Category Archives: Institutions and Growth

Does conflict affect political engagement in Africa?

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

Last Tuesday, as part of CSAE’s weekly seminar series, James Fenske presented his new working paper on ‘War, Resilience and Political Engagement in Africa’ (co-authored with Achyuta Adhvaryu) in which they test whether early-life war exposure influences later-life political engagement … Continue reading →

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Local protectionism in developing economies: evidence from pharmaceutical firms in China

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

This post is written with Zheng Wang The recent trade literature has shown a growing interest in the analysis of barriers to trade within countries, especially with reference to developing economies such as China. Apart from pure academic curiosity, this … Continue reading →

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CSAE conference keynote: Ted Miguel on Conflict, Climate and African Development

Posted on March 20, 2013 by

This Monday at the 2013 CSAE conference, Edward Miguel, introduced by James Fenske, paid tribute to Paul Collier for inspiring and informing a lot of his work on Civil Wars in Africa. Since the early 1990’s there has been much … Continue reading →

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Africans care about jobs; non-Africans care about institutions?

Posted on March 19, 2013 by

There’s a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about Westerners’ perceptions of Africa, and how poorly they align with Africans’ own views of the challenges their societies face. This week I’m in Oxford, for the annual conference on “Economic Development … Continue reading →

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Open Data and Development

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

“the gentlest hand … modern economy, therefore, is the most effectual bridle ever was invented against the folly of despotism.”  — Sir James Steuart (1767) Hirschmann, in a classic of modern political economy (Exit, Voice and Loyalty, 1977),  questions the effectiveness … Continue reading →

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NREGA and rural welfare in India

Posted on February 28, 2013 by

  In the evaluation of social programs, the first order concern is their effect on beneficiaries. However, there is a growing awareness about “spillovers” or “peer effects”, which could affect non-beneficiaries. In Mexican villages where PROGRESA cash transfers were implemented, … Continue reading →

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Economic shocks and conflict: where is the literature headed?

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

I received news this weekend that the keynote speech for the upcoming CSAE conference will be on “Conflict, climate and economic development in Africa.” The speaker will be Berkley’s Ted Miguel. If you didn’t have a reason to attend the … Continue reading →

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Is ethnicity deep?

Posted on January 21, 2013 by

I am teaching a short module in the M.Sc. In Economics for Development this term on “deep roots” of economic development. Enrico Spolaore and Romain Wacziarg provide an excellent summary of this literature here. One half of one of one … Continue reading →

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What have we learned from all the agricultural microinsurance pilots?

Posted on November 16, 2012 by

This blog post is based on a keynote speech given by Daniel Clarke at the 8th International Microinsurance Conference, on 8 November 2012. Since 2003 there have been a large number of agricultural insurance pilots in low income countries.  Many … Continue reading →

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The rise and fall of (Chinese) African apparel exports

Posted on September 24, 2012 by

Even the tiniest signs of industrial take-off in Africa always attract the attention of economists and policymakers, both of whom are eagerly waiting for the elusive African growth miracle. One such episode of excitement was the surge of apparel exports … Continue reading →

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