The design credit and risk institutions in low-income countries provides one of the most
exciting testing grounds for theories of contracting with imperfect information and limited …

This chapter reviews the literature identifying the different roles that family and kinship
networks play in sharing risk. After a brief overview of efficient risk sharing, we discuss the …

We provide an explanation for the large spatial wage disparities and low male migration in
India based on the trade-off between consumption smoothing, provided by caste-based rural …

We explore the impact of reduced transaction costs on risk sharing by estimating the effects
of a mobile money innovation on consumption. In our panel sample, adoption of the …

When effort is observable to peers, students may try to avoid social penalties by conforming
to prevailing norms. To test this hypothesis, we first consider a natural experiment that …

A landmark textbook on development economics The study of development in low-income
countries is attracting more attention around the world than ever before. Yet until now there …

The substantially revised fourth edition of a widely used text, offering both an introduction to
recursive methods and advanced material, mixing tools and sample applications. Recursive …

Using detailed data on gifts, loans, and asset sales, this paper investigates how rural Filipino
households deal with income and expenditure shocks. We find that shocks have a strong …

We survey the theoretical and empirical literature on peer effects in education. Theoretical
models of peer effects are first summarized. Models of educational provision regimes in …

We study resource allocation within households in Côte d'Ivoire. In Côte d'Ivoire, as in much
of Africa, husbands and wives farm separate plots, and there is some specialization by …