Overview
Founded in 2002, the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE - pronounced "wah-gah-pay") brings together west coast-based faculty and advanced graduate students in Political Science and Economics who combine deep field research experience in Africa with training in political economy methods. The group meets semi-annually to discuss the work-in-progress of its regular members and invited guests. It is co-led by Daniel Posner (Department of Political Science, MIT) and Edward Miguel (Department of Economics, UC Berkeley).Meetings are built around in-depth discussions of seven or eight papers (see the archive of papers discussed at past WGAPE meetings). The emphasis is on discussion rather than presentation, and members are encouraged to present work in progress on which they would like feedback from the group.
Papers presented at WGAPE meetings have been published in many of the leading journals in Political Science and Economics, including the Journal of Political Economy, the American Political Science Review, the Journal of African Economies, World Politics, African Affairs, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Review of African Political Economy, as well as in several edited volumes.
WGAPE Faculty Members
Claire Adida, Department of Political Science, UCSD
Leonard Arriola, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Pierre Englebert, Department of Politics, Pomona College
Jean Ensminger, Division of Social Sciences, Caltech
Karen Ferree, Department of Political Science, UCSD
Clark Gibson, Department of Political Science, UCSD
Joshua Graff Zivin, IRPS (Economics), UCSD
Mary Kay Gugerty, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
Michael Kevane, Department of Economics, Santa Clara University
David Laitin, Department of Political Science, Stanford University
Craig McIntosh, IRPS (Economics), UCSD
Edward Miguel, Department of Economics, UC Berkeley, co-convenor
Daniel Posner, Department of Political Science, MIT, co-convenor
Jeremy Weinstein, Department of Political Science, Stanford University
Former Graduate Student Members (now Faculty)
Jenny Aker, Fletcher School, Tufts University
Christopher Blattman, Department of Political Science, Yale University
Melissa Gonzalez-Brenes, Department of Economics, U Mass, Amherst
Kim Dionne, Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University
Catherine Duggan, Harvard Business School
Barak Hoffman, Department of Government, Georgetown University
Nahomi Ichino, Department of Government, Harvard University
Pam Jakiela, Department of Economics, Washington University
Kimuli Kasara, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
Carl LeVan, School of International Service, American University
Zachariah Mampilly, Department of Political Science, Vassar College
John McCauley, Department of Political Science, University of Maryland
Daniel Young, Department of Political Science, Georgia State University
Papers Discussed at WGAPE Meetings
(Some of the links below are to subsequently revised and/or published versions of the papers presented at WGAPE. Paper presenters marked with an * were outside guests of WGAPE.)
3-4 May 2013, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Amanda Robinson "Internal Borders: Ethnic Diversity and Market Segmentation in Malawi"
- Tavneet Suri "The Political Economy of Ethnicity and Property Rights in Slums: Evidence from Kenya"
- Mauricio Velasquez "Geographic Variation in Ethnic Political Mobilization"
- Omar Garcia Ponce and Benjamin Pasquale "How Political Violence Shapes Trust in the State: Survey Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa"
- Raul Sanchez de la Sierra "Bandits or States: Evidence on the Origins of States from Armed Groups in Eastern Congo"
- Christopher Blattman "The Economic and Social Returns to Cash Transfers: Evidence from a Ugandan Aid Program"
- Julia Cagé "The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in Sub-Saharan Africa"
- Guy Grossman "Renewalist Christianity, Political Competition and the Political Saliency of LGBTs in sub-Saharan Africa"
