Research

Working Papers

Measuring government openness through freedom of information requests (with Eyub Yegen), 2024. Appendix material
The Undoing of Economic Sanctions: Evidence from the Russia-Ukraine conflict (with Giovanna Marcolongo and Meng Wu), 2024.
Dirty Air, Clean Investment: The impact of pollution information on ESG investment (with Pulak Ghosh, Arko Sarkar, and Jian Zhang), 2024.
Investing in Influence: Investors, portfolio firms, and political giving (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, Francesco Trebbi, and Eyub Yegen), 2023.
The Transparency Gap (with Christine Exley, Judd Kessler, and Mattie Toma), 2022.

Refereed Publications

Whose preferences matter for redistribution: Cross-country evidence (with Alain Cohn, Michel André Maréchal, and Jeffrey Yusof), accepted, JPE: Micro, 2024.
Universalism and Political Representation: Evidence from the Field (with Ben Enke, Luis Motas Freitas, and Steven Sun), forthcoming, AER: Insights, 2023.
Rules, Discretion, and Corruption in Procurement: Evidence from Italian Government Contracting (with Francesco Decarolis, Paolo Pinotti, and Silvia Vannutelli), forthcoming, JPE: Micro, 2023.
The impact of socioeconomic and cultural differences on online trade (with Dan Elfenbein and Brian McManus), forthcoming, Management Science, 2023.
Corruption and Firm Growth: Evidence from Around the World (with Sergei Guriev, Carolin Ioramashvili, and Alexander Plekhanov), forthcoming, Economic Journal, 2024.
Reference points and redistributive preferences: Experimental evidence (with Jimmy Charite, Ilyana Kuziemko, and Kewei Zhang), Journal of Public Economics, 2022.
Superstition and risk-taking: Evidence from “zodiac year” beliefs in China (with Wei Huang, Bo Ning, Yue Pan, Jiaping Qiu, and Yongxiang Wang), Management Science, 2022.
Political Beta (with April Knill, Sergey Mityakov, and Margarita Portnykh), Review of Finance, 2022.
Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries (with Francesco Decarolis, Paolo Pinotti, Silvia Vannutelli, and Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2022.
Hall of Mirrors: Corporate Philanthropy and Strategic Advocacy (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, Brad Hackinen, and Francesco Trebbi), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2021.
What motivates non-democratic leadership: Evidence from COVID-19 reopenings in China Journal of Public Economics (with C. Sun, Y. Wang, and D. Zhao), Journal of Public Economics, 2021.
Hometown favoritism and the quality of government monitoring: Evidence from rotation of Chinese auditors (with J. Chu, S. Tan, and Y. Wang), AEJ: Applied, 2021.
Distributional Preferences in larger groups: Keeping up with the Joneses and keeping track of the tails (with Ilyana Kuziemko and Silvia Vannutelli), Journal of the European Economic Association, 2021. Online Appendix
Do Americans want to tax capital? Evidence from Online Surveys (with Keith Gladstone, Ilyana Kuziemko, and Suresh Naidu), Journal of Public Economics, 2020.
Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, and Francesco Trebbi), American Economic Review, 2020.
Social Ties and the Selection of China’s Political Elite (with Jing Shi, Yongxiang Wang, and Weixing Wu), American Economic Review, 2020.
Experience of Communal Conflicts and Inter-group Lending (with Arkodipta Sarkar, Janis Skrastins, and Vikrant Vig), Journal of Political Economy, 2020.
An Event Long-Short Index: Theory and Applications (with Eric Zitzewitz), American Economic Review: Insights, 2019.
Air Pollution, Affect, and Forecasting Bias: Evidence from Chinese Financial Analysts (with Rui Dong, Raymond Fisman, Yongxiang Wang, and Nianhang Xu), Journal of Financial Economics, 2019.
Peer Effects in Legislative Voting (with Nikolaj Harmon and Emir Kamenica), AEJ: Applied, 2019.
Does Cheap Talk Affect Market Outcomes: Evidence from eBay (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), AEJ: Applied, 2019.
Social Ties and Favoritism in Chinese Science (with J. Shi, Y. Wang, and R. Xu), Journal of Political Economy, 2018.
Distributional Preferences and Political Behavior (with Pamela Jakiela and Shachar Kariv), Journal of Public Economics, 2017.
Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes: Evidence from an Indian Bank (with Daniel Paravisini and Vikrant Vig), American Economic Review, 2017.
The distortionary effects of incentives in government: Evidence from China’s “death ceiling” program (with Yongxiang Wang), American Economic Journal: Applied, 2016.
Human Capital and the Supply of Religion (with Joey Engelberg, Jay Hartzell, and Chris Parsons), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2016.
How Did the Great Recession Impact Social Preferences? (with Pamela Jakiela and Shachar Kariv), Journal of Public Economics, 2016.
The Distributional Preferences of an Elite (with Pamela Jakiela, Shachar Kariv, and Daniel Markovits), Science, 2015.
The Mortality Cost of Political Connections (with Yongxiang Wang), Review of Economic Studies, 2015
Labor Supply of Politicians (with Nikolaj Harmon, Emir Kamenica, and Inger Munk), Journal of the European Economic Association, 2015.
The Private Returns to Public Office (with Florian Schulz and Vikrant Vig), Journal of Political Economy, 2015.
Market Structure, Reputation, and the Value of Quality Certification (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), AEJ: Micro, 2014.
