natural experiment

Do judges favour defendants like themselves? Evidence from Indian courts

Analysis of over five million criminal cases in India finds no in-group bias in acquittal decisions based on shared religion, gender, or caste – contrasting with patterns documented in other countries.

Institutions & Political Economy

Elliott Ash Sam Asher Aditi Bhowmick Sandeep Bhupatiraju Daniel Li Chen Tanaya Devi Christoph Goessmann Paul Novosad Bilal Siddiqi

Published

09.09.25

Bridging the digital divide in global trade

Digital connectivity boosts export participation in developed countries by lowering trade costs for a wide range of firms, but in developing regions it disproportionately benefits only the most productive exporters, forcing smaller firms out of globa...

Trade

Joël Cariolle Jaime De Melo Michele Imbruno

Published

28.08.25

Bank lending during a non-financial recession: Lessons from COVID-19 in Mexico

Bank credit can support firms during recessions in contexts where banks are sufficiently capitalised to lend. However, whether bank lending amplifies or mitigates a downturn – depends not only on banks’ fundamentals, but also on changes to their risk...

Finance

Alex Rivadeneira Rodolfo Oviedo Brenda Samaniego de la Parra

Published

26.08.25

Examples from development economics for your introduction to econometrics course

Economists employ a wide range of econometric methods when conducting research. Here are some examples of how these techniques are used to generate interesting and useful policy insights in development economics.

Oliver Hanney Emaan Siddique

Published

Thu, 17/07/2025 - 12:00

Breadwinner’s burden: How financial relief improved sleep and cognition in Indonesia

Cash transfers improve sleep quality for household heads but not other family members, revealing how financial pressures burden those responsible for providing.

Social Protection

Claire Duquennois Maulik Jagnani

Published

30.07.25

How remote work can broaden recruitment and boost productivity

Using detailed data from a major call centre in Turkey, we find that a permanent shift to fully remote work boosts recruitment and productivity without harming service quality. Not only did this increase the share of female and small-town workers, bu...

Labour Markets

Cevat Giray Aksoy Nicholas Bloom Steven Davis Victoria Marino Cem Özgüzel

Published

23.07.25

No representation without reservation: The long-term limits of gender quotas in India

New research finds that exposure to 15+ years of women’s quotas in rural local elections does not boost women’s representation when quotas are lifted.

Institutions & Political Economy

Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra Gaurav Sood

Published

02.07.25

Rolling back Progresa: What happened when Mexico’s landmark cash transfer programme ended?

The sudden rollback of Mexico’s landmark conditional cash transfer programme—Prospera, formerly Progresa—affected boys’ educational outcomes disproportionately, offering lessons for policy retrenchment worldwide.

Education

Fernanda Marquez-Padilla Susan W. Parker Tom Vogl

Published

29.04.25

Industrial resilience to climate disasters: Evidence from Ecuador

Evidence from Ecuador suggests that natural disasters have important but short-lived impacts on production and market conditions in developing countries that vary depending on firm differences in efficiency. From a development perspective, frequent s...

Energy & Environment

Maria Bas

Published

26.03.25