State Capture and Rent-Seeking in Benin

Emeritus Professor of economics, Paris School of Economics (former director), and School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris. Former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. Publications include more than 200 articles and 10 books. Awards include Dan David Prize and CNRS silver medal. Co-founder of the European Development Network (EUDN). Professor of economics, University of Namur, Belgium. Romain Houssa is the principal investigator on the Benin institutional diagnostic project. His main research deals with issues related to causes and welfare consequences of commodity markets and macroeconomic fluctuations. A native of Benin, he is very familiar with the issues confronting Benin. Emeritus Professor of economics, University of Namur, Belgium. Publications number about 200 articles, book chapters and books (edited, single-authored and co-authored). Founder and long-time director of the Centre for Research in the Economics of Development (CRED) at the university of Namur. Holder of two Franqui chairs in Belgium (Free university of Brussels and Katholieke University of Leuven). Co-founder of the European Development Network (EUDN). Emeritus professor of Economics, University of Namur, Belgium. Paul Reding has taught, carried out his research and published in the field of monetary and financial economics, with a frequent focus on issues relating to developing countries. He has participated in several policy oriented national and international research projects.

• Part I. An Overview of Economic and Institutional Constraints on Benin's Development: 1. The spatial, historical and socio-political context Platteau; 2. Exploring the reasons behind modest economic performances Houssa-Reding; 3. Quality of institutions: lessons from quantitative and qualitative evidence Houssa-Bourguignon; Part II. A Deeper Investigation of Some Key Sectors and Institutions: 4. Campaign finance and state capture Ch, Hounkpe and Wantchekon, with discussion by Cruz; 5. The cotton sector: history of a capture Honfoga, Houssa, Dedehouanou, with discussion by Thériault; 6. The tax effort: a comparison between Sub-Saharan Africa and Benin Caldeira and Rota-Graziosi, with discussion by Médé; 7. The political economy of land reform Lavigne Delville, with discussion by Houngbedji; 8. The critical role of informal trading with Nigeria Golub-Mbaye, with discussion by Igué; Part III. Synthesis: 9. A patrimonial regime with multiple oligarchs Bourguignon-Platteau.