Academy scholar, Harvard
Azrieli Scholar, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Assistant Professor, Berkeley Haas (on leave)
Director, Marakuja Kivu Research
rsanchezdelasierra@berkeley.edu
+1-917-488-9151
CV
*“On the Origin of States: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo,” Journal of Political Economy, Accepted
Media coverage: Marginal Revolution, Christopher Blattman’s blog, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Die Zeit, Kris Berwouts, VOXEu, BBC Radio trade series
*“When Formal Contracts Fail,” Econometrica, Revision requested
*“Exporting Democratic Practices: Evidence from a Village Governance Intervention in Eastern Congo” with M Humphreys and P Van der Windt, Journal of Development Economics, Revision requested
Media coverage: Financial Times, World Bank Development blog, Tim Hartford’s blog
*“Corrupt Hierarchies” with Kristof Titeca
Media coverage: Foreign Affairs, The Economist
*“Dis-organizing violence: stationary bandits, and the time horizon”
*“Indirect Rule: Causes and Consequences,” with G Marchais and S Henn
*“Indirect rule and armed conflict: Theoretical insights from Congo” with G Marchais
Publications
*“Why Being Wrong can be Right: Magical Warfare Technology and the Persistence of False Beliefs” with N Nunn, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings (2017)
“Can Externally Mandated Gender Requirements Empower Women?” with M Humphreys and P Van der Windt, Journal of Development Economics (2018)
“Fishing, Commitment, and Communication: Comprehensive Nonbinding Registration” with M Humphreys and P Van der Windt, Political Analysis, 2012, 21 (1) pp 1-20
Media coverage: World Bank’s Development Impact blog
Work in Progress
*“Moral tribes: why do people join armed groups?” with G Marchais
*“On the mechanics of Kleptocratic states: Administrators’ power, protectors, and taxpayers false confessions” with S Henn, L Paler, C Samii, W Prichard (2016)
*Corruption: protection markets and social networks (with Kristof Titeca)
*Emotional factors of participation into armed groups
*Supernatural private sector development (with Nathan Nunn and Max Winkler)
*Injecting Administrators’ Independence, DR Congo, with Eric Mvukiyehe and Guo Xu
*Economics of state kidnaping: Sicilian Fishermen, with Naor Ben-Yehoyada and Vito Pipitone
Book
A political economy of the Congo (in progress)
Policy Report
Social and Economic Impacts of Community Driven Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
