The Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE – pronounced “wah-gah-pay”) 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, MIT) and Edward Miguel (Department of Economics, UC Berkeley).
​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. The Africa Governance Practice of the World Bank is collaborating with WGAPE to hold an additional workshop in D.C. to discuss papers of high relevance for their regional programs.
The meeting enables in-depth, round-table discussions of papers that are circulated and read in advance of the meeting. Presenters provided a brief summary of the paper and orienting comments prior to the floor opening for discussion. Constructive commentary is then provided by colleagues.
Participation in this event is by invitation only.
Agenda
Monday, May 20th
| 10:00am–10:15am |
Welcome and Introductions
Marcelo Giugale, World Bank, and Daniel Posner, MIT |
| 10:15am–11:15am |
Less Guns, More Violence: Evidence from Disarmament in Uganda
Laura Ralston, Economics, MIT |
| 11:40am–12:30pm |
Taxation and Accountability: Experimental Evidence for
Taxation’s Effect on Citizen BehaviorLucy Martin, Political Science, Yale |
| 12:30pm–1:30pm |
Lunch |
| 1:30pm–2:30pm |
Delivering Justice to the Poor: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Liberia
Bilal Siddiqi, FSI, Stanford and Justin Sandefur, Center for Global Development |
| 2:30pm–3:30pm |
The Politics of Water in Rural Tanzania
Barak Hoffman, Georgetown University |
| 3:30pm–3:45pm |
Coffee Break |
| 3:45pm–4:45pm |
When Decentralization Begets Recentralization: The Intergovernmental Politics of Administrative Unit Proliferation
Janet Lewis, Government, Harvard and Guy Grossman, Political Science, University of Pennsylvania |
| 4:45pm–5:45pm |
Teacher Absenteeism and the Salience of Local Ethnic Diversity: Evidence from African Districts (updated May 15, 2013)
Eoin McGuirk, Center for Effective Global Action, UC Berkeley |
| 6:15pm–8:15pm |
Dinner TBA (by invitation only) |
