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SUMMARY:How Market Access Shapes Wellbeing and Values: Experimental Eviden
 ce from the D.R. Congo  - Jonathan Weigel (University of California Berkel
 ey)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260225T123000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260225T140000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/c135f3d0-9fb5-4d92-ab11-465fadab311b/
DESCRIPTION:Classical liberals argue that the expansion of market access p
 romoted prosociality\, hard work\, and thrift\, while according to more cr
 itical schools of thought\, markets ushered in a more self-interested\, se
 cular\, and unsatisfied homo economicus. We examine these ideas in a field
  experiment involving 4\,200 individuals across 300 Congolese villages tha
 t provided free motorcycle transportation to the largest urban market in t
 he province one day per week for six months. Market access increased house
 hold income by 15% nine months after the intervention by facilitating endu
 ring connections to urban traders and stimulating trade in cash crops. How
 ever\, it eroded subjective wellbeing on average and made participants fee
 l further away from their desired income\, likely by generating within-vil
 lage inequality and altering the reference points of market ``losers.'' Ma
 rket access also has a secularizing effect: participants view religious fa
 ith as a less important moral value and a weaker determinant of success in
  life. Instead\, they believe more in their own agency and in the value of
  hard work\, productivity\, education\, income\, and saving. An urban plac
 ebo treatment arm helps attribute these effects to market access\, separat
 e from exposure to the city and urban social networks more generally. \n\n
 Written with Ngoma M\, Sievert C\, Jaravel X\, Nunn N\, Weigel \nSpeakers:
 \nJonathan Weigel (University of California Berkeley)
LOCATION:Manor Road Building (Seminar Room G (third floor))\, Manor Road O
 X1 3UQ
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/c135f3d0-9fb5-4d92-ab11-465fadab311b/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:How Market Access Shapes Wellbeing and Values: Experiment
 al Evidence from the D.R. Congo  - Jonathan Weigel (University of Californ
 ia Berkeley)
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