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Institutions and Agrarian Development

A New Approach to West Africa

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Offers empirical evidence from ongoing case studies in West Africa
  • Proposes a new framework for thinking about development issues
  • Features collaborative research from economists and anthropologists

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Introduction

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 1-10
  3. Not All Is Markets

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 11-37
  4. Institutions on the Upper West African Forest Edge: A Fourfold Ordering

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 39-58
  5. Customary West African Rural Factor Markets

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 59-84
  6. Chiefs and Chieftaincy

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 85-112
  7. Institutional Clash: Empirical Evidence from Case Studies

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 113-134
  8. Agrarian Development in West Africa: Possibilities for Institutional Reform?

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 135-154
  9. Conclusion

    • Erwin Bulte, Paul Richards, Maarten Voors
    Pages 155-159
  10. Back Matter

    Pages 161-178

About this book

This book argues that development strategies have thus far failed in Western Africa because the many challenges afflicting the area have yet to be explored and understood from the perspective of institutional resources. With a particular focus on three countries on the bend of the Upper West African coast – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – this book offers a theory to account for the nature of these institutional elements, to test deductions against evidence, and finally to propose a reset for rural development policy to make fuller use of local institutional resources. Based on quantitative analysis and eight years of multidisciplinary field research, this volume features several large-scale RCTs in the domain of rural development, local governance, and nature conservation. The authors address one of the biggest topics in agricultural and development economics today: the structural transformation of poor, agrarian economies, and they do so through the important and unique lens ofinstitutions.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Development Economics Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Erwin Bulte, Maarten Voors

  • Directorate of Research and Planning, Njala University, Mokonde, Sierra Leone

    Paul Richards

About the authors

Erwin Bulte is Professor of Development Economics at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has published more than 125 papers in internationally refereed journals, including Science, The American Economic Review, The Journal of Development Economics, and The American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Paul Richards is Professor Emeritus of Technology and Agrarian Development at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and an honorary professor at Njala University, Sierra Leone. He has carried out anthropological and agricultural research in West African countries at various periods over 45 years.  His many papers and books include analyses of agrarian factors in civil wars and inter-communal conflicts in the West African region.

Maarten Voors is Assistant Professor of Development Economics at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His research focuses on institutions, (post-conflict) development and behavior, and his research has appeared in The American Economic Review, Management Science and African Affairs, among others.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access