randomly gave cash and in-kind grants to male- and female-owned microenterprises in urban Ghana. Our findings cast doubt on the …

This paper studies the effects of descent rules on human capital accumulation. We exploit a policy experiment in Ghana …-landed households. This evidence is consistent with the fact that before the reform matrilineal groups in Ghana "over-invested" in …

and productivity growth is low. We apply our theory to the windfalls of Norway, Iraq and Ghana. The optimal size of Ghana …’s liquidity fund is tiny even with high prudence. Norway’s liquidity fund is bigger than Ghana’s. Iraq’s liquidity fund is … to invest. We illustrate how this can speed up the process of development in Ghana despite domestic absorption …

This essay investigates the determinants of the growth performance of Africa. I start by illustrating a broader … institutional development. After reporting results from standard growth regressions, I analyze the role of Africa’s peculiar history … influence, in and out of Africa, of the slave trades. The essay ends with critical conclusions and suggestions for further …

Long-run trends in Africa’s well-being are provided on the basis of a new index of human development, alternative to … experienced in other developing regions. Within Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa has fallen steadily behind the North since mid-20th …

South Africa and variation in the intensity of this law to identify increases in wages for domestic workers and find no …

We explore the determinants of state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa. Controlling for a wide range of economic …