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.

Abstract

We study how tax policy shapes the cross-border spillovers of U.S. firms’ investments in artificial intelligence (AI). Using data on nearly 2,000 U.S. firms and their 40,000 European subsidiaries, we show that European economies are broadly exposed to U.S. AI investments through different industries and firm types. Within U.S. firms, AI investment comes with growth in their European subsidiaries, especially in countries offering R&D tax incentives and low corporate tax rates. At the industry level, a shift–share design reveals positive spillovers through both U.S.-firm expansion and peer-firm diffusion, strongly shaped by local tax policy. Mechanism tests reveal increases in productivity, R&D, and market expansion among U.S. firms’ European subsidiaries, along with greater AI-related product expansion and labor investment by European peer firms. Our analyses suggest that, unlike capital or other intangible investments, U.S.-originating AI investment drives foreign growth in ways strongly shaped by tax policy. Our findings reveal how tax policy attracts frontier technology investment through multinational firm networks.

Abstract

We study how Russian oligarch-affiliated companies operate globally and respond to sanctions. We construct a dataset tracking 70 companies, 1,800 international subsidiaries, and their institutional investors between 2009 and 2023. These companies maintain extensive networks, especially in tax havens. Difference-in-differences estimates show that the 2014 and 2022 sanctions had limited impact on the companies’ global footprint or access to institutional minority investors. Instead, oligarch companies use more tax haven entities, in particular in jurisdictions offering secrecy, and withdraw from jurisdictions with beneficial ownership disclosure regulation. Our findings highlight how organizational complexity and regulatory arbitrage undermine sanctions, suggesting that globally coordinated transparency regulation is critical for enforcement.

Abstract

In Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs), patients with similar conditions meet the physician together and each receives one-on-one attention. SMAs can improve outcomes and physician productivity. Yet privacy concerns have stymied adoption. In physician-deprived nations, patients’ utility from improved access may outweigh their disutility from loss of privacy. Ours is to our knowledge the first SMA trial for any disease, in India, where doctors are scarce. In a 1,000-patient, single-site, randomized controlled trial at Aravind Eye Hospital, Pondicherry, we compared SMAs and one-on-one appointments, over four successive visits, for patients with glaucoma. We examined patients’ satisfaction, knowledge, intention-to-follow-up, follow-up rates, and medication compliance rates (primary outcomes) using intention-to-treat analysis. Of 1,034 patients invited between July 12, 2016 –July 19, 2018, 1,000 (96.7%) consented to participate, and were randomly assigned to either SMAs (N_SMA = 500) or one-on-one appointments (N_1-1 = 500). Patients who received SMAs showed higher satisfaction (Mean_SMA = 4.955 (SD 0.241), Mean_1-1 = 4.920 (SD 0.326); difference in means 0.035; 95% CI, 0.017–0.054, p = 0.0002) and knowledge (Mean_SMA = 3.416 (SD 1.340), Mean_1-1 = 3.267 (SD 1.492); difference in means 0.149; 95% CI, 0.057–0.241, p = 0.002) than patients who received one-on-one appointments. Across conditions, there was no difference in patients’ intention-to-follow-up (Mean_SMA = 4.989 (SD 0.118), Mean_1-1 = 4.986 (SD 0.149); difference in means 0.003; 95% CI, -0.006–0.012, p = 0.481) and actual follow-up rates (Mean_SMA = 87.5% (SD 0.372), Mean_1-1 = 88.7% (SD 0.338); difference in means -0.012; 95% CI, -0.039–0.015, p = 0.377). Patients who received SMAs exhibited higher medication compliance rates (Mean_SMA = 97.0% (SD 0.180), Mean_1-1 = 94.9% (SD 0.238); difference in means 0.020; 95% CI, 0.004–0.036, p = 0.013). SMAs improved satisfaction, learning, and medication compliance, without compromising follow-up rates or measured clinical outcomes. Peer interruptions were negatively correlated with patient satisfaction in early-trial SMAs and positively correlated with patient satisfaction in later-trial SMAs.

Abstract

Microentrepreneurs represent the most common type of business in the world, and marketing is a primary means by which they earn their livelihoods. They are especially numerous in emerging markets, and many live precarious lives characterized by poverty and potentially devastating exogenous shocks. This paper examines the marketing practices of microentrepreneurs by studying grocery retailers in a large slum in Cairo, Egypt. Employing detailed data on the marketing practices of these retailers, the paper examines why some microentrepreneurs engage in innovation in their marketing practices (and perform better), whereas others fail to do so. We highlight the causal effect of an important, but rarely studied, factor—informal property rights—on innovation in marketing practices among microentrepreneurs. Because few microentrepreneurs in the context we study have access to formal property rights, the threat of expropriation looms large in their lives. We show that those microentrepreneurs who possess their stores (without actually owning them) are substantially less likely to innovate in their marketing practices than those who lease their stores. We make use of an exogenous shock to property-rights laws to assess the causal impact of informal property rights on innovation in marketing practices.