Join Riccardo as he talks to Nathan Nunn about his paper “Zero‑Sum Environments, the Evolution of Effort‑Suppressing Beliefs, and Economic Development.” They explore how Nathan’s idea‑generation process has evolved over the years, the value of reading beyond economics, and the challenges and rewards of bringing insights from other disciplines into economic research. Nathan also offers a behind‑the‑scenes perspective on what it’s like to break new ground in economics and how that shapes both the questions we ask and the way we measure them. Finally, he shares insights from his role as an editor at the Quarterly Journal of Economics, sharing tips about the publication process.
Here is a link to the working paper, coauthored with Augustin Bergeron, Jean-Paul Carvalho, Joseph Henrich, & Jonathan L. Weigel: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31663
Riccardo talks to Raúl Sánchez de la Sierra about the backstory of his paper “Moral Violence: Unbundling Social Preferences at the Heart of a Major Armed Group in Congo” (with Louis Dunia and Hilary Yu). This episode uncovers a unique journey that takes us back ten years, when Raúl was forging the connections and friendships that gave him access to the inner circles of Congolese armed groups. What makes this episode special is that we not only see how Raúl’s research developed and how he approaches projects many would consider too risky, but we also get a glimpse of Raúl as a person and what he values in both academia and his work. Enjoy!
Here is a link to the working paper: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ng1vm6vgg1twu5kwa9q92/4.-Moral-Violence.pdf?rlkey=0c25yxzi097u691g62bcc2ytl&e=1&dl=0
In this episdode, Maddison interviews Natalie Bau, Professor of Economics at UCLA, about the backstory behind her paper, "The Long-Term Effects of School Quality in a Low-Income Country: Evidence From 15 Years of Data" with Jishnu Das and Catherine Michaud-Leclerc. Natalie discusses how she and her coauthors conduct a unique panel survey in Pakistan, so that they can carefully study long-run effects of primary schooling. Natalie also shares advice about working on joint projects with faculty, connecting with coauthors, balancing time and risk between projects, and developing a research agenda.
In this episode, Aakash speaks with David McKenzie about how he identifies research problems across his various agendas. David also discusses the differences between working as a researcher at the World Bank versus in academia, and shares the private and external benefits of creating public goods. Tune in to learn more!
In this episode, Aakash speaks to Francis Annan (UC Berkeley) about his paper titled "Randomized Entry", exploring how the entry of financial services firms impacts local economies. Francis shares the backstory of his collaboration with key industry stakeholders, his innovative approach to measuring economic outcomes, and insights on working with firms in challenging contexts.
The working paper can be found here: https://www.nber.org/papers/w33134
In this episode Santiago talks with Gani Aldashev, professor of Economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, about the backstory of his paper, "Relationships in the Wild: How Institutions Affect the Governance of Firms", that discusses how the “best practices” for firm governance vary according to the strength of political institutions [Working paper = https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7k1j3z5p8qfiq803lxeri/Aldashev-Rantakari-Zanarone-Dec-24.pdf?rlkey=4wvs9qeorvdk2djd8pybeqiwa&e=1&dl=0].
Gani shares how the idea came from both reflecting on firms’ performance in his own context growing up as well as noting how two different literatures had built up without talking to each other: firm governance theories that abstract from political institutions and political economy models that ignore the role of firms.
Gani also shares with us some advice on how to start building a model. Here is a list of articles he finds useful for junior researchers on starting to work on a model and building a research agenda:
Hal Varian: How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time on JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/25604102
Paul Krugman: how to be a crazy economist in Foundations of research in economics : how do economists do economics? https://archive.org/details/foundationsofres0000unse_s4e8/page/n9/mode/2up
David M. Kreps: Introduction (First chapter) Game Theory and Economic Modelling https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qMoTDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=kreps+economics&ots=odo3ZepfLt&sig=c8n4--DGhTDoL6cM0x7qINXwYSw#v=onepage&q=kreps%20economics&f=false
Join Riccardo as he talks to Kelsey Jack, Associate Professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, about the backstory of her paper, "Dodging Day Zero: Drought, Adaptation, and Inequality in Cape Town," which she coauthored with Alexander Abajian, Cassandra Cole, Kyle C. Meng, and Martine Visser.
The working paper can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dbtb0k1v9ausmqhcipbry/day_zero-submitted-version.pdf?rlkey=lgdq1ng1kvvs32dhq7phrzlmy&e=2&dl=0
In this episode, Santiago sits down with Gedeon Lim, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Hong Kong, to explore his research on migration, ethnic diversity, and nation-building. They delve into his paper "Ethnic Proximity and Politics: Evidence from Colonial Resettlement in Malaysia", which examines the long-term political impacts of a British colonial resettlement program in Malaysia. Gedeon shares the personal and professional journey behind this study, highlighting how historical events shape contemporary voting behavior. The discussion also covers the challenges of archival research, the importance of fieldwork, and the nuances of conducting research in one's native region.
