Virtual Workshops

Friday, May 15, 2026 – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Paper: Carbon Leakage to Developing Countries

Speaker: Marcel Olbert, University of Mannheim

Abstract: How do climate policies in developed countries spill over to the developing world? Using a novel dataset that combines multinational firms' subsidiary locations with spatial emission data, we study how the carbon footprint of multinational firms in Africa changes in response to more stringent climate policies in Europe. Exploiting variation in multinationals' exposure to carbon prices across European countries, we find that emissions of their African subsidiaries increase as the multinationals' European operations face higher carbon prices. At the same time, multinationals reduce their domestic investment in Europe while worldwide investment remains unchanged—consistent with the notion that these firms shift some of their operations abroad. We confirm these results at the aggregate level, documenting a significant increase in economic activity and emissions in Africa. Policies to mitigate leakage should thus balance environmental concerns against development and equity considerations.

Friday, March 6, 2026 – 9:00 AM (Central Standard Time, US)

Title: A Vision for Accounting & Development Research

Panelists: Hans B. Christensen, Thomas Rauter, Rimmy E. Tomy, Regina Wittenberg-Moerman

Moderators: Marcela Aguilar, Fred A. Asante, Samuel Chang

Agenda:

• Introduction to the Group (K. Ramesh)

• Multinational Corporations and Supply-Chain Due Diligence in Developing Countries (Hans B. Christensen)

• SME Firms and Field Experiments in Accounting & Development (Thomas Rauter)

• Informal Markets and Lending in Developing Markets (Rimmy E. Tomy & Regina Wittenberg-Moerman)

• Short Panel Discussion + Q&A

Friday, April 3, 2026 – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Title: Advantages and Limitations of Small-Sample Evidence in Developing Economies (LINK TO SLIDES)

Paper: Bayesian Impact Evaluation with Informative Priors: An Application to a Colombian Management and Export Improvement Program

Speaker: David McKenzie, Development Research Group, The World Bank

Abstract: Policymakers often test expensive new programs on relatively small samples. Formally incorporating informative Bayesian priors into impact evaluation offers the promise to learn more from these experiments. We evaluate a Colombian program for 200 firms which aimed to increase exporting. Priors were elicited from academics, policymakers, and firms. Contrary to these priors, frequentist estimation cannot reject null effects in 2019, and finds some negative impacts in 2020. For binary outcomes like whether firms export, frequentist estimates are relatively precise, and Bayesian posterior intervals update to overlap almost completely with standard confidence intervals. For outcomes like increasing export variety, where the priors align with the data, the value of these priors is seen in posterior intervals that are considerably narrower than the confidence intervals. Finally, for noisy outcomes like export value, posterior intervals show almost no updating from priors, highlighting how uninformative the data are about such outcomes. Future policy experiments could use these posteriors as priors in a Bayesian or empirical Bayesian analysis.

TBD Late April/Early May – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Title: Experimental Economics

Speaker: John A. List, University of Chicago

Friday, May 15, 2026 – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Paper: Carbon Leakage to Developing Countries

Speaker: Marcel Olbert, University of Mannheim

Abstract: How do climate policies in developed countries spill over to the developing world? Using a novel dataset that combines multinational firms' subsidiary locations with spatial emission data, we study how the carbon footprint of multinational firms in Africa changes in response to more stringent climate policies in Europe. Exploiting variation in multinationals' exposure to carbon prices across European countries, we find that emissions of their African subsidiaries increase as the multinationals' European operations face higher carbon prices. At the same time, multinationals reduce their domestic investment in Europe while worldwide investment remains unchanged—consistent with the notion that these firms shift some of their operations abroad. We confirm these results at the aggregate level, documenting a significant increase in economic activity and emissions in Africa. Policies to mitigate leakage should thus balance environmental concerns against development and equity considerations.

Friday, August 28, 2026 – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Title: TBD

Speaker: Jonathan J. Morduch, New York University

Abstract: TBD

Friday, October 9, 2026 – 10:00 AM (Central Daylight Time, US)

Title: TBD

Speaker: TBD

Abstract: TBD

Workshop organizers:

Marcela Aguilar, kma6@rice.edu

Fred Asante, faa48@cornell.edu

Samuel Chang, samuel.chang@chicagobooth.edu