Technological progress is widely recognized as a fundamental driver of economic
development and structural transformation. Nevertheless, substantial variations in …

Are political connections in public procurement harmful or efficiency gaining for the public
sector, and what are the costs of favoritism toward politically connected firms? Exploiting …

This paper develops new tools to study misallocation that do not require assumptions about
the heterogeneity of firms' technologies. We show how features of the distribution of …

Government often acts as the largest buyer in an economy through government
procurement. The allocation of procurement orders however is often distorted. We build a …

Purpose In addition to lower value for money and the loss of trust in government,
procurement corruption threatens to produce a vicious cycle whereby honest firms self …

Transportation infrastructure is associated with economic development, but it can also be
used for social control and to benefit the governing elite. We explore the connection …

How do we know when corruption has become widespread? Despite the rich body of
literature on the problem, there are few proposed methods to conceptualize and empirically …

We study the role of contract splitting in public procurement. Procurement contracts with
price below a threshold can be awarded at discretion, while awards for contracts above it …

We link the universe of owners of businesses formally registered in Mozambique since
Independence to a new database of politically exposed persons. Recreating the dynamic …

Political distortions are prevalent in many developing countries and can imply substantial
productivity losses. Theory is ambiguous as to whether openness to trade amplifies or …