Nationalism and Economic Exchange: Evidence from Shocks to Sino-Japanese Relations (with Yasushi Hamao and Yongxiang Wang), Review of Financial Studies, 2014
Contrast Effects in Sequential Decisions: Evidence from Speed Dating (with Saurabh Bhargava), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2014.
Corruption in Chinese Privatizations (with Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, 2014
Governance and CEO Turnover: Do Something or Do the Right Thing? (with Rakesh Khurana, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, and Soojin Yim), Management Science, 2013.
Estimating the Value of Connections to Vice-President Cheney (with David Fisman, Julia Galef, Rakesh Khurana, and Yongxiang Wang), The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Advances, 2012.
Charity as a substitute for reputation: Evidence from an online marketplace (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), Review of Economic Studies, 2012.
Profiting from Government Stakes in a Command Economy: Evidence from Chinese Asset Sales (with Charles Calomiris and Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Financial Economics, 2011.
Regulation of Entry and the Distortion of Industrial Organization, (with Virginia Sarria-Allende), Journal of Applied Economics, 2010.
The Smuggling of Art and the Art of Smuggling: Uncovering the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property and Antiques (with Shang-Jin Wei), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2009.
Gender and Workplace Perceptions Around the World: Evidence from the World Values Survey (with Maura O’Neill), Journal of Human Resources, 2009.
Offshoring Tariff Evasion: Evidence from Hong Kong as Entrepôt Trader (with Peter Moustakerski and Shang-Jin Wei), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2008.
Limits to Policy Reversal: Privatization in India (with Siddhartha G. Dastidar and Tarun Khanna), Journal of Financial Economics, 2008.
Racial Preferences in Dating (with Sheena Iyengar, Emir Kamenica, & Itamar Simonson), Review of Economic Studies, 2008.
Corruption, Norms, and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from UN Diplomatic Parking Tickets (with Edward Miguel), Journal of Political Economy, 2007.
Consistency, Heterogeneity, and Granularity of Individual Behavior under Uncertainty (with Syngjoo Choi, Douglas Gale, and Shachar Kariv), American Economic Review, 2007.
Individual Preferences for Giving (with Shachar Kariv & Daniel Markovits), American Economic Review, 2007. (Note that this paper is a combination of an earlier verison of this paper, Pareto Damaging Behaviors, and Distinguishing Social Preferences from Preferences for Altruism.)
Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase International Technology Transfer? Empirical Evidence from U.S. Firm-Level Panel Data (with Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
Gender Differences in Mate Selection: Evidence from a Speed Dating Experiment (with Sheena Iyengar, Emir Kamenica, and Itamar Simonson), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
Are Corruption and Taxation Really Harmful to Growth? Firm Level Evidence (with Jakob Svensson), Journal of Development Economics, 2006.
Financial Development and Intersectoral Allocation: A New Approach (with Inessa Love),Journal of Finance, 2004.
Precautionary Savings and the Governance of Nonprofit Organizations (with R. Glenn Hubbard), Journal of Public Economics, 2005.
The Effect of Foreign Competition on Forecasting Bias, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2005.
Tax Rates and Tax Evasion: Evidence from “Missing” Imports in China (with Shang-Jin Wei),Journal of Political Economy, 2004.
Does Competition Encourage Cooperation? Evidence from Trade Credit Relationships of African Firms (with Mayank Raturi), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004.
Are Politicians Really Paid Like Bureaucrats? (with Rafael Di Tella), Journal of Law and Economics, 2004.
Facilitating Development: The Role of Business Groups (with Tarun Khanna), World Development, 2004.
Ethnic Ties and the Provision of Credit: Relationship-Level Evidence from African Firms, Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, 2003.
Trade Credit, Financial Intermediary Development, and Industry Growth (with Inessa Love), Journal of Finance, 2003.
Decentralization and Corruption: Evidence from U.S. Federal Transfer Programs (with Roberta Gatti), Public Choice, 2002.
Estimating the Value of Political Connections, American Economic Review, 2001.
Are Women Really the ‘Fairer’ Sex? Corruption and Women in Goverment (with David Dollar and Roberta Gatti), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2001.
Trade Credit and Productive Efficiency in Developing Countries, World Development, 2001.
Is Trust a Historical Residue? Information Flows and Trust Levels (with Tarun Khanna),Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1999.
Cultural Influences on Symptom Presentation in Childhood (with Sandra Fisman), Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999.

Other publications

Innovations in Governance (with Eric Werker), Innovation Policy and the Economy, 2011.
Trading favors within Chinese business groups (with Yongxiang Wang), AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2010.
Revealing Preferences Graphically: An Old Method Gets a New Tool Kit (with Syngjoo Choi, Douglas Gale, and Shachar Kariv), American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 2007.