We study entry and bidding patterns in sealed bid and open auctions with heterogeneous bidders. Using data from U.S. Forest Service timber auctions, we document a set of systematic effects of auction format: sealed bid auctions attract more small bidders, shift the allocation towards these...

While observers agree that courts function poorly in developing countries, a lack of data has limited our understanding of the causes of malfunction. We combine data from administrative records on severance cases filed in the Mexico City Labor Court with interventions that provide information to...

Despite the importance of deposit financing for lending, banks in developing countries struggle to attract deposits. In a randomized experiment across 110 bank branches throughout Mexico, a lottery incentive based on net monthly deposits caused a 40% increase in the number of accounts opened and...

A quick glance at agricultural input use data from developing countries reveals a large dispersion in take up of improved inputs and practices across farms. One explanation is that this is a problem resulting from limited information, credit constraints, risk, poor input quality, and/or...

We study how proximate neighbors affect one’s propensity to vote using data on 12 million registered voters in Mexico. To identify this effect, we exploit idiosyncratic variation at the neighborhood block level resulting from approximately one million relocation decisions. We find that when...