C.V. Working Papers Publications Editorial Positions Podcast Coverage Blog Coverage Popular Press Teaching International Kids' Movies Dormant Working Papers 6462 Social Sciences 1180 Observatory Dr. Madison, WI 53706	Laura Schechter Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Economics University of Wisconsin, Madison tel: (608) 262-9482 fax: (608) 262-2033 lschechter [at] wisc [dot] edu Curriculum Vitae
	Working Papers "Brokering Votes with Information Spread Via Social Networks," (with R. Duarte, F. Finan, and H.A. Larreguy) 2023. Revision requested by Review of Economic Studies. "Informal Contracts in an Incomplete Market: The Price of Milk in Paraguay," (with G. Shi and M. Suzuki) 2023. Revision requested by Economic Development and Cultural Change. "Imperfect Competition and Sanitation: Evidence from Randomized Auctions in Senegal," (with J.-F. Houde, T. Johnson, and M. Lipscomb) 2022.
	Publications "Spillovers without Social Interactions in Urban Sanitation," (with J. Deutschmann, M. Lipscomb, and S.J. Zhu) 2024. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 16(3): 482-515. Older version here. "Persuading Voters to Punish Corrupt Vote-Buying Candidates: Experimental Evidence from a Large-Scale Radio Campaign in India," (with S. Vasudevan) 2023. Journal of Development Economics, 160. Older version here. VoxDev blog post. "Privatization of Public Goods: Evidence from the Sanitation Sector in Senegal," (with J. Deutschmann, J. Gars, J.-F. Houde, and M. Lipscomb) 2023. Journal of Development Economics, 160. Older version here. VoxDev blog post. "Country of Women? Repercussions of the Triple Alliance War in Paraguay," (with J. Alix-Garcia, F. Valencia Caicedo, and S.J. Zhu) 2022. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 202: 131-167. Older version here. VoxEU blog post. "Information Technology and Government Decentralization: Experimental Evidence from Paraguay," (with E. Dal Bó, F. Finan, and N.Y. Li) 2021. Econometrica, 89(2): 677-701. Older version here. J-PAL policy summary. VoxDev blog post. "Structural Experimentation to Distinguish between Models of Risk Sharing with Frictions in Rural Paraguay," (with E. Ligon) 2020. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 69(1): 1-50. Older version here. "Externalities and Spillovers from Sanitation and Waste Management in Urban and Rural Neighborhoods," (with E. P. Kresch and M. Lipscomb) 2020. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 42(3): 395-420. Older version here. "Subsidies versus Mental Accounting Nudges: Harnessing Mobile Payment Systems to Improve Sanitation," (with M. Lipscomb) 2018. Journal of Development Economics, 135: 235-254. Older version here. VoxDev blog post. J-PAL policy summary. "Receptiveness to Advice, Cognitive Ability, and Technology Adoption," (with B.L. Barham, J.-P. Chavas, and D. Fitz) 2018. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 149: 239-268. Older version here. "Stability of Social, Risk, and Time Preferences Over Multiple Years," (with Y. Chuang) 2015. Journal of Development Economics, 117: 151-170. Older version here. "Social Networks in Developing Countries," (with Y. Chuang) 2015. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 7: 451-472. Older version here. "Risk, Learning, and Technology Adoption," (with B. L. Barham, J.-P. Chavas, D. Fitz, and V. Ríos-Salas) 2015. Agricultural Economics, 46(1): 11-24. Older version here. "The Roles of Risk and Ambiguity in Technology Adoption," (with B. L. Barham, J.-P. Chavas, D. Fitz, and V. Ríos-Salas) 2014. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 97: 204-218. Older version here. "Vote-Buying and Reciprocity," (with F. Finan) 2012. Econometrica, Older version here Why Nations Fail blog post Chris Blattman blog post Mark Bellemare blog post Urbanomics blog post "Motives for Sharing in Social Networks," (with E. Ligon) 2012. Journal of Development Economics, 99(1): 13-26. Older version here. "Inequality, Reciprocity, and Credit in Social Networks," (with A. Yuskavage) 2012. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Papers & Proceedings, Older version here. "The Apple and Your Eye: Visual and Taste Rank-Ordered Probit Analysis with Correlated Errors," 2010. Food Quality and Preference, 21(1): 112-120. Older version here. "Detecting Problems in Survey Data using Benford's Law," (with G. Judge) 2009. Journal of Human Resources, 44(1): 1-24. Older version here. John Morrow created a utility to test your own data using Benford's Law. How the Econometric Sausage is Made blog post World Bank blog post "To Deceive or Not To Deceive: The Effect of Deception on Behavior in Future Laboratory Experiments," (with J. Jamison and D. Karlan) 2008. