PAC-DEV 2011

University of California, Berkeley

Saturday, March 12, 2011
8:00 am to 5:30 pm

Welcome to the 8th annual Pacific Conference on Development

Economics (PAC-DEV), hosted by the Center of Evaluation for
Global Action (CEGA), at the University of California, Berkeley.
PAC-DEV brings together 150 graduate students, faculty, and prac-
titioners to present on and discuss various issues facing developing
economies today. The event features multiple, concurrent sessions,
each of which consists of three to four presentations of academic pa-
pers centered on a specific theme of development economics re-
search. The plenary session will host keynote speakers discussing
groundbreaking research in conflict and development. PAC-DEV is
presented by the Bay Area Development Association, and is chaired
by faculty from UC Berkeley, Stanford University, UC Davis, UC
Riverside, UC San Diego, University of Southern California, Uni-
versity of San Francisco, St. Mary’s College, Santa Clara University
and San Francisco State University. 
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Breakfast & registration. 8:00AM - 9:00aM  1C. Higher Education and Adult Literacy
Room 100, Blum Hall Room 250, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by John Strauss.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Session I. 9:00AM - 10:00am  “Affirmative Action through Quotas: The Effect on Learning in India,”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Anjini Kochar, Stanford University
1A. Infrastructure: Impacts and Management  “ABC, 123: The Impact of a Mobile Phone Literacy Program on
Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Fred Finan. Educational Outcomes,” Jenny C. Aker, Tufts University
 “Can Disadvantaged Students Catch Up? A New Approach to Disentangle
 “Transport Costs and Economic Geography: Evidence from Indonesia's
Selection and Learning,” Veronica Frisancho-Robles , The Pennsylvania
Highways,” Alexander D. Rothenberg, UC Berkeley
State University
 “Social Capital as an Instrument for Common Pool Resource Management:
 “Credit Constraints for Higher Education,” Alex Solis, UC Berkeley
A Case Study from an Irrigation Management in Sri Lanka,” Takeshi Aida,
The University of Tokyo
1D. Local Economic Shocks and Risk Sharing
 “Does Infrastructure Facilitate Social Capital Accumulation? Evidence from Room 240, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Claus Portner.
Natural and Artefactual Field Experiments in Sri Lanka,” Yasuyuki Sawada,
The University of Tokyo  “The Price Effects of Cash Versus In-Kind Transfers,” Jesse Cunha, Naval
Postgraduate School
 “Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a
Randomized Experiment in Bangladesh”, Alessandro Tarozzi, Duke  “Calling for Help: Long-Distance Risk Sharing Using Mobile Phones in
University Rwanda,” Joshua Evan Blumenstock, UC Berkeley
 “Vulnerability of Household Consumption to Village-level Aggregate
1B. Agriculture and the Environment
Shocks in a Developing Country,” Takashi Kurosaki, Hitotsubashi
Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Jeremy Magruder.
University
 “Keeping the Trees Standing? On the Effectiveness of Avoided ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Deforestation Programs,” Leandro Carvalho, RAND Coffee break: 10:0AM - 10:30am

 “From Forests or Pasture: Dynamics of Deforestation and Development on Room 100, Blum Hall
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

the Amazon Frontier ,” Katrina Mullan, UC Berkeley

Session 2. 10:30AM - 11:30am
 “Access and Learning through Information Networks in Agricultural ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Technology Diffusion: Results from a Partial Population Experiment in

