Areas of Expertise (6)
Political Economy
State Capacity
Development
Corruption
Taxation
Religion
About
Jonathan Weigel is an assistant professor in the Business and Public Policy Group at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. His research interests are at the intersection of political economy, development, and public economics. His primary research agenda explores the role of state capacity in development with a focus on taxation. A second agenda explores the relationship between culture (especially religion) and institutions. His field work is based in the D.R. Congo, where he runs a research organization called ODEKA, as well as Tanzania and Haiti. He completed a PhD in Political Economy and Government at Harvard in 2018.
Education (3)
Harvard University: PhD, Political Economy and Government 2018
Cambridge University: One-year Tripos, Political Theory 2010
Harvard College: BA, Social Studies 2009
Links (3)
Honors & Awards (3)
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard
2015
Fulbright Scholarship, Democratic Republic of Congo
2016
William Shirley Scholarship, Harvard-Cambridge Scholarships
2009 - 2010
Selected External Service & Affiliations (5)
- Research Associate : Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), 2020 - Present
- Member : Evidence in Governance and Politics Network (EGAP), 2020 - Present
- Affiliate : Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), 2018 - Present
- Founding Director : ODEKA (Organisation des Etudes Economiques sur le Kasaï) : 2015 - Present
- Reviewer : American Economic Review: Insights, American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Econometrica, Economica, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Public Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economics & Statistics, World Politics
Languages (2)
- English
- French
Positions Held (1)
At Haas since 2021
2021 - present, Assistant Professor, Business and Public Policy Group, Haas School of Business 2018 - 2021, Assistant Professor, Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science
Working Papers (6)
Local Elites as State Capacity: How Local Information Increases Tax Compliance in the D.R. Congo
R&R, American Economic Review
Balan P, Bergeron A, Tourek G, Weigel JL
The State Capacity Ceiling on Tax Rates: Evidence from Randomized Tax Abatements in the D.R. Congo
Bergeron A, Tourek G, and Weigel JL
The Taxman Cometh: A Virtuous Cycle of Compliance and State Legitimacy in the D.R. Congo
Weigel JL, Ngindu EK
Making Citizens Legible to the State: A Six-country Randomized Experiment to Increase Formalization by Reducing Transaction Costs
de la O A et al.
The Supply of Bribes: Evidence from Roadway Tolls in the D.R. Congo
Reid O, Kabasubabu JF, Weigel JL
Land Formalization in Weak States: Evidence from an Urban Land Titling RCT in Congo
Balan P, Bergeron A, Tourek G, Weigel JL
Selected Papers & Publications (4)
The Participation Dividend of Taxation: How Citizens in Congo Engage More with the State When it Tries to Tax Them
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Jonathan L Weigel
2020
Moralizing Gods, Extended Prosociality, and Religious Parochialism Across 15 Societies
Proceedings of the Royal Academy
Lang M et al.
2019
The Genetic Legacy of State Centralization in the Kuba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
van Dorp et al.
2019
The Evolution of Culture and Institutions: Evidence from the Kuba Kingdom
Econometrica
Lowes S, Nunn N, Robinson JA, and Weigel JL
2017
Teaching (1)
Development Management (LSE)
DV 431
Social