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Author: Oriana Bandiera

18 results found.

Development Discussion Paper

Development Policy through the Lens of Social Structure

Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Erika Deserranno, Ricardo Morel, Imran Rasul and Munshi Sulaiman

This paper studies how the social structure of village economies affects policy implementation by local agents. We randomly select one of two viable candidates to deliver an agricultural extension program in rural Uganda...Read more...

29 May 2020

Development Discussion Paper

Why Do People Stay Poor?

Clare Balboni, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

There are two views as to why people stay poor. The equal opportunity view emphasizes that differences in individual traits like talent or motivation make the poor choose low productivity jobs. The poverty traps view e...Read more...

9 March 2020

Development Discussion Paper

Tackling Youth Unemployment: Evidence from a Labour Market Experiment in Uganda

Livia Alfonsi, Oriana Bandiera, Vittorio Bassi, Robin Burgess, Imran Rasul, Munshi Sulaiman and Anna Vitali

We design a labour market experiment to compare demand-side and supply-side policies to tackle youth unemployment, a key issue in low-income countries. The experiment tracks 1700 workers and 1500 firms over four years to...Read more...

8 January 2018

Development Discussion Paper

Labor Markets and Poverty in Village Economies

Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Narayan Das, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul and Munshi Sulaiman

We study how women’s choices over labor activities in village economies correlate with poverty and whether enabling the poorest women to take on the activities of their richer counterparts can set them on a sustainable...Read more...

Revised March 2016

Development Discussion Paper

Nation-Building Through Compulsory Schooling During the Age of Mass Migration

Oriana Bandiera, Myra Mohnen, Imran Rasul and Martina Viarengo

By the mid-19th century, America was the best educated nation on Earth: significant financial investments in education were being undertaken and the majority of children voluntarily attended public schools. So why did US...Read more...

Revised December 2015

Development Discussion Paper

Losing Prosociality in the Quest for Talent? Sorting, Selection, and Productivity in the Delivery of Public Services

Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Scott Lee

We embed a field experiment in a nationwide recruitment drive for nurses in Zambia to test whether career benefits attract talent at the expense of prosocial motivation. We randomize the offer of career benefits at the r...Read more...

Revised March 2018

Development Discussion Paper

Women’s Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa

Oriana Bandiera, Niklas Buehren, Robin Burgess, Markus Goldstein, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul and Munshi Sulaiman

Women in developing countries are disempowered relative to their contemporaries in developed countries. High youth unemployment and early marriage and childbearing interact to limit human capital investment and enforce d...Read more...

Revised June 2015

Development Discussion Paper

Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work

Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

CEOs affect the performance of the firms they manage, and family CEOs seem to weaken it. Yet little is known about what top executives actually do, and whether it differs by firm ownership. We study CEOs in the Indian ma...Read more...

Revised December 2014

Development Discussion Paper

Awards Unbundled: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Scott Lee

Organizations often use awards to incentivize performance. We design a field experiment to unbundle the mechanisms through which awards may affect behavior: by facilitating social comparison and by conferring recognition...Read more...

14 August 2013

Development Discussion Paper

Can Basic Entrepreneurship Transform the Economic Lives of the Poor?

Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Narayan Das, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul and Munshi Sulaiman

A new version of this paper has been published on August 2015 (Paper No EOPP 58). The world’s poorest people lack capital and skills and toil for others in occupations that others shun. Using a large-scale and long-ter...Read more...

Revised August 2015

Development Discussion Paper

No Margin, no Mission? A Field Experiment on Incentives for public service delivery

Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Kelsey Jack

A substantial body of research investigates the design of incentives in firms, yet less is known about incentives in organizations that hire individuals to perform tasks with positive social spillovers. We conduct a fiel...Read more...

Revised February 2014

Development Discussion Paper

Team Incentives: Evidence From A Firm Level Experiment

Oriana Bandiera, Iwan Baranky and Imran Rasul

Many organizations rely on teamwork, and yet field evidence on the impacts of team-based incentives remains scarce. Compared to individual incentives, team incentives can affect productivity by changing both workers’ eff...Read more...

1 December 2011

Development Discussion Paper

Field Experiments with Firms

Oriana Bandiera, Iwan Baranky and Imran Rasul

We discuss how the use of field experiments sheds light on long standing research questions relating to firm behavior. We present insights from two classes of experiments: within and across firms, and draw common lessons...Read more...

1 July 2011

Development Discussion Paper

Diversity and the Power of the Elites in Democratic Societies: A Model and a Test.

Oriana Bandiera and Gilat Levy

This paper analyzes whether political outcomes in local democracies are determined by the preferences of the median - typically poor - agents or whether they reflect the wishes of the wealthy elites. A model shows that w...Read more...

August 2010

Development Discussion Paper

Community Networks and Poverty Reduction Programmes: Evidence from Bangladesh

Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Selim Gulesci and Imran Rasul

Whether basic entrepreneurship can be inculcated amongst the poorest in society and serve as a route out of poverty remains an open question. We provide evidence on this issue by looking at the effects of a large-scale a...Read more...

December 2009

Development Economics Paper

Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique

Oriana Bandiera and Imran Rasul

Despite their potentially strong impact on poverty, agricultural innovations are often adopted slowly. Using a unique household dataset on sunflower adoption in Mozambique, we analyse whether and how individual adoption ...Read more...

June 2002

Development Economics Paper

Land Distribution, Incentives and the Choice of Production Techniques in Nicaragua

Oriana Bandiera

Does the distribution of land rights affect the choice of contractible techniques? I present evidence suggesting that Nicaraguan farmers are more likely to grow effort-intensive crops on owned rather than on rented plots...Read more...

April 2002

Development Economics Paper

On the Structure of Tenancy contracts: Theory and Evidence fron 19th Century Rural Sicily

Oriana Bandiera

This paper analyses the empirical determinants of contract length, a key and yet neglected dimension of contractual structure. I use data on tenancy agreements signed between 1870 and 1880 in the district of Siracusa, It...Read more...

January 2000