CAGE Working Papers September 2025
CAGE Working Papers September 2025
Tuesday 30 Sep 2025CAGE research papers draw on our global academic network of research associates and address topics aligned to our four core themes.
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774 A Century of Language Barriers to Migration in IndiaLink opens in a new window
Authors: Latika Chaudhary, Yannick Dupraz, and James Fenske
Theme: Global Economic History
Summary: This paper analyzes the role of language in shaping migration patterns in colonial India using 1901 district-level data and a gravity model. District pairs with more dissimilar languages experienced lower migration, even after accounting for distance, geography, and fixed effects. Robustness checks using regression discontinuity confirm the findings, which also hold in 2001. The evidence suggests that linguistic diversity reduces migration primarily through communication and information barriers, rather than cultural differences, underscoring language’s persistent economic impact.
773 Air Quality and Conferences' EngagementLink opens in a new window
Authors: Ludovica Gazze, Tanu Gupta, Allen (Weiyi) Huang, Valentina Londoño, Santiago Saavedra, Mattie Toma
Theme: Responsive Public Policy
Summary: This paper investigates the impact of air pollution on workplace behavior, focusing on participation, collaboration, and feedback provision. Using a field experiment at three large academic conferences, the authors randomly assigned air purifiers to rooms and constructed a participant engagement index based on 12 behavioral outcomes weighted by expert survey input. While treated rooms showed 48% lower PM2.5 concentrations, no significant change in engagement was observed, suggesting communication may not strongly mediate pollution’s productivity effects.
Authors: Michelle Escobar Carias, Victoria Baranov, Joanna Maselko, Pietro Biroli, and Sonia Bhalotra
Theme: Gender Health and Wellbeing
Summary: This paper examines the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for women in rural Pakistan. Using data on four pandemic-related stressors - experienced illness and death, worry about disease risk, economic shocks, and economic uncertainty - the study assesses their associations with multiple mental health outcomes. The findings reveal that heightened economic uncertainty significantly exacerbates mental health deterioration beyond the direct effects of morbidity, mortality, and income loss, underscoring the importance of expectations in shaping psychological well-being.
771 Innovation and the Great DivergenceLink opens in a new window
Authors: Stephen Broadberry, Runzhuo Zhai
Theme: Global Economic History
Summary: This paper explores the timing of the Great Divergence through recent advances in historical national accounting, focusing on GDP per capita trends in northwest Europe and China's Yangzi Delta. While Europe experienced continuous gains from the fourteenth century onward, the Yangzi Delta followed cyclical declines reaching lower levels. Divergent innovation paths underpinned these outcomes: Britain and the Netherlands saw sustained TFP growth, whereas China's growth was largely negative after the Northern Song, shaping long-run economic divergence.
770 Heads Up: Does Air Pollution Cause Workplace Accidents?Link opens in a new window
Authors: Victor Lavy, Genia Rachkovski, Omry Yoresh
Theme: Gender Health and Wellbeing
Summary: This paper examines the causal impact of air pollution on construction site accidents in Israel, linking data from pollution monitors and construction records. The study finds that a 10-ppb rise in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) increases accident likelihood by up to 25 percent, with non-linear effects: moderate pollution raises risk by 138 percent, unhealthy levels by 377 percent. The analysis suggests heightened cognitive strain amplifies risks and includes a cost-benefit assessment of subsidizing site closures on polluted days.
Authors: Carolina Kansikas, Anandi Mani, Paul Niehaus
Theme: Responsive Public Policy
Summary: This paper investigates the preferences of low-income households in Kenya regarding the timing and structure of unconditional cash transfers. Contrary to many safety-net program designs, most households favored lumpy or deferred transfers, reflecting financial challenges of poverty. Empirically, receiving transfers later in the year increased income 1.5 years later, though willingness to defer was highly sensitive to short-term cash flow. The findings suggest tailoring transfer design to beneficiaries' decision-making environments can enhance financial outcomes.
Authors: Carolina Kansikas and Manuel Bagues
Theme: Responsive Public Policy
Summary: This paper examines whether mayoral term limit extensions influence women's access to top political positions in Italy. Using a difference-in-discontinuities design across two reforms that lengthened limits from two to three terms, the study finds that longer tenure reduces opportunities for early-career politicians, lowering female mayoral representation by 8 percentage points. Effects are strongest where women hold more lower-level positions and gender quotas apply, highlighting how turnover policies can complement quotas to improve women's political advancement.
767 Financing Innovation: The Role of Patent ExaminationLink opens in a new window
Authors: Stephen D. Billington, Christopher L. Colvin, Christopher Coyle
Theme: Responsive Public Policy
Summary: This paper investigates how patent system design influences firms' access to finance, focusing on a UK reform that introduced substantive examination of patent applications. Using data on listed corporations, the study shows that firms with examined patents secured greater borrowing, indicating enhanced access to capital markets and subsequent growth. The findings demonstrate how patent examination reduces information asymmetry, strengthens patents' signaling value for investors, and alleviates financial barriers to innovation, thereby linking intellectual property policy to firm financing.
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