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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Reading Fiction And Economic Preferences Of Rural Youth In Burkina Faso, Michael J. Kevane
Reading Fiction And Economic Preferences Of Rural Youth In Burkina Faso, Michael J. Kevane
Economics
This paper presents results from a reading program for youth living in villages in south-western Burkina Faso. Standard experimental games were used to measure the effects of increased reading of fiction on several attitudes and preferences important for economic development. After six months of access and encouragement to read appropriate young adult fiction, there were few differences in any of four measured outcomes (trust, contribution to public goods, risk, and patience) between those participating in the reading program and the control group. Since the rise of mass-distributed novels in the 1800s, many have hypothesized that fiction would have significant effects …
Gold Mining And Economic And Social Change In West Africa, Michael Kevane
Gold Mining And Economic And Social Change In West Africa, Michael Kevane
Economics
Economic theory often suggests that social institutions are strongly influenced by specific geographic features of regions. The history of gold mining in West Africa, however, suggests that the relationship between mineral resources and social organization is complex and fluid. First, over the centuries gold mining revenues may have encouraged state formation, but at the same time opportunities for conflict and corruption may have undermined state functioning. Second, while gold extraction and trade required social organization, the interpersonal relationships engendered by gold mining also led to new identities and social institutions. These dialectical considerations illustrate how simple theories of how geography …
Do African Immigrants Enhance Their Home Nations’ Trade With Their Hosts?, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Do African Immigrants Enhance Their Home Nations’ Trade With Their Hosts?, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Economics
Employing data on the immigrant stocks of 43 African home countries who reside in 110 host countries and on trade flows between these countries during the year 2005, we examine whether African immigrants exert positive effects on their home countries’ trade with the typical host country. Estimates from Tobit regression models indicate a one percent increase in the number of African immigrants in a given host country increases that country’s exports to and imports from the typical home country by 0.132 percent and 0.259 percent, respectively. Further evaluation of these effects from the perspective of each African home country reveals …
Official Representations Of The Nation: Comparing The Postage Stamps Of Sudan And Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Official Representations Of The Nation: Comparing The Postage Stamps Of Sudan And Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Economics
An analysis of the imagery on postage stamps suggests that regimes in Burkina Faso and Sudan have pursued very different strategies in representing the nation. Sudan's stamps focus on the political center and dominant elite (current regime, Khartoum politicians, and Arab and Islamic identity) while Burkina Faso's stamps focus on society (artists, multiple ethnic groups, and development). Sudan's stamps build an image of the nation as being about the northern-dominated regime in Khartoum (whether military or parliamentary); Burkina Faso's stamps project an image of the nation as multi-ethnic and development-oriented.
A Woman's Field Is Made At Night: Gendered Land Rights And Norms In Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
A Woman's Field Is Made At Night: Gendered Land Rights And Norms In Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Economics
Gendered social norms and institutions are important determinants of agricultural activities in southwestern Burkina Faso. This paper argues that gendered land tenure, in particular, has effects on equity and efficiency. The usual view of women as holders of secondary, or indirect, rights to land must be supplemented by a more nuanced understanding of tenure. Women's rights are in fact considerably more complex than the simple right to fields from their husbands. First, women's rights to property obtained from men may be coupled with other rights and obligations. In many ethnic groups, women have share rights to the harvest of their …