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This dissertation is a collection of three independent essays in empirical development economics using data from China. In the first two chapters, I examine the determinants of choices within the household. In the first ...

The first essay provides evidence that banks are liquidity constrained and hold private information about borrowers that hinders substitution of financing sources. Using loan level data from a public credit bureau and ...

This thesis is a collection of three empirical essays on the economics of local public goods. Chapter One examines the marginal propensity of local governments to spend out of lump- sum grant income. Economic theory predicts ...

This thesis is a collection of three empirical essays on the effect of profit incentives on innovation and technology adoption. Chapter 1, written with Daron Acemoglu, investigates the effect of (potential) market size on ...

This dissertation consists of three essays on dictatorships. The first two study the economic impact of power struggles in dictatorships. They focus on one mechanism used by dictators to remain in power, shuffling, where ...

The first chapter attempts to shed light on the role of housing price dynamics in mobility decisions, asking whether households respond to prices in a forward- or backward-looking manner, and the extent to which high ...

In Chapter 1, I propose a model in which consumers base their purchasing decisions upon their recollections of the product quality, and in which firms can use persuasive advertising in order to change these recollections. ...

In 1991, a reform was passed changing the rules for social security for rural workers in Brazil. The reform consisted of a reduction in the minimum eligibility age for old-age benefits, an extension of benefit eligibility ...

The first chapter presents a model of legal interpretation in a hierarchical court. Using a two-level court in which judges have spatial preferences over doctrine, the model examines how appeals, panels, and other structural ...

This dissertation consists of three essays on the effects of intellectual property rights protection on market structure and social welfare in the Indian pharamaceutical industry. In contrast to pharmaceutical industries ...