Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Political Determinants of Economic Exchange

对基本经济交换的信心是经济的重要组成部分。这种对经济交换的信心往往受到国家机构的影响，这些机构有权执行确保协议不被破坏的合同。然而，在世界许多地方，薄弱的国家机构限制了公民和企业对合同和交易将得到公平执行的信心。因此，经济交流受到抑制，效率低下的现象持续存在。 了解合同和经济交换如何受到影响，特别是在只有一小部分人享有进入国家机构的特权的情况下，对发展至关重要，但尚未得到很好的理解。该项目将评估不同程度的政治联系如何影响经济交流。 从这项研究的结果将提供有价值的洞察力，以不同的战略可以刺激经济发展的地区，法治是不均匀分布在citizen.Technical AbstractThis项目包括一个联合实验之间的企业领导人，以及一个创新的实地实验，以评估如何不同程度的连通性影响经济交流弱状态。 在现有的关于政治网络、契约和弱国经济交换的研究基础上，这一联合实验将有助于确定对发展中经济体企业最重要的潜在商业伙伴的特征。随机对照试验（RCT）将通过随机改变参与交换的双方之间的联系信号，并观察这些信号如何塑造合同和交易，来测试政治联系如何影响现实环境中的变化。这些发现将是对政治联系对经济交流影响的首批因果估计之一。

General AbstractConfidence in basic economic exchange is an important building block for economies. This confidence in economic exchange is often affected by state institutions that possess the authority to enforce contracts which ensure agreements are not broken. In much of the world, however, weak state institutions limit the confidence of citizens and businesses that contracts and deals will be enforced fairly. As a result, economic exchange is stifled and inefficiencies persist. Understanding how contracts and economic exchange are affected, particularly in contexts where only a subset of individuals enjoy privileged access to state institutions, is essential for development yet not well understood. This project will assess how varying levels political connectivity influences economic exchange. The findings from this study will provide valuable insight as to how different strategies can spur economic development in areas where the rule of law is not evenly distributed among citizens.Technical AbstractThis project consists of a conjoint experiment among firm leaders, as well as an innovative field experiment to assess how varying degrees of connectedness influences economic exchange in weak states. Building off existing work on political networks, contracting, and economic exchange in a weak state, this conjoint experiment will help to identify the characteristics of potential business partners that matter most to firms in developing economies. The randomized control trial (RCT) will test how political connections affect change in realistic contexts, by randomly varying signals of connections between the two parties engaged in exchange, and observing how these signals serve to shape the contracts and deals that result. The findings will be among the first causal estimates of the impact of political connections on economic exchange.