How to Prevent War and Famine
Raymond Fisman, Edward Miguel
Forbes
With the U.S. financial system in unprecedented turmoil and the economy moving toward recession, ordinary Americans wake up to daily panic about their mortgages and mutual funds. But while we fret for our financial security, the volatility in global asset prices and commodities resulting from the U.S. financial crisis will have global reach, threatening the …
Don’t Forget the Already Poor
Edward Miguel
Marketplace
Audio available via Marketplace (19:50). We’re all glued to Wall Street’s implosion and for good reason. We’re worried about falling home values and our 401k’s. The crisis will also hit the world’s poorest people in Africa, Asia and Latin America who are least able to buffer the shock. For one, in the recent Vice Presidential …
Political Ties Boost Bottom Lines
Edward Miguel
Marketplace
Audio available via Marketplace (20:37). Critics of our campaign finance system fear growing corruption: are contributions too often the quid pro quo for favorable government regulation or no-bid contracts? New economics research using stock prices finds that political ties can be quite profitable for U.S. firms. The idea is simple: compare companies that cultivate ties …
Water Technologies
Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel, Clair Null, Alix Zwane
Boston Review
In rural areas where piped-water infrastructure is too expensive or difficult to maintain, the burden of water collection falls primarily on women and young children. Though they may walk hours, the sources they have access to are often dangerously polluted. With so many people relying on the same sources to wash dishes and clothes and …
Deciphering the Demand for Safe Drinking Water
Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel, Clair Null, Alix Zwane
Resources for the Future: Weekly Policy Commentary
We take water for granted when it flows from our kitchen faucet, but for millions in less developed countries, safe drinking water remains a matter of life and death. Diarrheal diseases kill around two million children every year, and contaminated water is often to blame. In rural areas where pipe infrastructure is too expensive or …
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How Economics Can Defeat Corruption
Raymond Fisman, Edward Miguel
Foreign Policy
It was the odd uniformity of the suitcase’s contents that tipped off the baggage inspector: six thick, identical rectangles. They could have been books, but then again, they could have been six bundles of cocaine. And in August 2007, security was tight at the airport in Buenos Aires; the country was in the midst of …
Africa Benefits from Commodity Costs
Edward Miguel
Marketplace
Audio available via Marketplace (11:26). While high consumer prices for fuel and food capture the headlines, the costs of the basic raw materials for construction and industry — from copper wiring to rolled steel and timber — are also at record highs. This squeezes U.S. firms. But not everyone around the world suffers from high …
Using Foreign Aid to Stop Conflict
Edward Miguel
Marketplace
Audio available via Marketplace (19:14). Food prices in the U.S. have been rising fast. Growing demand for food products in Asia and unusual global climate patterns are driving the increase. While higher prices put a moderate dent in our wallets, food shortages have much more severe consequences in Africa, the poorest part of the world. …
Is it Africa’s Turn?
Edward Miguel
Boston Review
Things were certainly looking up when I last visited Busia, a small city in Kenya, in mid-2007. Busia, home to about 60,000 residents, spans Kenya’s western border with Uganda: half the town sits on the Kenyan side and half in Uganda. As befits a border town, Busia is well endowed with gas stations, seedy bars, …
Corruption and Culture
Edward Miguel, Raymond Fisman
National Post
Canada is not a corrupt country. Nigeria is. What is it that keeps us from slipping a 50 to a policeman who pulls us over for speeding, whereas such transactions are the norm on the roads of Lagos? That is, why do Nigerians bribe with impunity, while we in Canada have a collective reputation as …
Bombing Vietnam: The Long-Term Economic Consequences
Edward Miguel and Gérard Roland
Milken Institute Review
The 20th century was witness to the most destructive wars in all history. Technological progress in weaponry as well as innovation in their manufacture made it possible to destroy lives and property on an unprecedented scale. What is less clear, though, is whether the unrivaled destructiveness of modern warfare has had enduring consequences on economic …
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Stop Conflict Before It Starts
Edward Miguel
Bloomberg
Dozens of countries have suffered through civil conflicts in the past few decades. The humanitarian consequences have been staggering: 3 million civilian deaths in Congo and hundreds of thousands more in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. The direct human impacts for survivors are enormous, and there may be lasting economic setbacks for whole societies. Likewise, …