Economics
Podcasts
INVITED EDITOR
Editorial from
Jonathan Weigel
July 16, 2024
4. Quality education

4. Quality education

Ensure access to inclusive, quality and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
LEARN MORE

“NOVAFRICA Sustainable Development Talks” podcast episode with Jonathan Weigel

"Optimal Assignment of Bureaucrats: Evidence DRC", with Jonathan Weigel, University of California

"Optimal Assignment of Bureaucrats: Evidence DRC", with Jonathan Weigel, University of California

The assignment of workers to tasks and teams is a key margin of firm productivity and apotential source of state effectiveness. This paper investigates whether a low-capacity statecan increase its tax revenue through the optimal assignment of its tax collectors. We study thetwo-stage random assignment of property tax collectors (i) into teams and (ii) to neighborhoodsin a large Congolese city. The optimal assignment involves positive assortative matching onboth dimensions: high (low) ability collectors should be paired together, and high (low) abilityteams should be paired with high (low) payment propensity households. Positive assortativematching stems from complementarities in collector-to-collector and collector-to-householdmatch types. We provide evidence that these complementarities reflect high-ability collectorsexerting greater effort when matched with other high-ability collectors. Implementing theoptimal assignment would increase tax compliance by an estimated 36% relative to the statusquo (random) assignment. By contrast, the government would need to replace 62% of lowability collectors with high-ability ones or increase collectors’ performance wages by 69% toachieve a similar increase under the status quo assignment.

“NOVAFRICA Sustainable Development Talks” Podcast

Listen here to the “NOVAFRICA Sustainable Development Talks” Podcast. NOVAFRICA Sustainable Development Talks

These series of audio talks about development in Africa bring together experts from a wide range of institutions. Alex Armand, resident member of NOVAFRICA and Assistant Professor at Nova SBE, is the coordinator of this Podcast.

Join us!

Jonathan Weigel
LEARN MORE
SHARE

Keep reading

Portugal, Social Balance 2021

“Portugal, Balanço Social” is a yearly report which aims to draw a socioeconomic portrait of Portuguese families and provide a basis for cross-sectional discussion on poverty and social exclusion in the country. This second edition was launched this January and you can learn more about it here.

Collaboration between Nova SBE and companies creates value in the local municipality of Cascais

Economic 1st responders & the perspective of an Alumnus, who acted as a Mentor in representation of Deloitte, partner of this initiative

Identifying demand shocks from production data

Standard productivity estimates contain a mixture of cost efficiency and demand conditions. I propose a method to identify the distribution of the demand shock using production data.

Are economic impact assessments needed?

(IN)Pertinente with Cátia Baptista: What is the use of testing economic policies without assessing their impact? How do we know if a cost-effective solution is truly a solution without testing it and measuring the results before launching it on a large scale? Economic policies must be tested but also evaluated, just as it is done in science, with medicines. Cátia Baptista responds to Hugo Van Der Ding's curiosity and talks about her field experience, reporting on studies whose results are surprising.

THE CHOICES OF

Nova SBE awarded at the 1st edition of the EFFAS Gasperini Awards

Professors Miguel Ferreira and José Tavares and Nova SBE PhD student Sharmin Sazedj were awarded the first edition of the EFFAS Gasperini Awards, where they represented Nova SBE

Subscribe our weekly newsletter

By subscribing to the Nova SBE Role to Play newsletter, you can stay up-to-date on the latest articles posted on the website.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

We all have a role to play

We are on a mission to be a community dedicated to the development of talent and knowledge that impacts the world.

With just ten years to go, an ambitious global effort is underway to deliver the 2030 promise. We want to take a stand and we are calling on our community to showcase how they are contributing to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, whilst influencing more and more people to unravel their role to play.

Here, you will find four different ways your ideas can flourish, dialogue can be enhanced, and action can take place. You can choose one or all four, and Nova SBE will be there to support you all the way and guarantee tangible change.

We all have a role to play, and this is your way in.