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Jonathan Weigel - Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES

Jonathan Weigel

Assistant Professor | Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES

Social

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

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

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Moralizing Gods, Extended Prosociality, and Religious Parochialism Across 15 Societies


Proceedings of the Royal Academy

Lang M et al.

2019

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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

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The Evolution of Culture and Institutions: Evidence from the Kuba Kingdom


Econometrica

Lowes S, Nunn N, Robinson JA, and Weigel JL

2017

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Teaching (1)

Development Management (LSE)

DV 431

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