Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) Fall 2013

The Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) held a one-day workshop on December 19th, 2013 which fostered constructive dialogue on research in progress by bringing together faculty and graduate students from top institutions on the West Coast. Researchers presented five works on topics that affect African political economy including electoral fraud, mineral mining, political repression, insurance and access to credit. Every member of the workshop was able to engage and provided deep and valuable comments to bolster the quality of the research.

WGAPE serves as a forum for presenting works-in-progress, and provides an unparalleled opportunity for useful feedback by colleagues in the field.  After nine years as an exclusively west coast entity, WGAPE expanded its reach to include scholars from across the country.  Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), WGAPE held its first national meeting in May 2012, at the Blum Center on the University of California, Berkeley campus.

WGAPE brings together faculty and advanced graduate students in Economics and Political Science who combine field research experience in Africa with training in political economy methods. Since 2002, the group has met semi-annually to discuss the work-in-progress of its core members and invited guests. It is co-led by Daniel Posner (Department of Political Science, UCLA) and Edward Miguel (Department of Economics, UC Berkeley).

Agenda

Thursday, 19 December

Blum Center Room B100 (First Floor)

9:00-10:00 AM      Breakfast

10:00-11:00 AM    Marshall Burke (Berkeley)

                             Selling low and buying high: An arbitrage puzzle in Kenyan villages

11:00-11:15 AM    Break

11:15-12:15 PM    Sarah Brierley (UCLA) and George Ofosu (UCLA) presenting for Eric Kramon (Stanford)

                              Election Observers and Electoral Fraud

12:15-12:45 PM    EASST Initiative at CEGA

12:45-1:30 PM      Lunch

1:30-2:30 PM        Darin Christensen (Stanford)

                               The Geography of Repression in Africa

2:30-3:30 PM        Maya Oren (UCSD)

                               Too Certain to Invest? Government Credibility and Ethiopian Insurance Markets

3:30-3:45 PM        Break

3:45-4:45 PM        Anja Tolonen (Gothenburg, visiting Berkeley)

                               African Mining, Gender and Local Employment

Papers are located in a zip folder titled “WGAPE Dec 2013 Papers” on the right hand side of this event page.

Photo Credit: Elisa Cascardi