Hoff, Karla Ruth

Poverty traps ( Book )
2 editions published in 2006 in English and held by 636 libraries worldwide
Much popular belief, and public policy, rests on the idea that those born into poverty have it in their powers to escape. But the persistence of poverty and ever-growing economic inequality around the world has led to many economists to seriously question the model of individual economic self-determination when it comes to the poor. In this book, the contributors argue that there are many conditions that may trap individuals, groups, and whole economies in intractable poverty. For the first time the editors have brought together the perspectives of economies, economic history, and sociology to assess what we know, and don't know, about such traps.

The Economics of rural organization : theory, practice, and policy ( Book )
9 editions published between 1993 and 1996 in English and Undetermined and held by 339 libraries worldwide
The objective of this book is to narrow the gaps between economic theory and empirical work, and between academic research and policy evaluation, with respect to the rural sector of developing countries.

Non-leaky buckets : optimal redistributive taxation and agency costs by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
6 editions published in 1994 in English and held by 77 libraries worldwide

After the big bang? : Obstacles to the emergence of the rule of law in post-communist societies by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
11 editions published in 2002 in English and No Linguistic content and held by 76 libraries worldwide

The creation of the rule of law and the legitimacy of property rights : the political and economic consequences of a corrupt privatization by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
7 editions published in 2005 in English and held by 36 libraries worldwide
How does the lack of legitimacy of property rights affect the dynamics of the creation of the rule of law? The authors investigate the demand for the rule of law in post-communist economies after privatization under the assumption that theft is possible, that those who have "stolen" assets cannot be fully protected under a change in the legal regime toward rule of law, and that the number of agents with control rights over assets is large. They show that a demand for broadly beneficial legal reform may not emerge because the expectation of weak legal institutions increases the expected relative return to stripping assets, and strippers may gain from a weak and corrupt state. The outcome can be inefficient even from the narrow perspective of the asset-strippers.

The creation of the rule of law and the legitimacy of property rights : the political and economic consequences of a corrupt privatization by Joseph E Stiglitz ( Book )
2 editions published in 2005 in English and held by 33 libraries worldwide
How does the lack of legitimacy of property rights affect the dynamics of the creation of the rule of law? We investigate the demand for the rule of law in post-Communist economies after privatization under the assumption that theft is possible, that those who have "stolen" assets cannot be fully protected under a change in the legal regime towards rule of law, and that the number of agents with control rights over assets is large. We show that a demand for broadly beneficial legal reform may not emerge because the expectation of weak legal institutions increases the expected relative return to stripping assets, and strippers may gain from a weak and corrupt state. The outcome can be inefficient even from the narrow perspective of the asset-strippers.

The kin system as a poverty trap by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
6 editions published in 2005 in English and held by 32 libraries worldwide
An institution found in many traditional societies is the extended family system (kin system), an informal system of shared rights and obligations among extended family for the purpose of mutual assistance. In predominantly non-market economies, the kin system is a valuable institution providing critical community goods and insurance services in the absence of market or public provision. But what happens when the market sector grows in the process of economic development? How do the members of kin groups respond, individually and collectively, to such changes? When the kin system "meets" the modern economy, does the kin system act as a "vehicle of progress" helping its members adapt, or as an "instrument of stagnation" holding back its members from benefiting from market development? In reality, the consequences of membership in a kin group have been varied for people in different parts of the world. Hoff and Sen characterize the conditions under which the kin system becomes a dysfunctional institution when facing an expanding modern economy. The authors first show that when there are moral hazard problems in the modern sector, the kin system may exacerbate them. When modern sector employers foresee that, they will offer employment opportunities on inferior terms to members of ethnic groups that practice the kin system. These entry barriers in the market, in turn, create an incentive for some individuals to break ties with their kin group, which hurts members of the group who stay back in the traditional sector. The authors then show in a simple migration model that if a kin group can take collective action to raise exit barriers, then even if migrating to the modern sector and breaking ties increases aggregate welfare (and even if a majority of members are expected to gain ex post, after the resolution of uncertainty about the identity of the winners and losers), a majority of agents within a kin group may support ex ante raising the exit barrier to prevent movement to the modern sector. This result is an example of the bias toward the status quo analyzed by Raquel Fernandez and Dani Rodrik in the context of trade reform. The authors do not claim that all kin groups will necessarily exhibit such a bias against beneficial regime changes. But they provide a clear intuition about the forces that can lead to the collective conservatism of a kin system facing expanding opportunities in a market economy-forces that can lead the kin group to become a poverty trap for its members.

The transition from communism : a diagrammatic exposition of obstacles to the demand for the rule of law by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
5 editions published in 2004 in English and held by 31 libraries worldwide

Homeownership, community interactions, and segregation by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
5 editions published in 2004 in English and held by 30 libraries worldwide

Belief systems and durable inequalities : an experimental investigation of Indian caste by Karla Ruth Hoff ( Book )
5 editions published in 2004 in English and held by 30 libraries worldwide