Property Rights and Incentives in Africa
December 17, 2007
Listen to the Econ Talk Podcast here.
In this podcast interview, Karol Boudreaux discusses Enterprise Africa!'s methodological approach to conducting research in Africa through ethnographic field work. This approach allows her to uncover the micro-conditions African entrepreneurs face each day when making decisions. She then discusses how this methodology informs her findings in Rwanda, where recent efforts to liberalize the economy have not only been raising incomes and providing opportunity to Rwanda's poor farmers but also promoting post-genocide reconciliation. Ms. Boudreaux closes with a discussion of property titling in Langa Township, South Africa, where efforts at improving land tenure have seen mixed results. Although Langa residents are improving the quality of their homes and home-based businesses, greater property ownership is not stimulating entrepreneurship by providing collateral for commercial loans. This is due in large part to an unwillingness on the part of many Langa residents to risk their homes on uncertain business ventures.
