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Referral and job performance: evidence from the Ghana colonial army

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 11:53 authored by Marcel Fafchamps, Alexander Moradi
Using data compiled from army archives, we test whether the referral system in use in the British colonial army in Ghana served to improve the unobserved quality of new recruits. We find that it did not. If anything, referred recruits were more likely to desert and be dismissed as inefficient or unfit. We find instead evidence of referee opportunism. Army recruiters may have been aware of this problem by insisting that referred recruits have better observed characteristics.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Economic Development and Cultural Change

ISSN

0013-0079

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Issue

4

Volume

63

Page range

715-751

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-04-25

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-04-25

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-04-25

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