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The Search For Spices And Souls: Catholic Missions As Colonial State In The Philippines, Dean C. Dulay
The Search For Spices And Souls: Catholic Missions As Colonial State In The Philippines, Dean C. Dulay
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
A growing literature posits that colonial Christian missions brought schooling to the colonies, improving human capital in ways that persist to this day. But in some places they did much more. This paper argues that colonial Catholic missions in the Philippines functioned as state-builders, establishing law and order and building fiscal and infrastructural capacities in territories they controlled. The mission-as-state was the result of a bargain between the Catholic missions and the Spanish colonial government: missionaries converted the population and engaged in state-building, whereas the colonial government reaped the benefits of state expansion while staying in the capital. Exposure to …
Urbanization Policy And Economic Development: A Quantitative Analysis Of China's Differential Hukou Reforms, Wen-Tai Hsu, Lin Ma
Urbanization Policy And Economic Development: A Quantitative Analysis Of China's Differential Hukou Reforms, Wen-Tai Hsu, Lin Ma
Research Collection School Of Economics
The household registration system (hukou system) in China has hampered rural-urban migration by posing large migration friction. The system has been gradually relaxed in the past few decades, but the reforms have been differential in city size. We find a striking contrast in migration patterns between years 2005 and 2015; rural people tended to move more to large cities in 2005, but more to small- and medium-sized cities in 2015. We calibrate a spatial quantitative model to the world economy in both years with China divided into rural, mega-city, and other-city regions. We find that alternative urbanization policies that are …
Essays On Economic Development And Environmental Sustainability, Rohan Ray
Essays On Economic Development And Environmental Sustainability, Rohan Ray
Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)
The first chapter is a randomized controlled trial study that uses loss framing and information nudges to increase secondary school attendance in Bangladesh. Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have become one of the most common policy interventions to increase school attendance, but the cost-effectiveness of such interventions has not attracted the attention it deserves. Hence, in addition to a standard CCT implementation, our rich unique dataset on daily attendance allows us to experimentally study two potential ways to improve the cost-effectiveness of school attendance interventions: (i) SMS information nudges and (ii) loss framing in CCTs. The former provides school attendance information …
Urbanization Policy And Economic Development: A Quantitative Analysis Of China's Differential Hukou Reforms, Wen-Tai Hsu, Lin Ma
Urbanization Policy And Economic Development: A Quantitative Analysis Of China's Differential Hukou Reforms, Wen-Tai Hsu, Lin Ma
Research Collection School Of Economics
The household registration system (hukou system) in China has hampered rural-urban migration by posing large migration friction. The system has been gradually relaxed in the past few decades, but the reforms have been differential in city size and by the coastal-inland divide. We find a striking contrast in the migration patterns between years 2005 and 2015; rural people tended to move more to the coastal urban region in 2005, but more to the inland urban region in 2015. We calibrate a spatial quantitative model to the world economy in both years with China being divided into the rural, coastal urban, …
Weak Law V Strong Ties: An Empirical Study Of Business Investment, Law And Political Connections In China, Wei Zhang, Ji Li
Weak Law V Strong Ties: An Empirical Study Of Business Investment, Law And Political Connections In China, Wei Zhang, Ji Li
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Based on a large-scale survey of Chinese entrepreneurs, our study explores how institutions (formal and informal) influence investment decisions made by private companies. The study finds that, consistent with the conventional view, a more effective legal system is correlated with short-term general investment, and that the judiciary is important mainly because of its restraint over the state. The role of effective courts, however, diminishes when private entrepreneurs consider making long-term investment. We find a positive association between the entrepreneurs’ political backgrounds and their R&D investment, suggesting that Chinese courts, in spite of decades of reform, are not yet viewed as …
Productivity Growth And Structural Transformation, Roberto Samaniego, Juliana Y. Sun
Productivity Growth And Structural Transformation, Roberto Samaniego, Juliana Y. Sun
Research Collection School Of Economics
Economies diversify and then re-specialize as they develop. These “stages of diversification” may result from productivity-driven structural change if initially resources are concentrated in industries other than those that dominate economic structure in the long run. A calibrated multi-industry growth model with many countries and with industry differences in productivity growth rates replicates the main features of the “stages of diversification”. We also present evidence that countries systematically shift resources towards manufacturing industries with rapid productivity growth, and towards sectors with low productivity growth, consistent with the model and supporting the “productivity mechanism” for structural transformation.
