M.Sc. Edmond Augustine Kanu

http://www.agrarpol.uni-kiel.de/de/mitarbeiter/wiss-mitarbeiter/edmond-kanu-m-sc

Project

The Political Economy of Large Scale Land Acquisition: An Empirical Application of a CGPE approach to Sierra Leone

My research focuses on an empirical political economy analysis of large-scale land acquisition in Sierra Leone, a country in which large-scale land acquisition has been heavily promoted by national government in the last decade. Using a Computable General Political Economy Equilibrium (CGPE) modeling approach and social network theory and methods to assess the incentive and knowledge gaps, the study sets out to identify the political preferences, political beliefs and political influence or power of relevant stakeholder and governmental organizations that participate in the land acquisition decision in Sierra Leone. The study also sets out to develop a framework to evaluate participatory policy processes based on political beliefs and identifies political decisions as benchmark scenarios that maximize the welfare of rural and urban population as well as policies that maximize poverty reduction and reduction of hunger. Based on derived benchmark scenarios the research will assess the political incentive gaps, e.g. the extent to which policy choice imply welfare losses induced by biased representation of socio-economic groups, e.g. rural versus urban or poor versus rich, as well as political knowledge gaps, i.e. the extent to which policy choice imply welfare losses due to a lack of adequate political knowledge regarding the impact of land acquisition on economic development and poverty.

Education

Research Interests

Agricultural Economics, Large Scale Land Acquisition, Political Network Analysis, CGE Modeling, Policy Network Survey, Sustainable Livelihoods