10 November 2012, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Chad Hazlet, "Angry or Weary? The Effect of Personal Violence on Attitudes Towards Peace in Darfur"
- Brett Carter, "Expanding the Governing Coalition: "Unite and Rule", Loyalist Monitoring, and the Sorcery Masonic Lodge"
- Mariaflavia Harari and Eliana La Ferrara, "Conflict, Climate and Cells: A Disaggregated Analysis"
- James Long, "The Determinants of Ethnic Voting"
- Marcella Alsan, "The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development"
24-25 May 2012, UC Berkeley
- Brigitte Zimmerman, Daniel P. Enemark, Clark C. Gibson, Mathew D. McCubbins, Does Power Corrupt? The Effect of Holding Local Political Office in Zambia on Generalized Trust and Altruistic Reciprocity, UCSD, Political Science
- Jessica Hoel, Do Spouses’ Responses to Asymmetric Information Match? Laboratory Evidence from Kenya, University of Michigan, Economics
- Omar Garcia-Ponce and Leonard Wantchekon, The Institutional Legacy of African lndependence Movements, New York University, Politics
- Kelly Zhang, Increasing Citizen Demand for Good Government in Kenya, Stanford, Political Science
- Tristan Reed, Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson, Chiefs, Harvard University, Economics
- Jason Kerwin, “Rational Fatalism”: Non-monotonic choices in response to risk, University of Michigan, Economics
- Gwyneth McClendon, Co–ethnicity and democratic governance, An Experiment with South African Politicians, Princeton University, Politics
- Jessica Gottlieb, Can information that raises voter expectations improve accountability? A field experiment in Mali, Stanford, Political Science
30 March 2012, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Robert Bates (with Steven Block), "Revisiting African Agriculture: Institutional Change and Productivity Growth"
- J. Andrew Harris, "Stain Removal: Measuring the Effect of Violence on Local Ethnic Demography in Kenya"
- Michael Kremer (with Esther Duflo and Pascaline Dupas), "School Governance, Teacher Incentives, and Pupil-Teacher Ratios: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Primary Schools"
- Daniel N. Posner (with Eric Kramon), "Ethnic Favoritism in Primary Education in Kenya"
- Tristan Reed (with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson), "Chiefs"
9-10 December 2011, Stanford
- Eric Kramon, "Why Do Politicians Buy Votes When the Ballot is Secret? Theory and Experimental Evidence from Kenya"
- Edward Miguel, "Transportation Choices, Fatalism, and the Value of Life in Africa"
- Nicholas Eubank, "Taxation, Political Accountability, and Foreign Aid: Lessons from Somaliland"
- Ryan Jablonski, "Does Aid Target Votes? How Electoral Strategies Shape the Distribution of Aid"
- Jonas Hjort, "Ethnic Divisions and Production in Firms"
- Lisa Mueller, "Democratic Revolutionaries or Pocketbook Protestors? The Comparative Salience of Personal Rule and Famine in the Nigerien Uprisings of 2009-10"
- Karen Ferree, "Getting Out the Vote Uganda Style: Social and Political Context and Turnout in an African Election"
- Mark Rosenberg, "A Theory of Founding Party Dominance"
20-21 May 2011, UCSD
- Claire Adida, "Gender and Generosity: Problems in Islamic Integration in France"
- Mary Kay Gugerty, "Does Bike Distribution Improve Education and Livelihood Outomcs in Zambia? A Proposed Randomized Evaluation"
- Eric Kramon and Daniel Posner, "Education for All? The Political Economy of Primary Education in Kenya"
- Craig McIntosh, "Investing at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Experimental Evidence on Business Activity and Group Cohesion in Tanzania"
- *Ameet Morjaria, "Electoral Competition and Deforestation: Micro Evidence from Kenya"
- Lisa Mueller, "Development and the Tolerance for Inequality"
- Amanda Robinson, "National Identification and Interpersonal Trust in Diverse Societies"
17-18 December 2010, UC Berkeley
- *Katherine Casey, "Crossing Party Lines: The Effects of Information on Redistributive Politics"
- Katherine Casey, Rachel Glennerster and Edward Miguel, "Experimental Evidence on External Aid and Community Institutions in Sierra Leone"