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 68(3-4): 477-488. "Theft, Gift-Giving, and Trustworthiness: Honesty is Its Own Reward in Rural Paraguay," 2007. American Economic Review, 97(5): 1560-1582. Older version here. "Risk Aversion and Expected-Utility Theory: A Calibration Exercise," 2007. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 35(1): 67-76. Older version here. "An Empirical Non-Parametric Likelihood Family of Data-Based Benford-Like Distributions," (with M. Grendar and G. Judge) 2007. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 380: 429-438. Older version here. "Traditional Trust Measurement and the Risk Confound: An Experiment in Rural Paraguay," 2007. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 62(2): 272-292. Older version here. "Measuring Vulnerability," (with E. Ligon) 2003. Economic Journal, 113(486): 95-102. Older version here. Longer, unpublished version "Measuring Vulnerability: The Director's Cut," (with E. Ligon) 2002. UN/WIDER Discussion Paper No. 2002/86. Stata code to estimate vulnerability. Editorial Positions Current 2017 - 2026: Economic Journal - Associate Editor. Previous 2017 - 2022: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization - Co-Editor. 2016 - 2019: American Journal of Agricultural Economics - Associate Editor. 2011 - 2016: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization - Associate Editor. 2011 - 2015: Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy - Editorial Board. Podcast Coverage "The Poop Cartel," July 25, 2018. Planet Money, Episode 855. Blog Coverage VoxEU: "Sex Ratios and Conflict: Evidence from Paraguay," 2022. VoxDev "The Impact of Privatising the Management of a Sanitation Utility: Evidence from Senegal," 2022. How the (Econometric) Sausage is Made: "Pick a Number," 2020. VoxDev: "Using Mobile Money to Improve Access to Sanitation Services in Dakar," 2018. VoxDev: "Decentralisation under Changing State Capacity: Experimental Evidence from Paraguay," 2018. World Bank: "Checking Survey Quality with Benford's Law," 2014. Why Nations Fail: "Good Culture? On Vote Buying and Reciprocity," 2012. Chris Blattman: "Nice Guys Get Their Votes Bought," 2012. Stéphane Straub: "Elecciones en Paraguay: Compra y Traslado de Votos," 2012. Marc F. Bellemare: "Vote Buying and Reciprocity," 2011. Anti-Corruption Research Network: "Vote-Buying and Reciprocity," 2011. Urbanomics: "Studies on Vote Buying and Salaries of Legislators," 2009. Write-ups in the (Not So) Popular Press "Senegal's Innovations in Sanitation Offer the World a Way Forward," March 1, 2017. allAfrica. "Senegal Turns to Sewage in Bid to Meet Renewable Goals," October 23, 2015. Reuters. "'We want to turn poo into gold': how SMS is transforming Senegal's sanitation," August 12, 2015. The Guardian. "Desludging Dakar," 2015. On Wisconsin Magazine, Spring. "Figuring the Net Worth of Trust," 2007. Grow: Wisconsin's Magazine for the Life Sciences, 1(1): 27. "Young Guns: 5 Hot Minds in Economics," 2006. Yale Economic Review, 3(1): 30-37. "To Deceive or not to Deceive? The Economic Consequences of Deception," 2006. Yale Economic Review, 3(1): 3. Work in Progress "Using Market Mechanisms to Improve Sanitation: Lessons from the Implementation of an Auction Platform in Senegal," with J. Deutschmann, J. Gars, S. Griffith, J.-F. Houde, T. Johnson, M. Lipscomb, M. Mbeguere, S. Nehrling, and S.J. Zhu. Teaching at UW Madison AAE 374: The Growth and Development of Nations in the Global Economy, Fall 2005, 2006. AAE 462: Latin American Economic Development, Spring 2006, 2008, 2009, 2023. AAE 474: Economic Problems of Developing Areas, Fall 2008, Spring 2013, 2016. AAE 730: Graduate Economic Development, Fall 2006, Spring 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024. AAE 780: Graduate Research Colloquium, Spring 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024. Teaching at Yale Econ 479: Social Networks in Development Economics, Fall 2014. Teaching at MSU EC 412: Economic Analysis of Latin America, Fall 2010. EC 850: Growth, Development, and Human Resources, Fall 2010. International Movies for Kids Movie List Dormant Working Papers "Reciprocated Versus Unreciprocated Sharing in Social Networks," (with A. Yuskavage) 2011. "Evaluating Different Approaches to Estimating Vulnerability," (with E. Ligon) 2004. World Bank, Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0410.