This award funds meetings by a group of economists and political scientists who are conducting research on important questions in African political economy. The goal of the group is to understand the core issues in the political economy of African development, including ethnic politics, civil conflict and violence, decentralization, democratization, corruption, and local governance. Scholars attending these meetings share new findings, develop new collaborations, and advance research in the field.
The meetings are attended by established scholars, new faculty, and advanced graduate students. Attendees include scholars with deep field research experience in Africa and scholars who are developing cutting edge research tools in political economy methods. Graduate students attending the meetings build their professional networks and receive constructive feedback from leading scholars in a collaborative setting. Workshop members present their results to policymakers and research in dozens of African countries, at the World Bank, at scientific conferences, and through books, essays, and articles aimed at a general audience.
This project funded two national meetings of the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE), one on May 24-25, 2012 at U.C. Berkeley and one on May 3-4 2013 at MIT. Each meeting ran for two days and featured presentations by leading scholars in African political economy from both Economics and Political Science. NSF funding allowed us to enhance WGAPE activities, issue a general Call for Papers for each of the two national meetings, and expand attendance beyond previous core WGAPE members. There were a total of 68 participants in the 2012 meeting and 85 participants in the 2013 meeting. The meetings drew scholars from around the country – and beyond – who are researching African development and political economy issues, including research on ethnic politics, civil conflict and violence, decentralization and democratization, and corruption and local governance. In terms of intellectual merit, we believe the NSF funding made WGAPE the leading venue for scholars of African development and political economy to share new findings and advance research in the field, as well as collaborate on new research. Founded in 2002, the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE - pronounced "wah-gah-pay") brings faculty and advanced graduate students in Economics and Political Science who combine deep field research experience in Africa with training in political economy methods. The group has met semi-annually to discuss the work-in-progress of its core members and invited guests. It has been co-led by Edward Miguel (Department of Economics, UC Berkeley) and Daniel Posner (Department of Political Science, UCLA). The two-day long meetings are built around in-depth discussions of seven to eight papers. Papers presented at WGAPE meetings have been published in many of the leading journals in both Economics and Political Science, including Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Political Science Review, World Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Review of Economic Studies, as well as in many edited volumes. WGAPE has important broader impacts. A special effort is made to identify new scholars who are producing interesting research and would benefit most from attending WGAPE meetings, and give them extra financial help to attend. This outreach to newer members of the Economics and Political Science professions gives them opportunities to meet more senior scholars as well as other young researchers in their fields. The leading role of Ph.D. students in all WGAPE meetings is noteworthy. Attending WGAPE meetings helps these young scholars build their professional networks, and receive constructive feedback from leading scholars in a small and collaborative workshop setting. The stellar placement record of former WGAPE Ph.D. attendees on the academic job market (in both Economics and Political Science) is a proud accomplishment. The research that comes out of WGAPE meetings is also likely to have large impacts beyond academic Economics and Political Science. WGAPE members have presented the results of their research to policymakers and researchers in literally dozens of African countries, at the World Bank, and at economics and political science conferences and seminars both in the U.S. and abroad, and have also actively disseminated their research findings through books aimed at non-technical audiences, essays and op-ed articles for popular media outlets.