- Lisa Mueller, "Protest Participation in Africa"
- Isaias Chaves and James Robinson, "The Political Consequences of Civil Wars"
- Willa Friedman, "Local Economic Conditions and Participation in the Rwandan Genocide"
- Nicolai Lidow, "Rebel Governance and Civilian Abuse: Comparing Liberia's Rebels Using Satellite Data"
- Melina Raquel Platas, "Africa's Health Tragedy? Ethinc Diversity and Health Outcomes"
30 April-1 May 2010, Pomona College
- Claire Adida, "Too Close for Comfort? Immigrant Exclusions in Africa"
- Nicole Bonoff and Brigitte Zimmerman, "Budget Management and Accountability: Evidence from Kenyan Local Authorities"
- Elizabeth Carlson, "Great Expectations: Ethnicity, Performance, and Ugandan Voters"
- *Raphael Franck and Ilia Rainer, "Does the Leader's Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa "
- Jessica Gottlieb, "Is Democracy Working? Determinants of Local Government Performance (Failure) in Mali" [concept note]
- Eric Kramon and Daniel Posner, "Who is favored? How the Outcomes One Studies Affect the Answers One Gets"
- James Long, "Electoral Fraud and the Erosion of Democratic Gains in Kenya"
- Laura Weinstein, "The Politics of Government Expenditures in Tanzania: 1999-2007"
11-12 December 2009, UC Berkeley
- Amanda Robinson, "National versus Ethnic Identity in Africa: State, Group and Individual Level Correlates of National Identification"
- Clark Gibson, "The Good Rains Effect on Politics"
- Alexander Lee and Kenneth Schultz, "Comparing British and French Colonial Legacies: A Discontinuity Analysis of Cameroon"
- Danielle Jung and James Long, "Why Vote? Mobilization, Sanctioning and the African 'D' Term"
- Jeremy Horowitz, "Ethnic Groups and Campaign Targeting in Kenya's 2007 Election"
- Jonas Hjort, "Misallocation and the Optimal Organization of Production: Microevidence from the 2008 Kenyan Political"
- Claire Adida, David Laitin and Marie-Anne Valfort, "Integration into Europe: Identifying a Muslim Effect"
- Eric Kramon, "Vote Buying and Turnout in Kenya's 2002 Elections"
15-16 May 2009, UCLA
- Pierre Englebert and Caryn Peiffer, "Vulnerability, Path Dependence and Donor Leverage in African Democratic Experiments"
- Sarah Baird and Craig McIntosh, "Targeting in a Community Driven Development Program: Applications and Acceptance in Tanzania's TASAF"
- Leo Arriola, "Ethnic Protest in Ethiopia: The Politics of Mobilization and Policing in Oromia Region"
- Sarah Knoesen, "The Politics of Distribution in South Africa"
- Kim Dionne, "Local Demand for a Global Intervention: Policy Priorities in the time of AIDS"
- Rachel Glennerster, Ted Miguel and Alex Rothenberg, "Collective Action in Diverse Sierra Leone Communities"
- Tyson Roberts, "Liberalization, Resource Endowments and Private Capital Flows in Sub-Saharan Africa"
5-6 December 2008, UC Berkeley
- Clark Gibson, "What Explains the African Vote? Using Exit Poll Data from Kenya to Explore Ethnicity and Government Performance in Vote Choice"
- Mark Rosenberg, "A Bayesian Model of Single Party Dominance"
- Nicholai Lidow, "A Model of Resources and Rebel Organization"
- Edward Miguel, "Does Education Change Political Attitudes? Evidence from a Kenyan School Experiment" [additional tables]
- Jennifer Brass, "Why Do NGOs Go Where They Go? Evidence from Kenya"
- Clair Null, "Warm Glow, Information and Inefficient Charitable Giving"
- Lydia Lundgren, "Questioning Ethnic Politics in Sierra Leone"
16-17 May 2008, UCLA
- Claire Adida, "Too Close for Comfort? Immigrant-Host Relations in sub-Saharan Africa"
- Leonard Arriola, "A Theory of Opposition Coordination"
- Jeremy Weinstein, "Policing Politicians: Citizen Empowerment and Political Accountability in Africa"
- Edward Miguel, "Civil War"
- Elizabeth Carlson, "The Relative Salience of Ethnicity and Candidate Quality to African Voters: A Survey Experiment in Uganda"
- John McCauley "Social Insurance in Times of Crisis: A Natural Experiment in Ghana"
- Mary Kay Gugerty, "The Emergence of Nonprofit Self-Regulation in Africa"