2A. Social Effects in Education
Uganda,” Scott McNiven, UC Davis
Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Karthik Muralidharan.
 “Impact of Rural Road Improvement on High Yield Variety Technology
Adoption: Evidence from Bangladesh,” Rubaba Ali , University of Maryland  “The Effect of Social Programs and Exposure to Professionals on the
Educational Aspirations of the Poor,” Carlos Chiapa, El Colegio de Mexico
and Case Western Reserve University
2A. Social Effects in Education (Continued)
Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Karthik Muralidharan.
 “Peer Effects Under Tracking and Mixing: Evidence from South African
Tertiary Education,” Robert Garlick, University of Michigan
 “Peer Interactions and the Shaping of Social Preferences in Schools in
Delhi,” Gautam Rao, UC Berkeley
2B. Foreign Aid impacts
Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by David Levine.
 “Does International Child Sponsorship Work? A Six-Country Study of
Impacts on Adult Life Outcomes ,” Bruce Wydick, University of San
Francisco
 “An Examination of the Psychological Impacts of Child Sponsorship,” Phillip
Ross, University of San Francisco
 “In Aid We Trust: Hearts and Minds after the Pakistan Earthquake 2005,”
Tahir Andrabi, Pomona College
2C. Health Interventions Over the Lifecycle
Room 250, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Giacomo DeGiorgi.
 “Exploiting Externalities to Estimate the Long-Term Effects of Early
Childhood Deworming,” Owen Ozier, UC Berkeley
 “Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of Child Health Gains,” Edward
Miguel, UC Berkeley
 “Endowments and Early-life Health Investments Within the Household:
Evidence from Iodine Supplementation in Tanzania,” Anant Nyshadham,
Yale University
 “Intergenerational Transmission of Health Among Older Adults: Evidence
from Indonesia,” Younoh Kim, University of Southern California
2D. Explaining Time Preferences
Room 240, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Anjini Kochar.
 “Revising Commitments: Time Preference and Time-Inconsistency in
the Field,” Dan Silverman, University of Michigan
 “Marriage as Saving Commitment Device: Experimental Evidence from
Vietnam,” Hisaki Kono, IDE-JETRO
 “Catastrophes and Preferences: Evidence from the Indian Ocean
Earthquake,” Michael Callen, UC San Diego
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
Plenary Session. 11:30AM - 12:30pm 
Conflict, Economic Development, and the State
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall
 Featuring Tim Besley, London School of Economics and Eli Berman, UC San
Diego; Moderated by Edward Miguel, UC Berkeley
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
Lunch. 12:30PM - 1:30pm
Room 100, Blum Hall
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Session 3. 1:30PM - 2:30pm
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3A. Corruption and Transparency
Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Bruce Wydick.
 “Which Regulations Reduce Corruption? Evidence from the Internal Records
of a Bribe-Paying Firm,” Anh Tran, Indiana University
 “Resource Windfall and Corruption,” Stanislao Maldonado, UC Berkeley
 “Transparent Authoritarianism?: An Analysis of Political and Economic
Barriers to Greater Government Transparency in China,” Peter Lorentzen,
UC Berkeley
3B. Understanding Financial Decisions through Experimental Games
Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Jon Robinson.
 “Informal Insurance, Social Ties, and Financial Development: Evidence from a
Lab Experiment in the Field,” Cynthia Kinnan, Northwestern Economics
 “Does Africa Need a Rotten Kin Theorem? Experimental Evidence from
Village Economies,” Pamela Jakiela, Washington University in St. Louis
 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

3B. Understanding Financial Decisions through Experimental Games

Session 4. 3:00PM - 4:00pm
(Continued) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Jon Robinson.

