Research
Research
Nation-Building through Restorative Justice (with Daniela Horta Sáenz and Gianluca Russo) (submitted)
Funded by UNU WIDER and STEG. [CEPR-STEG Working Paper]
How do societies rebuild after decades of institutionalized oppression and intergroup violence? We study the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which sought to rebuild the nation through public truth-telling about apartheid-era abuses. Using quasi-exogenous variation in exposure to live TRC broadcasts, we show that the TRC strengthened cohesion among Blacks, reducing interethnic violence and increasing national identification. At the same time, it weakened interracial relations, raising segregation and lowering intermarriage. Hearing content suggests these effects reflect intra-Black reconciliation driven by emotional engagement.
These divisions had downstream consequences: using administrative tax data, we show they hindered public policy implementation.
Refugee Settlement and Social Integration: Evidence from Turkey (submitted)
This paper explores how refugee networks influence social integration in the host community. I study this question in the context of Turkey, a country that has been profoundly impacted by the arrival of more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011. Using a rich dataset on the mobile phone communications of Syrian refugees living in the country, I construct village-level measures of refugee presence and social integration. In villages with a larger refugee population, refugees make significantly more phone calls with locals and other refugees, and homophily decreases. Furthermore, refugee networks are more important for social integration when the refugee population is small relative to natives and when the cultural gap between refugees and locals is wider. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that refugee networks make it easier for their members to interact with locals by sharing information on local norms and creating new opportunities to meet locals.
Coverage: World Bank Development Impact Blog
From Missing Brothers to Educated Sisters: The Effects of Victimization During the Rwandan Genocide
World Development, July 2025.
"Social Networks and Women's Economic Empowerment" (with S. Anukriti and Eeshani Kandpal)
"Transportation Networks and Inter-Ethnic Contacts" (with Gedeon Lim and Alex Rothenberg)
"Can I get that in writing? Lessons from a Contracting Field Experiment in Urban Malawi (with Mahesh Karra)