SEPTEMBER 2022

The Rise and Fall of Local Elections in China

With Monica Martinez-Bravo, Nancy Qian and Yang Yao. American Economic Review 112(9): 2921-58, September 2022. Online appendix here. (NBER working paper here, CEPR discussion paper here, BREAD working paper here).

JUNE 2021

Doing Business in China: Parental Background and Government Intervention Determine Who owns a Business

With Ruixue Jia and Xiaohuan Lan. Journal of Development Economics 151: 1-12, June 2021. (NBER working paper version here).

NOVEMBER 2019

Crime, Intimidation and Whistle-blowing: a Theory of Inference from Unverifiable Reports

With Sylvain Chassang. Review of Economic Studies 86(6): 2530-2553, November 2019. (NBER working paper version here).

March 2019

Principals, Agents, and Indirect Foreign Policies

With Eli Berman, David A. Lake and Pierre Yared. In Proxy Wars: Suppressing Violence through Local Agents, edited by Eli Berman and David A. Lake. Cornell University Press: 1-27, March 2019.

June 2015

The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya

With Robin Burgess, Remi Jedwab, Ameet Morjaria and Edward Miguel. American Economic Review 105(6): 1817-1851, June 2015. Online appendix here. (CEPR discussion paper version here, NBER working paper version here).

June 2012

Selective Trials: A Principal-Agent approach to Randomized Control Trials

With Sylvain Chassang and Erik Snowberg. American Economic Review 102(4): 1279-1309, June 2012. (CEPR discussion paper version here, NBER working paper version here).

June 2012

A Political Economy Theory of Partial Decentralization

With John W Hatfield. Journal of the European Economic Association 10(3): 605-633, June 2012. (NBER working paper version here).

May 2012

The Political Economy of Indirect Control

With Pierre Yared. Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(2): 947-1015, May 2012. (NBER working paper version here).

January 2012

The Lesser Evil: Executive Accountability with Partisan Supporters

With Erik Snowberg. Journal of Theoretical Politics 24(1): 19-45, January 2012.

July 2011

Foreign Influence and Welfare

With Pol Antràs. Journal of International Economics 84(2): 135-148, July 2011. (NBER working paper version here).

November 2010

Conflict and Deterrence under Strategic Risk

With Sylvain Chassang. Quarterly Journal of Economics 125(4): 1821-1858, November 2010. (NBER working paper version here).

April-May 2010

Savings and Predation

With Sylvain Chassang. Journal of the European Economic Association P&P 8(2-3): 645-654, April-May 2010.

October 2009

Economic Shocks and Civil War

With Sylvain Chassang. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 4(3): 211-228, October 2009.

May 2009

Defensive Weapons and Defensive Alliances

With Sylvain Chassang. American Economic Review P&P 99(2): 282-286, May 2009.

October 2007

The Control of Politicians in Divided Societies: The Politics of Fear

Review of Economic Studies 74(4): 1259-1274, October 2007. (Longer NBER Working Paper version here).

August 2006

Legislative Effectiveness and Legislative Life

With James M Snyder. Legislative Studies Quarterly 31(3): 347-381, August 2006.

Exporting Ideology: the Right and Left of Foreign Influence

With Pol Antràs. NBER working paper 31399.

Competitive Capture of Public Opinion

With Ricardo Alonso. NBER working paper 31414

Social Fragmentation, Public Goods and Elections: Evidence from China

With Nancy Qian and Yang Yao. NBER working paper 18633, CEPR discussion paper 9278.

Making Democracy Work: Formal Institutions and Culture in Rural China

With Nancy Qian, Yiqing Xu and Yang Yao. NBER working paper 21058, CEPR discussion paper 10515.

Mutual Fears and Civil War

With Sylvain Chassang.

Strategic Risk, Civil War, and Intervention

With Sylvain Chassang.

Multitasking, Limited Liability and Political Agency

With John W Hatfield.

The Rise of China and the Natural Resource Curse in Africa

With Erik Meyersson and Nancy Qian.