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Accountability and Inequality in Single-Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China: by Abrami, Regina M.; Malesky, Edmund; Zheng, Yu; Over the past two decades, no two economies have averaged more rapid economic growth than China and Vietnam. But while China's income inequality has risen rapidly over that same time frame, Vietnam's...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: July 2008 More

Outsourcing the Big Stick: The Consequences of Using Private Military Companies: by Petersohn, Ulrich; The outsourcing of military functions is always accompanied by a loss of control over the use of force. Whereas the variances in handling consequences by weak versus strong states have already been...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: June 2008 More

The Political Economy of Agricultural Trade Interventions in Africa: by Bates, Robert H.; Block, Steven; In this chapter, we explore patterns of variation in the content of agricultural policies in Africa. We look at the impact of the government’s need for revenues, the incentives for farmers to...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: May 2008 More

Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering: by Kramer, Martin; Khwaja, Asim; Clingingsmith, David; We estimate the impact on pilgrims of performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Our method compares successful and unsuccessful applicants in a lottery used by Pakistan to allocate Hajj visas. Pilgrim...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: April 2008 More

Earning from History: Financial Markets and the Approach of World Wars: by Ferguson, Niall; We are living through a paradox—or so it seems. Since September 11, 2001, according to a number of neo-conservative commentators, America has been fighting World War III (or IV, if you like to give...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 17, 2008 More

Can Exchange Rates Forecast Commodity Prices?: by Rogoff, Kenneth S.; Rossi, Barbara; Chen, Yu-chin; This paper studies the dynamic relationship between exchange rate fluctuations and world commodity price movements. Taking into account parameter instability, we demonstrate surprisingly robust...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 14, 2008 More

Investment Cycles and Sovereign Debt Overhang: by Gopinath, Gita; Aguiar, Mark; Amador, Manuel; We characterize optimal taxation of foreign capital and optimal sovereign debt policy in a small open economy where the government cannot commit to policy, seeks to insure a risk averse domestic...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 5, 2008 More

Economic Aspects of the Cold War, 1962-1975: by Cooper, Richard N.; US objectives during the Cold War were to prevent Soviet attacks on the United States and its allies and to prevent the spread of communism as a political and economic system to other...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 2008 More

Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Prejudice?: by Pande, Rohini; Beaman, Lori; Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra; Duflo, Esther; Topalova, Petia; Female leadership remains strikingly low in most democracies, and voter preferences are often suggested as a likely explanation. In this paper, we present experimental evidence from India which...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 2008 More

Colonial Land Tenure, Electoral Competition and Public Goods in India: by Iyer, Lakshmi; Banerjee, Abhijit; Social scientists have long emphasized the importance of institutions in nurturing economic growth and development. Douglass C. North defines institutions as the "rules of the game in a...; Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper; Published Date: February 2008 More