When workers face environmental shocks, managers reallocate tasks within teams, shifting workers away from jobs in which their performance is most affected.

pdf | Journal of Political Economy, 2022, 130:1 (lead article)

Soft skills training on-the-job boosts worker productivity and generates large returns for the firm.

pdf | august 2021 |  Journal of Political Economy (forthcoming)

What makes a good manager good? We let the data tell us -- and find that hard-to-observe things like attention and control have large effects on productivity, and are drastically undervalued in manager pay.

pdf | august 2021 | Review of Economic Studies (forthcoming)

A randomized evaluation of Hirschman's (1970) seminal theory. Workers quit when wage increases do not meet their expectations, but enabling voice mitigates this exit.

pdf | Economic Journal (forthcoming)

Dust from the annual harmattan winds increases infant and child mortality in West Africa, but human adaptation has tapered these impacts over a 20 year period.

Does childhood exposure to war perpetuate cycles of conflict in Africa?

pdf | blog | Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2023, 71(2)

Our results help explain why conflict keeps the most resource-rich countries no better off than the most resource-poor.

pdf | Journal of Development Economics, 2021 (Issue 149)

Income shocks in early life have large, lasting effects on mental health.

pdf | blog | Journal of Political Economy, 2019, 127(4)

LED lighting flattens the temperature-productivity gradient on hot days in Indian garment factories.

pdf | Review of Economics and Statistics, 2020, 102(4)

Iodized salt increased women's income and labor force participation in the 20th century US.

pdf | Review of Economics and Statistics, 2020, 102(2)

We ask whether information can be delivered without negative consequences to mental health. We randomly assigned individuals to receive Covid-19 information through text messages, a pre-recorded audio message, or phone calls. Phone calls were effective at engaging individuals. They improved Covid-19 knowledge and reduced depression and anxiety; the amount of information delivered does not account for this effect.

pdf | june 2021 | Journal of Development Economics (forthcoming)

Households use small business activity to weather income shocks.

pdf | published | World Bank Economic Review, 2019 (December)

Household enterprise as a means of mitigating the effects of health shocks.

Do parents invest more in smarter children?

Why is formal sector care better than self-treatment for sick children?

pdf | American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2015, 7(3)

Misdiagnosis slows down the adoption of effective new therapies.

pdf | appendix | Review of Economic Studies, 2014, 81(4)

Pro-labor laws constrain firms' responses to shocks.

Does accessing formal sector care affect sick children's time use?

Do HIV-related deaths affect surviving elderly household members?

pdf | published | Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2012, 60(2), lead article

Worker satisfaction depends critically on how expectations are set by firms. Migrant workers experienced large losses in subjective wellbeing when randomized improvements in hostel living conditions were more modest than expected.

pdf | july 2020 | R&R, Journal of Public Economics

Increasing access to nontechnical amenities substantially drives up the demand for cataract surgery in Mexico.

pdf | july 2020

Enabling worker voice through a two-way, anonymous, SMS-based technology decreases absenteeism and turnover, despite infrequent usage. Our findings suggest a substantial option value of voice, which can promote positive workplace behaviors even when workers do not directly avail themselves of the technology.

pdf | september 2021

Temperature shocks during the in utero period significantly contribute to the adult mental health disease burden in Africa.

pdf | blog | august 2021 | accepted, Economic Development and Cultural Change