New publications

Polygynous husbands and wives cooperate less than monogamous ones and may contribute resources to the household with less altruistic motives, according to a paper by Marleen Dekker and colleagues in the April issue of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, the authors compared the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. 

This article by Agnieszka Kazimierczuk in Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews provides a review of the latest status and policy framework for wind energy in Africa. It takes a close look at Kenya, one of the most successful African countries in terms of attracting renewable energy investments, including the largest wind farm on the continent. However, international private participation is critical in wind energy expansion in Kenya.

This new article by Mayke Kaag (ASCL) and Griet Steel (Utrecht University) in Built Environment highlights the role of transnational migrants in urban land investments and claim making on urban land. Using case studies in Khartoum and Dakar, the authors investigate the ways in which transnational migrants contribute to speculation, rising land values and processes of socio-spatial inclusion and exclusion.

Jan-Bart Gewald, Harry Wels and Frans Kamsteeg present a grim picture of South Africa as an emerging stagnant political economy that seems to conform smoothly to the conspiracy of authoritarians. ‘South Africa's BRICS partnership seems now stronger than ever, as the “Rainbow Nation” shares the “my country first” credo supported by the politics of authoritarian leadership’, they write in a contribution to Clingendael Spectator.