Michael Walker
Michael Walker is a Ph.D. student in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his B.A. in Economics with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University in 2009. He has previously been a Research Associate and Assitant Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Research Assistant to Professor Edward Miguel at Berkeley.
Content by Michael Walker
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Publication - Policy Brief
Economic activity and living standards during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from rural Kenya
Detailed quantitative evidence on the evolution of economic outcomes during the COVID-19 health crisis in low-income countries remains scarce. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns using phone surveys from a representative sample of 11,000 households and 5,000 businesses in one of the poorest regions in Kenya. Surveys started early in the pandemic,...
12 May 2021 | Edward Miguel, Johannes Haushofer, Michael Walker, Dennis Egger
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Publication - Project Report
Understanding economic effects and resilience to COVID-19: Evidence from a cash transfer project in Kenya
12 May 2021 | Edward Miguel, Dennis Egger, Johannes Haushofer, Michael Walker
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Project
Understanding the economic effects and resilience to COVID-19: Evidence from a cash transfer project in Kenya
COVID-19 is causing negative health and economic effects around the globe. Government measures to reduce transmission such as are challenging in many sub-Saharan African contexts, sparking an active debate about the most effective course of action from both epidemiological and economic perspectives. By using high-frequency phone survey data, this project aims to provide...
12 May 2021 | Edward Miguel, Johannes Haushofer, Michael Walker, Dennis Egger
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Publication - Working Paper
Informal taxation and cash transfers: Experimental evidence from Kenya
7 Jun 2018 | Michael Walker
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Blog post
Informal taxation in rural Kenya
The informal taxation system in Kenya is widespread and regressive. It responds to changes in permanent income, rather than temporary income, suggesting that permanent income increases are important for public goods provision. A central question in development economics is how to fund public goods such as water resources, roads, and schools. The standard mechanism of doing...
21 Mar 2018 | Michael Walker
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Project
Spatial equilibrium effects of positive wealth shocks
From the perspective of urban economics, a core constraint facing rural populations is likely their inability to concentrate purchasing power geographically. This is driven by the fact that (i) most primary export products (agricultural goods) require a lot of land, relative to labour for production, and (2) are exports are typically low-margin commodities. We propose to...
25 Feb 2016 | Edward Miguel, Paul Niehaus, Johannes Haushofer, Michael Walker