This thesis investigates individual decision-making in response to government policies, in particular, state lotteries and the welfare "family cap." Despite considerable controversy surrounding the use of state lotteries as a means of public finance, little is known about their consumer...

Chapter 1: The Economic Effects of Medical Innovations: Vioxx and Labor SupplyDespite dramatic improvements in medical technology over time, comparatively little attention has been paid to the effect of these innovations on economic outcomes. This study uses seven overlapping panels of the...

My dissertation is composed of three essays on Development Economics in China. The first chapter, co-authored with Hongbin Li, evaluates the impact of the 8-7 Plan, the second wave of China's poverty alleviation program, on rural income growth at the county level over the period 1994-2000. Since...

How do improvements in information impact market performance? This dissertation examines the effect of an innovative initiative launched by a private company in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Beginning in October 2000, it set up 1700 internet kiosks and 45 warehouses that provide...

In Chapter 1, we study an intervention in which the Peruvian government provided public payphones to 6,509 rural villages that did not have communication services before. We show that the intervention timing was orthogonal to potential outcomes and exploit it using a panel of treated villages....

For over three centuries and throughout the globe, people have enthusiastically bought savings products that incorporate lottery elements. In lieu of paying traditional interest to all investors proportional to their balances, these Prize Linked Savings (PLS) accounts distribute periodic...