The Role Of The State In Singapore: Pragmatism In Pursuit Of Growth, Kim Song Tan, Manu Bhaskaran
The Role Of The State In Singapore: Pragmatism In Pursuit Of Growth, Kim Song Tan, Manu Bhaskaran
Research Collection School Of Economics
This paper looks at how government intervention shapes the evolution of the Singapore economy and accounts for its successes and failures over the past 50 years. Compared with other dynamic Asian economies, the Singapore government's approach to intervene in the economy is both more extensive and more intrusive, but with a narrow focus on GDP growth and surplus accumulation as the primary objectives. The ruling government's near complete dominance in politics has enabled it to mobilize resources to create the preconditions for strong GDP growth and high savings. But the impact on the broader development of the economy and the …
Are De Jure Labor Laws Absolute? Formal Manufacturing In India, Gurmeet Singh Ghumman
Are De Jure Labor Laws Absolute? Formal Manufacturing In India, Gurmeet Singh Ghumman
Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)
We investigate the view that de facto labor market conditions are important in evaluating the effects of labor institutions in developing countries where enactment does not necessarily imply enforcement. Using India as a case study we empirically investigate the effects of labor markets on the organized manufacturing sector from 1970 to 1997. Recognizing that the state can intervene in the outcome of labor disputes we construct a measure to proxy the degree of the state legislature's prejudice towards pro-worker causes. We argue that leftist and communist political parties can interfere in the resolution of disputes in favor of workers through …
Stock Markets And Income Inequality: A Cross-Country Study, Elizabeth Mathew
Stock Markets And Income Inequality: A Cross-Country Study, Elizabeth Mathew
Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)
This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis to understand how stock market ratios affect net income inequality. The study of how finance impacts income distribution is relevant as the income distribution of a nation influences savings decisions, resource allocation, innovation incentives and public policy and hence impacts the process of economic development. Using a cross-sectional data set of 68 countries and panel data set of 61 countries from 1975 to 2005, I apply cross-sectional OLS and panel regressions to look at how stock market size, liquidity, and activity impact income inequality. While stock market size is found to strongly impact income …
Education, Technology And Skill Premium : A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis, Anusha Pai
Education, Technology And Skill Premium : A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis, Anusha Pai
Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)
Education, Technology and Skill Premium: a Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis is a two fold attempt to capture skill premium dynamics. First, it examines results across a cross section of model economies at different stages of economic development. It equates these model economies to real economies and compares skill premium results with the measure of income inequality. Second, it makes a valiant attempt to capture the non linear dynamics present in the US skill premium across 20th century, not captured so far in any dynamic general equilibrium model. Though the simplistic nature of the model leaves out many fine trends, the …
The Transition From Relational To Legal Contract Enforcement, Fali Huang
The Transition From Relational To Legal Contract Enforcement, Fali Huang
Research Collection School Of Economics
This paper studies the transition of contract enforcement institutions. The prevalence of relational contracts, low legal quality, strong cultural preference for personalistic relationships, low social mobility, and highly unequal endowment form a cluster of mutually reinforcing institutions that hinder economic development. The cultural element per se does not necessarily reduce social welfare though it may slow down the legal development, while the real problem lies in endowment inequality and low social mobility. Thus a more equal distribution of resources may be the ultimate key to unravel the above interlocking institutions. These results are generally consistent with the empirical evidence.
Strategic Development Of Airport And Rail Infrastructure: The Case Of Singapore, Sock-Yong Phang
Strategic Development Of Airport And Rail Infrastructure: The Case Of Singapore, Sock-Yong Phang
Research Collection School Of Economics
This article recounts how a number of strategic infrastructure investment decisions in airport and rail development taken by the Singapore government were at variance with recommendations emerging from cost-benefit analysis, but were considered necessary to support external competitiveness. This link between infrastructure provision and economic development may require decision makers to assess the trade-off between prudent macro-economic planning and efficient micro-economic management for major projects. In the case of airport hubs, the most difficult assessment might be the game consideration of how much, and how far ahead, excess capacity is needed to ensure the dominance of the hub.
Strategic Development Of Airport And Rail Infrastructure: The Case Of Singapore, Sock-Yong Phang
Strategic Development Of Airport And Rail Infrastructure: The Case Of Singapore, Sock-Yong Phang
Research Collection School Of Economics
This article recounts how a number of strategic infrastructure investment decisions in airport and rail development taken by the Singapore government were at variance with recommendations emerging from Cost-Benefit Analysis, but were considered necessary to support external competitiveness. This link between infrastructure provision and economic development may require decision makers to assess the trade-off between prudent macro-economic planning and efficient micro-economic management for major projects. In the case of airport hubs, the most difficult assessment might be the game consideration of how much, and how far ahead, excess capacity is needed to ensure the dominance of the hub.
Economic Development And The Distribution Of Land Rents In Singapore: A Georgist Implementation, Sock-Yong Phang
Economic Development And The Distribution Of Land Rents In Singapore: A Georgist Implementation, Sock-Yong Phang
Research Collection School Of Economics
Independent Singapore, which has a tradition of free trade, has implemented large doses of Henry George's prescriptions. It has successfully captured land rents for redistribution through its land acquisition, public housing and other programs. These policies have been instrumental in the successful economic development of the island city state. Industrial estates on state-owned land were leased to foreign multinationals for export-oriented manufacturing which created the bulk of jobs in the sector. Commercial developments are built by the program. Affordable 99-year leasehold housing, built by the state, provided added economic incentives for employment, and helped keep inflation and wages down. Private …