Calendrier du 21 septembre 2022
Development Economics Seminar
Du 21/09/2022 de 16:30 à 18:00
Salle R2.21, Campus Jourdan
CORNO Lucia ((Cattolica University and CEPR))
Norms Replacement. A Field Experiment on Ending Female Genital Cutting”
écrit avec with E. La Ferrara
We evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions designed to reduce the incidence of female genital cutting (FGC) among adolescent girls in Sierra Leone. In this setting, FGC is part of a ritual called “Bondo”, which marks a girl's transition into womanhood. We randomly assigned over 3,500 mothers from 150 villages to three experimental arms: (i) a control group; (ii) an information arm, where we held community-wide discussions on the differences in outcomes between cut and uncut girls (e.g., in terms of health); and (iii) a norm-replacement arm, aimed at substituting the traditional ritual with an alternative that does not involve cutting “Bondo without cutting''. We measure FGC status both through mother's reports and through direct observation by medical personnel during health checks. Both treatments resulted in a 35%-38% increase in the probability that girls were not cut and that their mothers reported the intention not to cut them two years after the intervention. Our results underline the importance of designing culturally-sensitive policies when trying to change harmful traditions.
Economic History Seminar
Du 21/09/2022 de 12:00 à 13:30
Salle R2.01, Campus Jourdan
MA Debin (University of Oxford)
Ideology and Economic Change: the Contrasting Paths to the Modern Economy in late 19th century China and Japan
écrit avec with Jared Rubin
This paper revisits the old thesis of the contrasting paths of modernization between Japan and China. It develops a new analytical framework regarding the role of ideology and ideological change—Meiji Japan’s decisive turn towards the West pitted against Qing China’s lethargic response to the Western imperialism—as the key driver behind these contrasting paths. Our model and historical narrative highlights the contrast between Tokugawa Japan’s feudal decentralized political regime and Qing China’s centralized bureaucratic system as key determinants behind the differential patterns of ideological realignment. Meanwhile, we argue that the 1894-95 Japanese naval victory over China could not be justified under the prevailing Imperial Chinese ideology and thus served as the catalyst for China’s subsequent ideological transformation, which occurred via borrowing Japan’s successful Meiji reforms of both institutions and ideology. Our new analytical framework developed closely from a comparative historical narrative sheds new insights on the role of ideology and ideological change – as distinguished from culture and institutions - to our understanding of political and economic change.