jure reforms to improve women’s legal rights are often not enforced in practice. In this study, we examine the effects of a land records reform in Punjab, Pakistan on de facto land rights of females, who are legally entitled to a share of parental land. This reform digitized and centralized land records and created a biometric verification requirement intended to limit females’ exclusion from the inheritance process. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the reform across Punjab as well as the quasi-random timing of father/husband deaths, we find that it significantly increased the probability of female inheritance from 13% to 22%. However, we also find evidence of unintended consequences for younger women: they marry earlier and without consenting to their choice of spouse, marry lower quality spouses, are more likely to have children by their early twenties, and are more likely to drop out of school if they have large, expected increases in inheritance. These responses may be due to intrahousehold resource reallocation away from daughters in response to a forced inheritance transfer. The unintended marriage effects could also be driven by female land inheritance being used as a substitute for more liquid forms of dowry, as well as attempts to keep land in the family, either by marrying daughters off younger to exclude them from family negotiations or through consanguineous marriages.

 

4. “From Remedial to Grade Level: Secondary School Readiness Program in Odisha, India”  (with Anne Fitzpatrick, Adrienne Lucas, Jason Kerwin, and Khandker Wahed Rahman). 

Abstract: An inherent tension in public sectors exists between allowing flexibility at the point-of-service to adapt to local stakeholder needs versus harmonization to ensure uniform service delivery Through a 300 school RCT in Odisha, India, we compare a rigid vs. flexible model of increasing student learning through remedial learning relative to a control group. Both interventions increased students test scores 0.11SD, about 60 percent of a year of learning, with gains throughout the learning distribution. Despite concerns that allowing teachers flexibility to adjust their lessons would lead to shirking and ineffective teaching practices, we find no evidence that the quality of implementation was affected by the flexibility: teaching practices improved symmetrically by 0.3 standard deviations in both arms. Remedial education is an effective use of class time, did not crowd out grade level mastery, and allowing teachers flexibility to adjust lessons to student needs may be beneficial.

5. “Another chance for Adolescent Females: Out of school program in Pakistan” (with Anne Fitzpatrick and Adrienne Lucas). 

Other Working Papers 

Conflict Events, Absenteeism and Learning Outcomes in Schools

Seasonal Dropping-Out: using novel data to study attendance and enrollment in response to shocks. [Abstract]

Consumer Confidence in Conflict Prone Regions (with Hassan Abbass and Ali Choudhary)

Inflation Expectations in a Developing Country Setting (with Hassan Abbas and Ali Choudhary)

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