Program and Schedule

The PacDev 2012 Conference will be held on Saturday, March 17, 2012 on the UC Davis campus. Sessions and events will run from 8:00am-5:30pm and be held in Giedt Hall.

Downloadable conference schedule

Continental Breakfast and Registration: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Session 1: 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Session 1A: Cash Transfers and Family Well-Being — Chair: Jorge Agüero
Room: Giedt 103

Elaine Liu
"Does "in utero" Exposure to Illness Matter? The 1918 Infuenza Epidemic in Taiwan as a Natural Experiment"
Melissa Hidrobo
"Cash transfers and domestic violence"
Edward Miguel
"Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data"

Session 1B: Behavioral Implications of Social Networks — Chair: Jeremy Magruder
Room: Giedt 106

Prakarsh Singh
"Spillovers in learning and behavior: Evidence from a nutritional information campaign in urban slums"
Scott McNiven
"Impacts on Information Networks: A Randomized Controlled Test of Strategic Network Change"

Session 1C: Financial literacy — Chair: Steve Boucher
Room: Giedt 107

Bilal H. Zia
"Unpacking the Causal Chain of Financial Literacy"
Changcheng Song
"Take-up in Rural China: Learning from Hypothetical Experience"

Session 1D: Learning, Diagnostics and Prevention in Health Care — Chair: Alan de Brauw
Room: Giedt 102

Jennifer Meredith
"Keeping the Doctor Away: Experimental Evidence on Investment in Preventative Health Products"
Pascaline Dupas
"Price Subsidies, Diagnostic Tests, and Targeting of Malaria Treatment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial"
Achyuta Adhvaryu
"Learning, Misallocation, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Malaria Therapy in Tanzania"

Coffee break: 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Session 2: 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Session 2A: Maternal Education, Health and Fertility — Chair: Edward Miguel
Room: Giedt 102

Pinar Gunes
"The Impact of Female Education on Fertility: Evidence from Turkey"
Sepideh Modrek
"Early Investments in Maternal Education as a Driver for Eliminating Female Circumcision: Evidence from Egypt"
Ava Gail Cas
"Early Life Public Health Intervention and Adolescent Cognition: Evidence from the Safe Motherhood Program in Indonesia"

Session 2B: Inducing Environment-Friendly Production and Consumption Innovations — Chair: Katrina Jessoe
Room: Giedt 106

Francisco Costa
"Just Do It: Temporary restrictions and new consumption habits"
David I. Levine
"What Impedes Efficient Product Adoption? Evidence from Randomized Variation in Sales Offers for Improved Cookstoves in Uganda"

Session 2C: Entrepreneurship and Investment — Chair: Ethan Ligon
Room: Giedt 103

Tim Huegerich
"Interpreting High Returns to Microenterprise Investment"
Anant Nyshadham
"Learning about Comparative Advantage in Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Thailand"
Krislert Samphantharak
"Risk and Return in Networked Village Economies"

Session 2D: Measuring the Impacts of Microfinance — Chair: Steve Boucher
Room: Giedt 107

Bruce Wydick
"Measuring microfinance: Cognitive and experimental bias with new evidence from Nepal"
Silvia Prina
"Do basic savings accounts help the poor to save? Evidence from a field experiment in Nepal"
Adel Varghese
"Evaluating the Impact of Training for a National Microfinance Program: The Case of Indian Self Help Groups"

Plenary: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Agnes Quisumbing (Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI)
Caren Grown (American University, Senior Gender Adviser, USAID)
"Why Women's Asset Ownership Matters: Research and Policy Perspectives"

Lunch: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Session 3: 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Session 3A: Insuring Livelihoods: Innovations in Index Insurance — Chair: Michael Carter
Room: Giedt 102

Sarah Janzen
"Valuing Asset Insurance in the Presence of Poverty Traps: A Dynamic Approach"
Alain de Janvry
"Group insurance against common shocks"
Namrata Kala
"The Smoothing Value of Microenterprise: Evidence from Coffee Price Shocks in Tanzania"

Session 3B: Gender and Intrahousehold Health and Fertility Outcomes — Chair: Beth Katz
Room: Giedt 103

J.M. Ian Salas
"Is couple's joint decision making associated with favorable household consumption patterns for children? Evidence from Cebu, Philippines"
Ethan Ligon
"Incentives and Nutrition for Rotten Kids: The Quantity and Quality of Intrahousehold Food Allocation in the Philippines"
Shamma Adeeb Alam
"Agricultural Shocks and Family Planning"