- Elizabeth Carlson, Brian Min and Daniel Posner, "Using Satellite Imagery of Night Lights to Study Patronage and Politics in Africa"
14-15 December 2007, Stanford
- Sarah Knoesen, "Public Goods Provision in South Africa"
- Pierre Englebert, "The Domestic Currency of International Sovereignty"
- Jenny Aker, "Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger"
- Craig McIntosh, "Using Donor-Driven Changes to Identify the Impact of Aid on African Governance"
- Daniel Young, "Politics Without Positions: Party Loyalty and Voting Behavior in Malawi"
- Karen Ferree, Clark Gibson, and Barak Hoffman, "Social Diversity and Duverger: Evidence from South African Elections"
- Michael Kevane, "Rainfall in Darfur Prior to the Conflict of 2003"
- Pam Jakiela, "How Fair Shares Compare: Evidence from Two Cultures"
20-21 April 2007, Stanford
- Benn Eifert, "Infrastructure and Market Structure in Least Developed Countries"
- Audrey Sacks and Margaret Levi, "Measuring Government Effectiveness and its Consequences for Social Welfare"
- Leo Arriola, "The Political Economy of Opposition Coordination"
- *Nathan Nunn, "The Long Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades"
- Barak Hoffman, "Assessing the Quality of Local Government in South Africa"
- John McCauley and Daniel Posner, "African Borders as Sources of Natural Experiments"
- Jeremy Horowitz, "The Uses and Abuses of Ethnic Divisions: Mobilization Strategies in Multi-Ethnic Democracies"
1-2 December 2006, UCLA
- Clark Gibson and Barak Hoffman, "Ethnicity and Political Accountability in Africa"
- Michael Kevane, "The Rhetoric of Anti-Intervention in Darfur"
- Zachariah Mampilly, "Explaining Variation in the Provision of Services by Rebel Groups"
- Edward Miguel, "Spring Cleaning: Results from a Randomized Evaluation of Source Water Quality Improvement"
- Daniel Posner and Daniel Young, "The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa"
- Tyson Roberts, ""An International Political Economy Theory of Democratic Transition"
14-15 April 2006, UC Berkeley
- John Bellows and Edward Miguel, "War and Local Institutions in Sierra Leone"
- Jean Ensminger, "Designing Development: A Case Study in Failure and Corruption in Rural Africa"
- Karen Ferree and Jeremy Horowitz, "Identity Voting and Malawi's Regional Census"
- Pierre Englebert and Katharine Boyle, "The Primacy of Politics in Separatist Dynamics"
- James Long and Jeremy Horowitz, "Democratic Survival in Multi-Ethnic Countries"
- Craig McIntosh, "The Relationship Between Health Care Provision and AIDS Prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa"
- Daniel Posner, "African Borders as Sources of Natural Experiments"
- Peter York, "Chieftaincy as Rival Governance in Ghana"
14-15 October 2005, Santa Clara University
- Clark Gibson and Barak Hoffman, "Fiscal Governance and Public Services: Evidence from Tanzania and Zambia"
- Peter York, "Chieftaincy as Rival Governance"
- Michael Kevane, "The Cost of Getting Books Read in Rural Africa: Estimates from a Survey of Library Use in Burkina Faso"
- Carl LeVan, "Memo on Coalition Bargaining and Power Sharing in Plural Societies"
- David Laitin, "Random Narratives to Complement Statistical Findings in Regard to Civil War Onsets: Methodology and Nigeria"
- Jeremy Weinstein, "Disentangling the Determinants of Successful Demobilization and Reintegration"
- Chris Blattman, "Survey of Soldiers in Northern Uganda"
- Clark Gibson and Barak Hoffman, "Political Accountability and Taxes: A Research Memo"
13-14 May 2005, UCLA
- Melissa Gonzalez-Brenes, "Contracting on Fertility: A Model of Marriage in Africa"
- Don Rothchild, "Problems in Applying Executive Power Sharing to Africa: The Impact of Sequencing on Political Consolidation"
- *James Gibson, "Overcoming Land Injustices: An Experimental Investigation into the Justice and Injustice of Land Squatting in South Africa"
- Chris Blattman, "Commodities and Conflict: A Re-examination of the Facts"
- Carl LeVan, "Dictators, Democrats, and Political Coalitions: Government Performance in an African Country"
- Nahomi Ichino, "Who Has Contact with Politicians?"