This project is co-authored with Chun Chee Kok. You can find the Working Paper here: https://gedeon89.github.io/gedeonlim.com/mypolitics-KL.pdf?dl=0
Join Maddison as she speaks with Gaurav Khanna, Associate Professor of Economics at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. In this episode, Gaurav discusses his paper, “The IT Boom and Other Unintended Consequences of Chasing the American Dream,” coauthored with Nicolas Morales. Gaurav shares the backstory behind this paper, which started when he was in grad school. In this episode, we also learn how Gaurav and his coauthor integrate micro and macro methods in this paper, and his advice to grad students working on similar types of projects.
In this episode, Michela Giorcelli, Associate Professor of Economics at UCLA, discusses her paper, “The Effects of Business School Education on Manager Career Outcomes,” with Maddison. Tune in to learn about the development of this paper and the story behind how Michela collected unique historical data for this project and several of her other projects.
Steven Brownstone, a job market candidate at UC San Diego, discusses his job market paper, “Labor Market Effects of Agricultural Mechanization: Experimental Evidence from India” with Maddison. Steven shares the insights he gained through developing his job market paper and running an RCT in India. Steven dives into the specifics about what goes into organizing an RCT and doing field work as a PhD student. He also tells us about his experience of working to integrate empirical work with economic models.
Ellora Derenoncourt talks with Santiago about her research on the impact of past incarceration status on labor market outcomes in the US. Ellora shares how her interest in inequality and the ladder of opportunities led her to focus on the criminal justice system as an underlying mechanism.
Ellora also shared her "one-stop shop" to look for archival data: https://www.hathitrust.org/. It's a consortium of libraries that recollects and digitizes data and great place to start looking for new data.
Ellora is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton. The coauthors of the project are Desmond Ang (Harvard), Kyle Hancock (Princeton), and Jing Wu (Princeton).
Join Maddison as she speaks with Susanna Berkouwer, Assistant Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode, they discuss Susanna's paper with Joshua Dean, "Cooking, Health, and Daily Exposure to Transient Air Pollution Peaks" in Kenya. Tune in to hear how Susanna started this project as a grad student and how it evolved into two different papers, including their job market paper. Susanna shares insight into their experimental design, the development of their research questions in this area, and the formation of their ongoing coauthorship collaboration. Here is the link to the working paper: https://sberkouwer.github.io/BerkouwerDean_Health.pdf
In this episode, Aakash talks to Erin Kelley about her project titled “Long-Range Forecasts as Climate Adaptation: Experimental Evidence from Developing-Country Agriculture." Erin shares some fascinating insights about developing and maintaining relationships in research, different types of field projects, and a great idea for testing early ideas: pitch it to your parents! Here is the link to the working paper, co-authored with Fiona Burlig, Amir Jina, Gregory V. Lane & Harshil Sahai: https://www.nber.org/papers/w32173
Join Riccardo as he talks with Jared Rubin about the backstory of his paper, "Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis." The discussion explores various topics, including the innovative tools used for textual analysis of numerous archival books, the inspiration behind his research, and advice for young researchers. Truly inspiring! Don't miss out. Here’s a link to the working paper, co-authored with Ali Almelhem, Murat Iyigun, and Austin Kennedy: [https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/393/]
In this episode of backstory, host Aakash Bhalothia interviews development economists Edward Miguel and Paul Niehaus about their Frisch award-winning paper, "General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Kenya." They discuss the paper's groundbreaking findings on the macroeconomic impacts of cash transfers in rural Kenya. The conversation delves into how the authors started working together, designing long-term experiments, and the broader motivations behind Ted and Paul's research. The paper is co-authored with Dennis Egger, Johannes Haushofer, and Michael Walker. Here is the link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3982/ECTA17945
In this episode, Salma Mousa, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UCLA, discusses her paper "Players, Performance, and Prejudice: Are Minorities Punished More Harshly for Having a Bad Day?" with Riccardo. Tune in for insights into the development of this paper and Salma's broader research agenda, including her perspective on the research process as a political scientist. The paper is coauthored with Ala Alrababah, William Marble, and Alexandra Siegel. You can find an abstract on Salma's website: https://www.salmamousa.com/working-papers.
In this episode, Duncan Thomas shared insights from his paper on the aftermath of large-scale disasters. Duncan and Aakash discussed the significance of collecting high-quality data, highlighting the importance of teamwork and collaboration. The paper is titled: " Longer-term impacts of exposure to a large-scale natural disaster on health, cognition and well-being."
In this episode, Riccardo speaks with Francesco Amodio, Associate Professor of Economics at McGill University, about his paper titled "Labor Market Power, Self-employment, and Development." We explore the process of generating ideas for projects and identification strategies. Additionally, we discuss structural modeling and what initially sparked Francesco's interest in labor markets within developing countries. Here is a link to the paper, co-authored with Pamela Medina and Monica Morlacco: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c1Rv6vTKz0g6FEZ19VsK8fa_fSrF-niT/view
In this episode, Aakash talks to Girija Borker, an Economist at DIME, World Bank. They discuss her paper titled "Safety First: Perceived Risk of Street Harassment and Educational Choices of Women". Dive in to learn how Girija went about identifying important problems related to gender, and her perspectives on learning the best tools to answer questions, risk mitigation strategies, and motivation for research.
