Categories: Economic History
NBER News
- Dust and Death: Evidence from the West African Harmattan -- by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Prashant Bharadwaj, James Fenske, Anant Nyshadham, Richard StanleyUsing two decades of data from twelve low-income countries in West Africa, we show that dust carried by harmattan trade winds increases infant and child mortality. Health investments respond to dust exposure, consistent with compensating behaviors. Despite these efforts, surviving children still exhibit negative health impacts. Our data allow us to investigate differential impacts over […]
- The Altruism Budget: Measuring and Encouraging Charitable Giving -- by Laura K. Gee, Jonathan MeerMuch of the research on charitable giving has concentrated on how to increase monetary donations to a single organization. But do activities that increase donations to one non-profit or through one method come at the expense of others? This chapter examines the state of the literature on the “altruism budget.” We first discuss whether an […]
- Addressing Climate Change through Price and Non-Price Interventions -- by Joseph E. StiglitzRecognizing the importance of the second-best nature of economies, the Stern-Stiglitz report on carbon pricing departed from the recommendation of a single carbon price for all uses at all places and times. This paper provides some of the analytics behind these recommendations. First, I analyze the circumstances in which distributional concerns make desirable a tax […]
- Do Report Cards Predict Future Quality? The Case of Skilled Nursing Facilities -- by Portia Y. Cornell, David C. Grabowski, Edward C. Norton, Momotazur RahmanReport cards on provider performance are intended to improve consumer decision-making and address information gaps in the market for quality. However, inadequate risk adjustment of report-card measures often biases comparisons across providers. We test whether going to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) with a higher star rating affects outcomes for a patient. We exploit variation […]
- How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities -- by Jonas Hjort, Diana Moreira, Gautam Rao, Juan Francisco SantiniThis paper investigates if research findings change political leaders’ beliefs and cause policy change. Collaborating with the National Confederation of Municipalities in Brazil, we work with 2,150 municipalities and the mayors who control their policies. We use experiments to measure mayors’ demand for research information and their response to learning research findings. In one experiment, […]
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