Session 3C: Labor Markets and Occupational Choice — Chair: Krislert Samphantharak
Room: Giedt 106

Emily Beam
"Bringing Jobs to the People: The Experimental Impact of Reducing Job Search Costs"
Darian Naidoo
"Social Networks and Wages in South Africa"
Todd Pugatch
"Safety Valve or Sinkhole? Vocational Schooling in South Africa"

Session 3D: Trade, Migration and Urbanization — Chair: Ed Taylor
Room: Giedt 107

Samuel Bazzi
"Liquidity Constraints and Investment in International Migration: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia"
Kensuke Teshima
"Import Competition and Environmental Performance: Evidence from Mexico"
Kyle Emerick
"Certified to migrate: Property rights and migration in rural Mexico"

Coffee break: 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Session 4: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Session 4A: Children's Health — Chair: Steve Vosti
Room: Giedt 102

Shatanjaya Dasgupta
"Son Preference and Gender Gaps in Child Nutrition: Does the Level of Female Autonomy Matter?"
Joe Cummins
"The Use and Misuse of Height-for-Age in the Demographic and Health Surveys"
Jorge Agüero
"Crises and the Health of Children and Adolescents: Evidence from the Rwanda Genocide"

Session 4B: Violence, Conflict and Economic Performance — Chair: Alessandra Cassar
Room: Giedt 103

Michael Callen
"Violent Trauma and Risk Preference: Artefactual and Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan"
Trang Tran
"Civil Conflict and Firm Performance in Cote d'Ivoire"
Andrés Moya
"Violence Emotional Distress and Induced Changes in Risk Aversion among the Displaced Population in Colombia"

Session 4C: Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency — Chair: Alain de Janvry
Room: Giedt 106

Ajay Shenoy
"Market Failures and Misallocation: Decomposing Factor Misallocation by Source"
Antonio Martuscelli
"Supply Response, Market Participation and Transaction Costs in Food Markets: Evidence from a Tanzanian Panel"
Anil Bhargava
"Farmers' Heterogeneous Valuation of Laser Land Leveling in Eastern Uttar Pradesh: An Experimental Auction Approach to Informing Segmentation & Subsidy Strategies"

Session 4D: Public Infrastructure's Impact on Poverty, Inequality and Citizenship — Chair: Tu Jarvis
Room: Giedt 107

Yu Qin
"Counties Left Behind: The Distributional Impact of High-Speed Rail Upgrade in China"
Takashi Kurosaki
"Urban Transportation Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction: Delhi Metro's Impact on the Cycle Rickshaw Rental Market"
Tahir Andrabi
"Are Bad Public Schools Public "Bads"? Test Scores and Civic Values in Public and Private Schools"

Coffee break: 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Session 5: 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Session 5A: Risk, Shocks and Health — Chair: Travis Lybbert
Room: Giedt 106

Marshall Burke
"Income Shocks and HIV in Africa"
Nicholas Wilson
"Is Sex Like Driving? Risk Compensation Associated with Male Circumcision in Kisumu Kenya"
Manisha Shah
"The Effects of In-Utero Shocks on Cognitive Test Scores: Evidence from Droughts in India"

Session 5B: Crowding Out? Unintended Consequences of Private and Public Transfers — Chair: Elizabeth Sadoulet
Room: Giedt 107

Jefrey A. Flory
"Development Programs and General Equilibrium Effects: Experimental Evidence on Formal Savings and Informal Insurance In Villages"
Berber Kramer
"The social dilemma of microinsurance: A framed field experiment with microcredit groups in Tanzania"
Mateusz J. Filipski
"A Simulation Impact Evaluation of Rural Income Transfers in Malawi and Ghana"

Session 5C: Political Economy and Public Policy — Chair: Ravi Bhandari
Room: Giedt 102

Fernando M. Aragón
"Party Nomination Procedures and Quality of Government"
Michael Carter
"Left, Right, Left: Income and Political Dynamics in Transition Economies"
David K. Evans
"School-Based Management and Educational Outcomes: Lessons from a Randomized Field Experiment"

Session 5D: Time, Risk, and Social Preferences — Chair: Bruce Wydick
Room: Giedt 103

Rachid Laajaj
"Closing the Eyes on a Gloomy Future: Psychological Causes and Economic Consequences"
Alan de Brauw
"Measuring Risk Attitudes among Mozambican Farmers"
Arya Gaduh
"Religion, social interactions, and cooperative attitudes: Evidence from Indonesia"