4A. Fertility and Sex-Selective Abortion
 “Joint-Liability Lending and Asymmetric Information Problems: An Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Jenny Aker.
Experimental Case Study from Bolivia,” Arturo Rodriguez, University of San
Francisco  “Economic Incentives for Sex-Selective Abortion in India,” Daniel
Rosenblum, Dalhousie University
 “Intra-Group Resource Transfer and Composition of Borrowing Groups in
Joint Liability-Based Microcredit: Evidence from Framed Field Experiment in  “Divorce, Abortion and Sex Ratio at Birth: The Effect of the Amended
Bangladesh,” Sugato Chakravarty, Purdue University Divorce Law in China,” Ang Sun, Brown University
 “Discrimination begins in the womb: Evidence of Sex-selective Prenatal
3C. Incentives for Health
Investments,” Leah K. Nelson, UC San Diego
Room 250, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Edward Miguel.
 “Family Planning and Fertility: Estimating Program Effects using Cross-
 “Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment,” Berk Ozler, Sectional Data,” Claus Portner, University of Washington
World Bank
4B. Labor Markets and Job Training
 “Micro-Loans, Bednets and Malaria: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled
Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Aprajit Mahajan.
Trial,” Aprajit Mahajan, Stanford
 “Paying Primary Health Care Centers for Performance in Rwanda,” Paul  “Military Service and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Colonial
Gertler, UC Berkeley Punjab,” Oliver Vanden Eynde, London School of Economics
 “Improved Sales Offers for Improved Cookstoves,” David Levine, UC  “Who Participates in Labor Market Training Programs? Empirical Evidence
Berkeley using Observational and Experimental Data from India,” Subha Mani,
Fordham University
3D. Ethnicity and Inequality
 “Can Minimum Wages Spur Economic Development? Evidence from
Room 240, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Prashant Bharadwaj.
Indonesia,” Jeremy Magruder, UC Berkeley
 “Together or Separate? Post-Conflict Partition, Ethnic Homogenization, 4C. Migration and Urbanization
and the Provision of Public Schooling,” Eik Swee, University of Melbourne Room 250, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Pamela Jakiela.
 “Veterans, Organizational Skill and Ethnic Cleansing: Evidence from the
Partition of India,” Saumitra Jha, Stanford Graduate School of Business  “Immigration and the Informal Labor Market,” Nzinga H. Broussard,
Claremont McKenna College
 “Financial Reforms, Capital-skill Complementarity, and Wage Inequality,”
 “African Cities and the Structural Transformation: Evidence from Ghana
Mauricio Larrain, UC Berkeley
and Ivory Coast,” Remi Jedwab, Paris School of Economics & LSE
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 “Undocumented Migration with Endogenous Coyote Prices,” Timothy

Coffee break. 2:30PM - 3:00pm
Halliday, University of Hawaii
Room 100, Blum Hall
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   “Birth Rates and Border Crossings: Latin American Migration to the US,
Canada, Spain, and the UK,” Craig McIntosh, UC San Diego
4D. Politics and Public Goods  “Ecology, Trade and States in Pre-Colonial Africa,” James Fenske,
Room 240, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Cynthia Kinnan. University of Oxford

 “Politics and Preschool: The Political Economy of Investment in Pre-  “The End of Multi-Fibre Arrangement and Firm Performance in the
Primary Education,” Katrina Kosec, Stanford University Textile industry of Pakistan,” Zara Liaqat, University of Southern
California
 “Neighbor Effects in the Provision of Public Goods in a Young Democracy:
Evidence from China ,” Phil Brown, Colby College  “Trade Liberalization and the Adoption of Energy Efficient Technology
in Indian Manufacturing,” Leslie Martin, UC Berkeley
 “Electoral Incentives and Public Education Spending: Evidence from Brazil,”
Leonardo Bursztyn, UC Los Angeles 5C. Economic Causes and Consequences of Conflict
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
Room 250, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Craig McIntosh.
Coffee break. 4:00PM - 4:30pm
 “Local Economic Conditions and Participation in the Rwandan Genocide,”
Room 100, Blum Hall
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
Willa Friedman, UC Berkeley

