German Development Economics Conference 2024

Session

Parallel Session 7

24 May 2024, 09:00

A320 (Personalentwicklung)

159. A slippery slope: topographic variation as an instrumental variable

Nils Haveresch (RWI-Leibniz Institute of Economic Research, Essen)

24/05/2024, 09:00

Research Methods

Parallel Session

A key identification assumption required for causal claims of instrumental variables (IVs) is the exclusion restriction. This paper assesses the validity of this assumption for topographic variation as a widely used IV in empirical economics. A systematic review of leading economics journals identifies 56 different variables that the reviewed literature causally links to topographic variation....

149. Lost in the Design Space? Construct Validity in the Microfinance Literature

Christina Petrik (Universität Passau)

24/05/2024, 09:30

Financial Inclusion and Microfinance

Parallel Session

While results from individual Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) often do
not hold beyond their particular setting, the accumulation of many RCTs can be
used to guide policy. But how many studies are required to confidently
generalize? Our paper examines construct validity, an often neglected yet
important element affecting generalizability. Construct validity deals with how
the...

41. Mapping changes in urban informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa from 2016 to 2022

Nicolas Büttner (ETH Zurich)

24/05/2024, 10:00

Poverty and Inequality

Parallel Session

More than one billion people worldwide live in informal settlements, often called ‘slums’. In sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s fastest urbanizing region, every second urban resident is considered a ‘slum-dweller’. Identifying and mapping the locations of informal settlements at scale and tracking their development over time is thus crucial for adequate policies to alleviate urban poverty and...

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