Phil Xu | Texas A&M University (original) (raw)
Address: College Station, United States
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Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva
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Papers by Phil Xu
By using a geo-coded disaggregated dataset in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1997– 2013, we e... more By using a geo-coded disaggregated dataset in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1997– 2013, we exploit year-to-year rainfall variation as an instrumental variable to estimate the causal effect of economic shocks on civil conflict conditional on governance quality. We confirm earlier findings that adverse rainfall shocks increase the likelihood of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. We also investigate the role of governance quality on conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. The results underscore that improvement of governance quality can effectively mitigate the detrimental effect of negative income shocks on regional peace. However, due to the limited penetration of countrywide governance structures, this effect of governance quality is more significant in areas closer from the capital cities than in the remote areas. ECONOMIC SHOCKS, GOVERNANCE AND VIOLENCE A SUBNATIONAL LEVEL ANALYSIS OF AFRICA Economic shocks, governance and violence: A subnational level analysis of Africa
The distribution of income and wealth resulting from risk-taking behavior significantly affects c... more The distribution of income and wealth resulting from risk-taking behavior significantly affects cooperation and risk-sharing in many areas in many governmental programs, including health insurance and agricultural production. This paper studies redistributive decision making and fairness preferences under different rooted risks using a laboratory experiment, in the treatment of which the subjects can endogenously determine whether they want to buy insurance before they face one of three possible outcomes that will be realized with equal probability. If the first outcome is realized, a high payment will be delivered regardless of whether the subject buys insurance or not. The second risk is an avoidable loss contingent upon the subject buying insurance. The third outcome is an inevitable loss, i.e., minimum payment will be delivered no matter if the subject has or does not have insurance. Then we investigate fairness preferences of randomly paired subjects who are informed about the ...
Journal of Comparative Economics
The growth of subjective well-being (SWB) is among the most critical aims in human society. SWB i... more The growth of subjective well-being (SWB) is among the most critical aims in human society. SWB is often used to make arguments related to economic policy implementation. While there is considerable perplexity about the accuracy of SWB measures, the vast previous literature on SWB relies on self-reported measures elicited through survey questions. However, self-reported happiness is potentially subject to significant misclassification errors. A new method from the measurement error literature is used to correct the reported happiness measures in 80 countries and to explore how country characteristics and demographic groups influence misclassification errors. Using the Integrated European and World Values Surveys, we find that reported happiness is subject to substantial misclassification errors. These misclassification errors are associated with religious beliefs and economic development stages of countries, along with other individual characteristics. We then utilize the corrected ...
Social Choice and Welfare
Review of Behavioral Economics
Applied Economics Letters, 2015
By using a geo-coded disaggregated dataset in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1997– 2013, we e... more By using a geo-coded disaggregated dataset in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1997– 2013, we exploit year-to-year rainfall variation as an instrumental variable to estimate the causal effect of economic shocks on civil conflict conditional on governance quality. We confirm earlier findings that adverse rainfall shocks increase the likelihood of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. We also investigate the role of governance quality on conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. The results underscore that improvement of governance quality can effectively mitigate the detrimental effect of negative income shocks on regional peace. However, due to the limited penetration of countrywide governance structures, this effect of governance quality is more significant in areas closer from the capital cities than in the remote areas. ECONOMIC SHOCKS, GOVERNANCE AND VIOLENCE A SUBNATIONAL LEVEL ANALYSIS OF AFRICA Economic shocks, governance and violence: A subnational level analysis of Africa
The distribution of income and wealth resulting from risk-taking behavior significantly affects c... more The distribution of income and wealth resulting from risk-taking behavior significantly affects cooperation and risk-sharing in many areas in many governmental programs, including health insurance and agricultural production. This paper studies redistributive decision making and fairness preferences under different rooted risks using a laboratory experiment, in the treatment of which the subjects can endogenously determine whether they want to buy insurance before they face one of three possible outcomes that will be realized with equal probability. If the first outcome is realized, a high payment will be delivered regardless of whether the subject buys insurance or not. The second risk is an avoidable loss contingent upon the subject buying insurance. The third outcome is an inevitable loss, i.e., minimum payment will be delivered no matter if the subject has or does not have insurance. Then we investigate fairness preferences of randomly paired subjects who are informed about the ...
Journal of Comparative Economics
The growth of subjective well-being (SWB) is among the most critical aims in human society. SWB i... more The growth of subjective well-being (SWB) is among the most critical aims in human society. SWB is often used to make arguments related to economic policy implementation. While there is considerable perplexity about the accuracy of SWB measures, the vast previous literature on SWB relies on self-reported measures elicited through survey questions. However, self-reported happiness is potentially subject to significant misclassification errors. A new method from the measurement error literature is used to correct the reported happiness measures in 80 countries and to explore how country characteristics and demographic groups influence misclassification errors. Using the Integrated European and World Values Surveys, we find that reported happiness is subject to substantial misclassification errors. These misclassification errors are associated with religious beliefs and economic development stages of countries, along with other individual characteristics. We then utilize the corrected ...
Social Choice and Welfare
Review of Behavioral Economics
Applied Economics Letters, 2015