Session 5. 4:30PM - 5:30pm  “The Economic Costs of Naxalite Violence and the Economic Benefits of a
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Unique Robust Security Response ,” Saurabh Singhal, University of
Southern California
5A. Girls' Education and Health
Room 100A/100B, Blum Hall. Chaired by Tim Halliday.  “Civil War Destroys the Foundations for Market Development: Evidence
from Tajikistan,” Pauline Grosjean, University of San Francisco
 “Empowering Women: Inheritance Rights and Female Education in India,”
Sanchari Roy, University of Warwick 5D. Innovations in Insurance and Savings
Room 240, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Paul Gertler.
 “International Migration, Spousal Control, and Gender Discrimination in
the Allocation of Household Resources,” Francisca Antman, University of  “Social Networks and Insurance Take-Up: Evidence from a Randomized
Colorado at Boulder Experiment in China,” Jing Cai, UC Berkeley
 “Measuring the Impact of the Education Guarantee Scheme on Schooling  “The Impact of Weather Insurance on Consumption, Investment and
Outcomes for Women in India,” Neha Raykar, University of California, Welfare,” Francesca de Nicola, Johns Hopkins University
Riverside
 “Do Simple Savings Accounts Help the Poor to Save? Evidence from a Field
 “Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Experiment in Nepal ,” Silvia Prina, Case Western Reserve University
Treated Differently?,” Silvia Barcellos, RAND
 “Risk Preferences and Demand for Insurance in Peru: A Field Experiment,”
5B. Trade, FDI and Development Francisco Galarza, Universidad del Pacifico
Room 254, Sutardja Dai Hall. Chaired by Manisha Shah.

 “Expatriates as Leaders of Technology Transfer and FDI: Theory &

Evidence from Mexico,” Estefania Santacreu-Vasut, ESSEC Business
School and THEMA
 biographies
Tim Besley, London School of Economics
Timothy Besley is Kuwait Professor of Economics and
Political Science at the London School of Economics and
Political Science (LSE) where he is also Director of the
Suntory Toyota International Centres for Economics and
Related Disciplines (STICERD). From September 2006
to August 2009, he served as an external member of the
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. He also
serves as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal
Studies and is a program member of the Institutions,
Organizations and Growth Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research (CIFAR). Professor Besley was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School
and Oxford University where he became a prize fellow of All Souls College. He
taught subsequently at Princeton before being appointed Professor at the LSE in
1995. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy, and the
European Economics Association. He is also a foreign honorary member of the
American Economic Association. In 2010 will serve as President of the European
Economic Association. Professor Besley is a past co-editor of the American
Economic Review, and a 2005 winner of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award of the
European Economics Association which is granted every other year to an
economist aged under 45 who has made a significant contribution to economics
in Europe. His research, which mostly has a policy focus, is mainly in the areas of
Development Economics, Public Economics and Political Economy.
Eli Berman, University of California, San Diego
Eli Berman is a professor of economics at UC San Diego,
research director for international security studies at the
UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation,
research associate at the National Bureau of Economic
Research, and a CEGA Faculty Affiliate. His research
interests include economic development and conflict,
the economics of religion, labor economics,
technological change, economic demography, and
applied econometrics. Recent grants supporting his
work have come from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland
Security, and the National Science Foundation. His latest publications are
"Constructive COIN: How Development Can Fight Radicals" (with Joseph
Felter and Jacob Shapiro) in Foreign Affairs (June 2010) and "Do Working Men
Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the
Philippines" (with Joseph Felter, Jacob Shapiro and Michael Callen),
forthcoming. His book Radical, Religious and Violent: The New Economics of
Terrorism was published in 2009 by the MIT Press. Berman received his Ph.D.
in economics from Harvard University.
Edward Miguel, University of California, Berkeley
Edward Miguel is professor of economics and director
of the Center of Evaluation for Global Action at the
University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught
since 2000. Born in New York City and raised in New
Jersey, he earned S.B. degrees in both Economics and
Mathematics from MIT, and received a Ph.D. in
Economics from Harvard University, where he was a
National Science Foundation Fellow. Ted's main
research focus is African economic development,
including work on the economic causes and
consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective
action; and interactions between health, education, and productivity for the
poor. He has conducted field work in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and India.
Ted is a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic
Research, Associate Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of
Development Economics and Review of Economics and Statistics, recipient of
the 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and winner of the 2005 Kenneth J. Arrow
Prize awarded annually by the International Health Economics Association for
the Best Paper in Health Economics.