We measure the prevalence of discrimination between Jordanian host and Syrian refugee children attending school in Jordan. Using a simple sharing experiment, we find only little discrimination. Among the Jordanian children, however, we see that those who descended from Palestinian refugees do not discriminate at all, suggesting that a family history of refugee status can generate solidarity with new refugees. We also find that parents' narratives about the refugee crisis are correlated with the degree of discrimination, suggesting that discriminatory preferences are being transmitted through parental attitudes.

We use an RCT to analyze the impacts of microcredit. The study population consists of loan applicants who were marginally rejected by an MFI in Bosnia. A random subset of these were offered a loan. We provide evidence of higher self-employment, increases in inventory, a reduction in the incidence of wage work and an increase in the labor supply of 16–19-year-olds in the household's business. We also present some evidence of increases in profits and a reduction in consumption and savings. There is no evidence that the program increased overall household income. (JEL C93, G21, I38, J23, L25, P34, P36)

The governments of the Middle East and North Africa are trying to encourage private enterprise and foreign investment in their countries, but they are challenged by overregulation, unreliable corporate governance, minimal access to private finance, weak educational institutions, and serious gaps in infrastructure. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is committed to helping improve this situation.

The eponymous hero of Wagner’s Tannhäuser treads a path of stark contrasts and rapid swings that culminate in the opera’s central episode, the song contest at Wartburg. Instead of securing his reintegration within the court with a brilliant performance, Tannhäuser spoils the event with insolent remarks and the exhibitionist disclosure of his Venusberg experience. His behaviour offends his peers, scandalizes the court, breaks Elisabeth’s heart, and brings him to the edge of death. Why would he sacrifice everything for nothing? Existing interpretations of Wagner’s Tannhäuser blame either the hero’s flaws or the young composer’s unconvincing dramaturgy, and take for granted Tannhäuser’s hyper-emotional impulsive nature. This essay offers a radically new perspective on the opera by drawing on game theory, the dominant methodology in the social sciences. Through a detailed analysis of the hero’s decision-making, it argues that his seemingly irrational behaviour is actually consistent with a strategy of redemption. Musical evidence in the score indeed suggests that Tannhäuser may have consciously disrupted the contest, knowing that only a public disclosure of his sinful past can force him to make the pilgrimage to Rome and secure a permanent union with Elizabeth.

We use an RCT to analyze the impacts of microcredit. The study population consists of loan applicants who were marginally rejected by an MFI in Bosnia. A random subset of these were offered a loan. We provide evidence of higher self-employment, increases in inventory, a reduction in the incidence of wage work and an increase in the labor supply of 16-19 year olds in the household’s business. We also present some evidence of increases in profits and a reduction in consumption and savings. There is no evidence that the program increased overall household income. Britta Augsburg The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street London WC1E 7AE britta_a@ifs.org.uk Ralph De Haas EBRD One Exchange Square EC2A 2JN London United Kingdom dehaasr@ebrd.com Heike Harmgart EBRD One Exchange Square EC2A 2JN London United Kingdom harmgarh@ebrd.com Costas Meghir Department of Economics Yale University 37 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven, CT 06511 and IZA and also NBER c.meghir@yale.edu

We use an RCT to analyze the impact of microcredit on poverty reduction. The study population consists of loan applicants to a large microfinance institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina who would have been rejected through regular screening. Access to credit allowed borrowers to start and expand small-scale businesses. THe re is little evidence that this lead to net increases in household income. Households that already had a business and where the borrower had more education, ran down savings, presumably to complement the loan and achieve the minimum investment amount. In less-educated households, where assets were low consumption went down instead. For these households the labor supply of teenage children aged 16-19 increased, and their school attendance declined.

We take a first step towards analysing fundraising on the internet. Internet fundraising allows amongst other things for the possibility of instantaneous feedback on campaign progress. Analysing data from a large number of small scale internet fundraising campaigns we show that the rich feedback information provided to donors alters subsequent donor behaviour. In particular, early donors set a precedent for later donors. We discuss some possible explanations for this phenomenon.

We use a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to analyse the impact of microcredit on poverty reduction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study population are loan applicants that would normally have just been rejected based on regular screening. We find that access to credit allowed borrowers to start and expand small-scale businesses. Households that already had a business and where the borrower had more education, ran down their savings, presumably to complement the loan and to achieve the minimum amount necessary to expand their business. In less-educated households, however, consumption went down. A key new result is that there was a substantial increase in the labour supply of young adults (16-19 year olds). This was accompanied by a reduction in school attendance.

This study gauges the status of transition in the formerly centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, using a broad approach that compares countries with respect to their business environment, competition, and managerial practices; and assesses transition progress at the level of 13 economic sectors.The largest transition gaps remain in Central Asia and some Eastern European and Western Balkans countries.However, significant reform needs also remain in some Central European and Baltic countries, particularly in energy efficiency, transport, and in the financial sector where regulatory regimes require strengthening and local capital markets need to be developed.

We use a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to analyse the impact of microcredit on poverty reduction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study population are loan applicants that would normally have just been rejected based on regular screening. We find that access to credit allowed borrowers to start and expand small-scale businesses. Households that already had a business and where the borrower had more education, ran down their savings, presumably to complement the loan and to achieve the minimum amount necessary to expand their business. In less-educated households, however, consumption went down. A key new result is that there was a substantial increase in the labour supply of young adults (16-19 year olds). This was accompanied by a reduction in school attendance.

We adapt the Bresnahan and Reiss (1991. Entry and competition in concentrated markets. The Journal of Political Economy 99, no. 5: 977–1009 Bresnahan, T. and Reiss, P. 1991. Entry and competition in concentrated markets. The Journal of Political Economy, 99(5): 977–1009. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) model to allow for multiple store formats. We estimate the model using data for English supermarkets, and evaluate the impact of restrictive planning regulation on entry into the English grocery retail industry. We find that more restrictive planning regulation reduces the number of large format supermarkets in equilibrium. However, the impact is overstated if variation in demographic characteristics across markets is not also controlled for. Our estimates suggest that restrictive planning regulation leads to a loss to consumers of up to £10 m per annum. This cost must be offset against any benefits that arise, e.g. due to reduced congestion.

We present evidence from a randomized field experiment in rural Mongolia to assess the poverty impacts of a joint-liability microcredit program targeted at women. We find a positive impact of access to group loans on female entrepreneurship and household food consumption but not on total working hours or income in the household. A simultaneously introduced individual-liability microcredit program delivers no significant poverty impacts. Additional results on informal transfers to families and friends suggest that joint liability may deter borrowers from using loans for noninvestment purposes with stronger impacts as a result. We find no difference in repayment rates between both types of microcredit. (JEL G21, I32, I38, J16, L26, O15, O16)

This book uniquely applies the Schumpeterian innovation policy perspective to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A broadly defined framework of the science, technology, innovation and growth system underpins the empirical and conceptual analysis of the critical issues including demand, FDI, finance and education.

We introduce a new model of aggregate information cascades where only one of two possible actions is observable to others. Agents make a binary decision in sequence. The order is random and agents are not aware of their own position in the sequence. When called upon, they are only informed about the total number of others who have chosen the observable action before them. This informational structure arises naturally in many applications. Our most important result is that only one type of cascade arises in equilibrium, the aggregate cascade on the observable action. A cascade on the unobservable action never arises.

Lars von Trier's movie 'Dogville' illustrates some illuminating and poignant comparative statics of equilibrium allocations, according to Heike Harmgart and Steffen Huck.