How and why do management practices vary, and can changing them increase output? These questions have been easier for economists to answer for private-sector firms than for the public sector. In this paper, we examine what happens to output following the staggered introduction of new management...[more]

Social comparisons are a popular behavioral nudge to change behavior, partially because raising prices can be politically difficult. In many settings, nudges may interact with prevailing prices, potentially crowding out intrinsic motivation to conserve or by increasing the salience of prices. We...[more]

Remedies to environmental problems often are implemented late and are incomplete. In the American West, water extractions often exceed limits that would ensure environmental and economic wellbeing in the long term, yet solutions remain elusive. A growing source of uncertainty in bringing the...[more]

There are a number of perceived economic and social benefits for farmers, communities and consumers, and this presentation will give a brief overview of what we are learning about the real impacts from local food initiatives. In addition to a high level summary of the emerging research in this...[more]

This paper studies a water market used by irrigated farms inhabiting a connected river network in Australia’s southern Murray-Darling Basin during a period of substantial environmental change (2007–2015). It uses new panel data to estimate shadow values of water for each farm from production...[more]

Recovery scenarios after flooding vary by locality, from permanent declines in economic activity to capital gains. This paper shows that divergent post-flood trajectories at the neighborhood level increased preexisting spatial polarization along property value, racial, and income lines. Using...[more]

In Rwanda, 72 percent of employed youth work for family firms or are self-employed. These outcomes suggest that schools may be failing to develop the skills required to enter formal sector jobs or grow small firms. In response, Rwanda reformed its required upper secondary entrepreneurship course by...[more]