SI 2026 Development Economics
Organized by Vittorio Bassi, Jing Cai, Eric V. Edmonds, Frederico Finan, Douglas Gollin, Seema Jayachandran, Melanie Morten, and Sandip Sukhtankar
July 27-28, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA
Monday, July 27
8:30 am
Coffee and Pastries
9:00 am

Public and Private Transit: Evidence from Lagos

Daniel Björkegren, Columbia University
Alice Duhaut, The World Bank
Geetika Nagpal, The World Bank
Nick Tsivanidis, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
9:50 am

Risk Aversion and Barriers to Firm Growth: Experimental Evidence from Small Retailers

Grady Killeen, University of California, Berkeley
10:40 am
Break
11:10 am

Economic and Psychological Returns to Social Relationships: Alleviating Constraints to Network Formation in Malawi

Gabriella Fleischman, Harvard University
Lightning Round
12:00 pm

Activation of Ethnic Tensions: Resettlement, Diversity, and Conflict in the Long Run

Mesay Gebresilasse, Amherst College and NBER
12:10 pm

The Limits of Government Outsourcing: Property Tax Re-Assessments in India

Esther Duflo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
Rema Hanna, Harvard University and NBER
Benjamin A. Olken, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
Shreya Tandon, Harvard University
12:20 pm

Micro-enterprise Saturation: Critical Mass or Overcrowding?

Moritz Poll, Rice University
12:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm

Screening Women Out? Pay Transparency in Job Postings

Amen Jalal, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
2:20 pm

Beliefs Over Contracts

Francis Annan, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Collin B. Raymond, Cornell University
3:10 pm
Break
3:40 pm

Relational Frictions Along the Supply Chain: Evidence from Senegalese Traders

Edward Wiles, Harvard University
Deivy Houeix, Harvard University
4:30 pm
Adjourn
Tuesday, July 28
8:30 am
Coffee and Pastries
9:00 am
Lecture by Dilip Mookerjee
10:00 am
Break
10:20 am

When Competition Compels Change: Trade, Management, and Productivity

Ananya Kotia, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
11:10 am

Managers and Offices: Location-Based Determinants of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in India

Prabhat Barnwal, Michigan State University
Aaditya Dar, Indian School of Business (ISB)
Aprajit Mahajan, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Maitri Punjabi, Michigan State University
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm

Activating Parental Managerial Capital: How Role Clarity Improves Education Outcomes

Mahounan Yedomiffi, Dartmouth College
Lightning Round
1:50 pm

Menstrual Stigma and Human Capital: Experimental Evidence from Madagascar

Karen Macours, Paris School of Economics
Julieta Vera Rueda, The World Bank
Duncan Webb, Princeton University
2:00 pm

Open Dumps and the Global Trade in Garbage

Matt Gordon, Paris School of Economics
Anna Papp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2:10 pm

Startups in Africa

Emanuele Colonnelli, The University of Chicago and NBER
Marcio Cruz, World Bank Group
Mariana Pereira-Lopez, The World Bank
Tommaso Porzio, Columbia University and NBER
Chun Zhao, Stanford University
2:20 pm
Break
2:50 pm

Credit Constraints and Capital Allocation in Agriculture: Theory and Evidence from Uganda

Konrad B. Burchardi, Stockholm University
Jonathan de Quidt, Institute for International Economic Studies
Benedetta Lerva, The World Bank
Stefano Tripodi, Prometeia
3:40 pm

Green Subsidies with Demand Distortions

Susanna B. Berkouwer, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Joshua T. Dean, The University of Chicago
4:30 pm
Adjourn