JOURNAL ARTICLES
Opportunistic Privatization [link]
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(2023) European Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming (with Vladan Ivanović, Drini Imami)
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Politicians use subsidies to induce privatised firms to pursue costly strategies (e.g. excess employment)
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Before elections, politicians prefer privatization to state ownership, and privatization activity increases.
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The firms privatized before elections are sold at a discount, display higher costs, and achieve a lower performance than other privatized firms.
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Corruption and Growth: Historical Evidence, 1790-2010 [link]
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(2022) Journal of Comparative Economics, 50 (2): 321-349
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Corruption reduces the steady-state rate of economic growth.
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The detrimental effects of corruption are larger in democracies, where 'petty' corruption is more prevalent.
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Corruption is no less harmful in economies with more dysfunctional economic institutions.
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The Feminisation U, Cultural Norms, and the Plough [link]
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(2023) Journal of Population Economics, 36 (1): 5-35 (with Elodie Douarin)
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Female labour supply first declines and then rises in the course of economic development.
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In the data, this pattern is only found in countries with a legacy of historical plough use.
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The mechanisms that generate the U are only operative in contexts with gender-unequal cultural norms
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Bribes, Rents and Industrial Firm Performance in Albania and Kosovo [link]
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(2020) Comparative Economic Studies, 62: 263-302
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Bribes are costs that firms incur to 'grease the wheels' of the bureaucracy and/or to seek rents.
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A novel enterprise survey was conducted to measure corruption and rent transfers at the firm level.
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Bribes and rents have both positive and negative effects on firm performance; yet, the net effect is negative.
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Does Aid Promote Electoral Integrity? [link]
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(2019) Journal of Development Studies, 56 (6): 1067-94 (with David Jackson)
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Aid spending for elections has a small but positive effect on the freedom and fairness of elections.
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Ballot stuffing and counting irregularities are especially responsive to donor-funded integrity efforts.
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Electoral assistance programmes are more effective if implemented closer to election day.
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Election Cycles and Mining-sector Governance in Post-conflict Kosovo [link]
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(2002) Post-Communist Economies, 31 (5): 623-645 (with Geoffrey Pugh, Drini Imami, Endrit Lami)
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The number of mining licenses issued increases significantly in the 6 months preceding scheduled elections.
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There is no significant increase in licensing activities before early (snap) elections.
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The election cycle is driven primarily by an increase in licences for the mining of construction materials.
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Corruption in Transition Economies: Socialist, Ottoman or Structural? [link]
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(2018) Economic Systems, 42 (4): 533-55
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Countries with a longer history of Ottoman and socialist rule have more corruption today, all else equal.
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Historical legacies have less explanatory power than contemporary determinants of corruption.
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Per-capita income today explains half the variation in corruption levels across post-socialist countries.
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Political Business Cycles and Construction Licensing: Evidence from Post-Socialist Tirana, Albania (1994-2015) [link]
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(2018) Economics of Transition, 26 (3): 523-552 (with Drini Imami, Endrit Lami and Edvin Zhllima)
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The supply of construction permits increases in pre-election years if municipal and central-level incumbents are from the same political coalition.
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Construction licensing decreases before elections if the municipality is run by an opposition mayor.
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Left-wing incumbents issue fewer construction permits than right-wing incumbents.
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Election Cycles in Mining Licensing: Theory and Evidence from Albania [link]
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(2018) Post-Communist Economies, 30 (1): 99-116 (with Drini Imami and Endrit Lami)
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We document a political business cycle effect in a non-fiscal, non-monetary policy variable.
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The number of mining licenses issued increases significantly in pre-election years.
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The supply of mining licenses is lower under left-wing incumbents.
SHORT PIECES
Marginal Effects in Log-Transformed Models: A Trade Application [link]
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(2017) Stata Journal, 17 (3): 1-4
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Explains how to compute marginal effects in non-linear models when the independent variable of interest is log-transformed.
Interpreting Logit Models [link]
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(2022) Stata Journal, 22 (1): 60-76
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Presents pedagogically a menu of options to interpret the results of logistic regressions.
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Explains how to compute marginal effects, partial effects, (contrasts of) predictive margins, elasticities, and odds and risk ratios.
BOOK CHAPTERS
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(2023) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (ed. Klaus F. Zimmerman), Springer, forthcoming (with Elodie Douarin)
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Provides a summary of the theoretical and empirical literature on the feminisation U in development economics.
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Performs a replication analysis of established results from the literature.
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Institutions, Human Capital and Economic Growth [link]
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(2021) Palgrave Handbook of Comparative Economics (eds. Elodie Douarin, Oleh Havrylyshyn), Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 461-492 (with Carl H. Knutsen)
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B​​​oth property rights institutions and human capital are positively related to economic growth.
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The estimated effect of human capital is larger and more robust than the effect of institutions.
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A broad-based protection of property rights only promotes growth in mid- to high-income economies.
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(2021) Central and South-Eastern Europe 2022, 22nd edition (ed. Imogen Gladman), Routledge: Abingdon, pp. 46-50 [updated for the 23rd and 24th editions]
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Provides a comprehensive overview of the Albanian economy and business sector, with a focus on recent developments.
(2019) Central and South-Eastern Europe 2020, 20th edition (ed. Imogen Gladman), Routledge: Abingdon, pp. 315-319 [updated for the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th editions]
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Provides a comprehensive overview of the Kosovar economy and business sector, with a focus on recent developments.