Excellent turnout amidst crummy weather here in St Louis!

Big thanks to my supportive advisors, the various groups who funded this research, my wife, and one particularly fussy editor:

Abundant research says formalizing land ownership is good for households, and land titles are available on-demand through much of Africa. But the below figure shows both low take-up overall and high amounts of variation within states. What gives?

I’m happy to announce that last week I defended my doctoral dissertation: “Land, Power, and Politics: the Political Economy of Land Tenure Formalization in West Africa.”

Some personal news: I’ve accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. I’ll be working with the amazing faculty there to study the relationship between violent conflict and social cohesion.

In the midst of this constitutional crisis, here’s Pierre reminding me that it’s okay to stop writing:

Just a reminder that #USAID is overwhelmingly the largest provider of emergency food assistance in the world. Children will starve.

I'd encourage everybody to contact their representative as soon as possible. The administration is trying to shut down USAID--and when aid stops, everyone suffers. #usaidstopwork

Pierre is enjoying the first rainy day that feels like fall here in DC

With these data, we can see where households benefit the most from making agricultural investments. As you might expect, these are the households who are most likely to possess a formal land title.

To answer this question, we need to know which households would benefit from formal land titles. I introduce a new measure of land values across the continent by combining agricultural suitability data and global commodity prices. Here’s how it looks in Burkina Faso:

The abstract in question:

Today’s task is dealing with a particularly fussy editor:

Land grabs are a real threat in the global south. Many African cities are plastered with graffiti saying “this land is not for sale.” I took the photo below during fieldwork in Dakar on my way back from the airport.