Benjamin S. Morse
Connect with Benjamin
About Benjamin
Morse's research focuses on the political economy of development in West Africa. In his dissertation; he examines strategies to improve citizen trust and cooperation with the police in countries with weak rule of law. he is also active in research to inform humanitarian policy and response.
Prior to MIT; he worked for Innovations for Poverty Action in New York; Mexico; and Liberia; and as a consultant for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Liberia. He holds a B.A. in Government from Colby College; and is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Contributions
Why Citizen Trust in Government Matters — Especially when Crises Strike
No Jargon Podcast
Publications
Reports results from an experimental evaluation of the Liberian National Police's "Confidence Patrols" program, which deployed teams of newly-retrained, better-equipped police officers on recurring patrols to rural communities across three Liberian counties over a period of 14 months.
Studies the effectiveness of Liberian government's door-to-door canvassing campaign during the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic by combining data from an original, representative survey of Monrovia conducted during the crisis with plausibly as-if random variation in where the campaign was and was not able to reach.
Proposes that violence can increase individuals' capacity to empathize with others, and that empathy born of violence can in turn motivate helping behavior across group boundaries. Tests these hypotheses using data on the hosting behavior of over 1500 Liberians during 2010-2011 Ivorian refugee crisis in eastern Liberia, a region with a long history of cross-border, inter-ethnic violence.
Uses results from a representative survey conducted during the 2014-15 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in Monrovia, Liberia to assess the relationship between trust in government and compliance with EVD control interventions.
Uses data from a population-based panel survey conducted in the late-crisis period and two post-crisis periods to track trends in (1) the prevalence of adult and child illness, (2) usage of health services and (3) the determinants thereof.