- Clark Gibson, "Aid and Democracy in Africa"
- Michael Kevane, "Nation-building, Multiculturalism, and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis of Imagery on Postage Stamps"
17-18 December 2004, Caltech
- Pierre Englebert, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Compliance and Defiance to National Integration in Barotseland and Casamance"
- *Robert Bates, "Probing the Sources of Political Order"
- Daniel Posner, "The Implications of Constructivism for Studying the Relationship Between Ethnic Diversity and Economic Growth"
- Craig McIntosh, "Beliefs and Relief: The Impact of Political Uncertainty on Small-Business Behavior in Uganda"
- Edward Miguel, "Incentives to Learn"
- Melissa Gonzalez-Brenes, "Domestic Violence and Household Decision-making: Evidence from East Africa"
- Catherine Duggan, "Do Different Coups have Different Implications for Investment? Some Intuitions and a Test with a New Dataset"
- Daniel Posner and Jeremy Weinstein, "Measuring 'Ethnic Technology': A Draft Experimental Protocol"
4-5 June 2004, UCSD
- Mary Kay Gugerty, "Collective Action and Representation in National NGO Umbrella Associations"
- Susan Hyde, "Domestic Consequences of International Election Monitoring"
- Craig McIntosh, "Beliefs and Relief: The Impact of Political Uncertainty on Small Business Behavior in Uganda"
- Daniel Posner, "Regime Change and Ethnic Cleavages in Africa"
- *Leonard Wantchekon, "Ethnicity, Gender and the Demand for Public Goods: Experimental Evidence from Benin"
- Daniel Young, "Party Dominance in Africa's Multiparty Elections"
12-13 March 2004, Pomona College
- Alicia Bannon, Edward Miguel, and Daniel Posner, "Sources of Ethnic Identification in Africa"
- *Michael Bratton, "Learning About Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience"
- Karen Ferree, "Ethnicity and Electoral Volatility in Recent African Elections"
- Clark Gibson and Barak Hoffman, "The Effects of Foreign Aid on Bureaucracies",
- Kimuli Kasara, "Ethnic Geography, Democracy, and the Taxation of Agriculture in Africa"
- Michael Kevane, "Dim Delobson of Upper Volta"
5-6 December 2003, UCLA
- Melissa Gonzalez-Brenes, "Domestic Violence, Bargaining and Fertility in Rural Tanzania"
- Pierre Englebert, "Let's Stick Together: Understanding Africa's Secessionist Deficit"
- Nahomi Ichino, "'Tournament' Parties in Nigeria"
- *Jennifer Widner, "Constitution Writing and Conflict Resolution in Africa"
- Daniel Young, "A Close-up of Voter Turnout: Survey Evidence from Africa"
2-3 May 2003, UCLA
- *William Easterly, "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?"
- Barak Hoffmann, "Development Despots: Foreign Aid, Domestic Politics, and the Quality of Governance"
- Edward Miguel, Shanker Satyanath, and Ernest Sergenti, "Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach"
- Daniel Posner, "The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi"
31 January-1 February 2003, UCLA
- Mary Kay Gugerty, "You Can't Save Alone: Testing Theories of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations in Kenya"
- Edward Miguel and Farhan Zaidi, "Do Politicians Reward their Supporters? Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Ghana"
- *Donald Rothchild, "Assessing Africa's Two-Phase Peace Implementation Process: Power Sharing and Democratization"
- Edward Miguel, "Poverty and Witch Killing"
27-28 September 2002, UCLA
- Pierre Englebert, "Research Note on Congo's Nationalist Paradox"
- Clark Gibson, "Dictators with Empty Pockets: A Political Concessions Model of Africa's Democratization"
- Mary Kay Gugerty, "The Impact of Outside Funding on Community Organizations of the Disadvantaged"
- Michael Kevane, "Why Study Gender Issues in the Economies of Sub-Saharan Africa?"
- Ted Miguel, "Tribe or Nation? Nation-Building and Public Goods in Kenya versus Tanzania"
- Daniel Posner, "Ethnic Identity, Collective Action, and Conflict: An Experimental Approach"
- Smita Singh, "Multiparty Competition, Founding Elections and Political Business Cycles in Africa"