Much has been said about women’s access to and use of the telephone. Many studies conclude that a significant gender divide in access exists particularly in developing countries. Women are also said to use telephones in a different manner from men –making and receiving more calls, spending...

We use a unique feature of California's property tax system to empirically identify the effect of selling homeowners' past property tax payments on their choice of listing price. Although past property taxes are sunk costs, we find that they have a significant positive effect on the sellers'...

I analyze the impact of changes to collateral value on borrowers' default decision on auto loans using two types of natural experiments in Sri Lanka. Changes in vehicle import tax rates and loan-to-value ratio caps on auto loans generated plausibly exogenous variation in the resale value of...

I analyze the impact of changes to collateral value on borrowers' default decision on auto loans using two types of natural experiments in Sri Lanka. Changes in vehicle import tax rates and loan-to-value ratio caps on auto loans generated plausibly exogenous variation in the resale value of...

Mobile phone access is widespread in Asia; voice connectivity has been achieved for the most part through intense competition, with prices being driven down to unsustainable levels. Against the backdrop of intense competition, new services and applications such as price information services, news...

This paper looks at telecom use at the bottom of the pyramid, or BOP in emerging Asia, where much of the ‘next billion' subscribers are expected to come from. It explores the potential for new customers, and issues of affordability at the BOP. The findings reveal potential for more than 140...

With the increasing concern with regards to reducing poverty in the world, lowering transaction costs within the value chain is one of the key elements to ensuring growth in agriculture which will in turn have a significant impact in reducing poverty. This paper presents the results of a study...

Modest differences in the interest rate at home purchase can have long-lasting effects on mortgagors. We use within-year variation in average interest rates at loan origination to instrument for contracted mortgage rates. For homeowners with negative equity, a 50bp increase in the national rate...

Using detailed micro-level data, we show that individuals' beliefs about climate change influence their choice and level of flood insurance coverage. Our empirical strategy exploits the heterogeneous impact of widening partisan polarization on climate change beliefs after the 2016 general...