UC San Diego

In this dissertation I focus on the political economy of corruption in fraudulent elections and on the effects of trauma on economic decision making. In Chapter 1, I provide results from a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) impact evaluation of a novel anti-fraud technology Photo Quick Count, designed to reduce fraud involving transactions between corrupt officials and parliamentary candidates. In Chapter 2, I provide results from a novel field experiment which uses methods from lab experimental economics, psychology, and field experimental economics to link trauma to economic decision making. In Chapter 3, I theoretically develop the impact trauma should have on measured time preference and provide a preliminary non- experimental test using data from populations affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake