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Participant List

 

NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

 

Research Conference #1 of 3 on

Economic Research on African Development Successes

 

Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil, Organizers

 

December 11-12, 2009

 

Royal Sonesta Hotel

40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard

Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

PROGRAM

Shading indicates parallel sessions

 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11

 

 

8:15 am

Continental Breakfast

 

 

9:00 am

Welcome and updates on NBER Africa Project

 

 

9:10 am

The Return to Capital for Small Retailers in Kenya (Project 14 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

MICHAEL KREMER, Harvard University and NBER

 

JONATHAN ROBINSON, University of California, Santa Cruz

 

OLGA ROSTAPSHOVA, Harvard University

 

 

 

Discussant: BENT SORENSEN, University of Houston

 

 

10:10 am

Coffee Break

 

 

10:30 am

Deals versus Rules: Policy Implementation Uncertainty and Why Firms Hate It
(Project 7 FINAL) (Slides)

 

MARY HALLWARD-DRIEMEIER, The World Bank

 

LANT PRITCHETT, Harvard University

 

 

 

Discussant: STEPHEN O'CONNELL, Swarthmore College

 

 

11:30 am

Family Ties, Inheritance Rights and Successful Poverty Alleviation (Ghana)
(Project 15 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

EDWARD KUTSOATI, Tufts University

 

RANDALL MORCK, University of Alberta and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: JAMES POTERBA, MIT and NBER

 

 

12:30 pm

Lunch (Charles Room, next door)

 

 

 

FRIDAY PARALLEL SESSION 1:
FINANCE AND MARGINAL PRODUCT OF CAPITAL
(held in Charles Room)

 

 

1:30 pm

The Financial System in Burundi: An Investigation of its Efficiency in Resource Mobilization and Allocation (Project 16 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

LEONCE NDIKUMANA, African Development Bank

 

JANVIER NKURUNZIZA, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

 

PRIME NYAMOYA, OGI Consulting Group, Burundi

 

 

 

Discussant: LANT PRITCHETT, Harvard University

 

 

2:30 pm

Coffee Break

 

 

2:45 pm

Misallocation, Property Rights, and Access to Finance: Evidence from Within and Across Africa (Project 26 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

SEBNEM KALEMLI-OZCAN, University of Houston and NBER

 

BENT SORENSEN, University of Houston

 

 

 

Discussant: MARY HALLWARD-DRIEMEIER, The World Bank

 

 

3:45 pm

Coffee Break

 

 

4:00 pm

An African Success: Banking in Nigeria and the Poor (Project 27 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

LISA COOK, Michigan State University

 

 

 

Discussant: BENNO NDULU, Governor, Bank of Tanzania

 

 

5:00 pm

Adjourn

 

 

 

FRIDAY PARALLEL SESSION 2:
SCHOOLING AND HEALTH
(held in Parkview Room)

 

 

1:30 pm

Evaluating the Effects of Large Scale Health Interventions in Developing Countries: The Zambian Malaria Initiative (Project 3 FINAL) (Slides)

 

NAVA ASHRAF, Harvard University and NBER

 

GŰNTHER FINK, Harvard University

 

DAVID N. WEIL, Brown University and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: MICHAEL KREMER, Harvard University and NBER

 

 

2:30 pm

Coffee Break

 

 

2:45 pm

What drives success in children's educational outcomes in poor villages in rural West Africa, the case of Guinea-Bissau? (Project 23 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

PETER BOONE, London School of Economics

 

SIMON JOHNSON, MIT and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: BERK ÖZLER, The World Bank

 

 

3:45 pm

Coffee Break

 

 

4:00 pm

Health Impacts of a Schooling CCT Intervention (Malawi) (Project 24 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

SARAH BAIRD, University of California, San Diego

 

EPHRAIM CHIRWA, University of Malawi

 

JACOBUS JOOST DE HOOP, Tinbergen Institute

 

CRAIG McINTOSH, University of California, San Diego

 

BERK ÖZLER, The World Bank

 

 

 

Discussant: JAMES HABYARIMANA, Georgetown University

 

 

5:00 pm

Adjourn

 

 

 

 

6:30 pm

Dinner

Bambara Brasserie, at the Hotel Marlowe (across the street from the Royal Sonesta Hotel)
25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard
Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

 

 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12

 

 

8:15 am

Continental Breakfast

 

 

9:00 am

Reducing Gender-based Violence: Evaluating Interventions in South, Central, and East Africa (Project 21 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

RADHA IYENGAR, London School of Economics and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: PUNAM CHUHAN-POLE, The World Bank

 

 

10:00 am

Coffee Break

 

 

10:20-11:20 am

State versus Consumer Regulation: The Case of Road Safety in Kenya
(Project 25 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

JAMES HABYARIMANA, Georgetown University

 

WILLIAM JACK, Georgetown University

 

 

 

Discussant: DOUGLAS GOLLIN, Williams College

 

 

 

SATURDAY PARALLEL SESSION 1:
MACRO VIEWS
(held in Charles Room)

 

 

11:30 am

Cape Verde and Mozambique as Development Successes in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Project 12 FINAL) (Slides)

 

Jorge Braga de Macedo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and NBER

 

LuÍs Brites Pereira, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

 

 

 

Discussant: LEONCE NDIKUMANA, African Development Bank

 

 

12:30 pm

Lunch

 

 

1:30 pm

Lesotho's Export Performance: An African Success Story?
(Project 17 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

LAWRENCE EDWARDS, University of Cape Town

 

ROBERT LAWRENCE, Harvard University and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: RAFAEL PORTILLO, IMF

 

 

2:30 pm

Mauritius: African Success Story (Project 19 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

JEFFREY FRANKEL, Harvard University and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: SIMON JOHNSON, MIT AND NBER

 

 

3:30 pm

Adjourn

 

 

 

SATURDAY PARALLEL SESSION 2:
AGRICULTURE
(held in Parkview Room)

 

 

11:30 am

Food Security and Infant Mortality (Project 13 PRELIMINARY) (Slides)

 

NATHAN NUNN, Harvard University and NBER

 

NANCY QIAN, Yale University and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: STEVEN BLOCK, Tufts University

 

 

12:30 pm

Lunch

 

 

1:30 pm

International and Intra-national Market Segmentation and Integration in West Africa (Niger, Nigeria) (Project 9 FINAL) (Slides)

 

JENNY AKER, Tufts University

 

MICHAEL KLEIN, Tufts University and NBER

 

STEPHEN O'CONNELL, Swarthmore College

 

 

 

Discussant: JONATHAN ROBINSON, University of California, Santa Cruz

 

 

2:30 pm

The Greatest of All Improvements: Roads, Agriculture, and Economic Development in Africa (Project 1 FINAL) (Slides)

 

DOUGLAS GOLLIN, Williams College

 

RICHARD ROGERSON, Arizona State University and NBER

 

 

 

Discussant: DIEGO COMIN, Harvard University and NBER

 

 

3:30 pm

Adjourn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note on Time Allocation (60 minutes per project):

            Authors:                     30 min.
            Discussants:              10 min.
            General discussion:  20 min.

 

Instructions to the Presenters:

Please load your presentation files onto the laptop in the conference room before the relevant session.

 

 

Instructions to the Discussants:

In the spirit of the Africa Project, please give comments that are helpful rather than critical.

 

 

 

Updated 12/10/09