Gonne Beekman

• PhD
• Researcher at Wageningen University & Research

REFOOTRURE Project white paper

There is increasing attention for the potential benefits of localising food African systems to better cope with global crises. However, the topic is not uncontested, and little is known about the actual implications of localisation policies for food. This study presents an analysis framework through which these implications, including trade-offs wi...

A clear majority of smallholder farmers in commodity value chains such as cocoa, tea, coffee and oil palm are struggling to earn a living income. This despite numerous interventions in the past two decades, aiming to lift them out of poverty. Interventions have ranged from training, to voluntary sustainability certification and the provision of fre...

We study cooperation within and between groups in the laboratory, comparing treatments in which two groups have previously been in conflict with one another, in conflict with a different group, or not previously exposed to conflict. We model conflict using an inter-group Tullock contest, and measure its effects upon cooperation using a multi-level...

This study investigates the relationship between family network density and income hiding in rural Liberia. We link people's behaviour in a modified lottery experiment and a time preference game to detailed information about their family networks. We find that individuals with a dense family network are more likely to pay a fraction of their endowm...

We consider the impact of rice-thieving chiefs on investments by smallholder farmers in Liberia. In an earlier study, we found that chiefs who steal reduce aggregate investment levels by villagers. In this paper, we refine this result, and establish that predatory leadership only matters for households with a different ethnic identity from the chie...

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the social sciences are typically not double-blind, so participants know they are “treated” and will adjust their behavior accordingly. Such effort responses complicate the assessment of impact. To gauge the potential magnitude of effort responses we implement a conventional RCT and double-blind trial in rural...

We study how corruption affects economic activities of households in rural Liberia. A proxy of corruption of community leaders is obtained by directly monitoring the diversion of inputs associated with a development project. We measure quantities of these inputs twice; before and after the chief stored them, and interpret any ‘gaps’ between these m...

We use a new dataset from war-torn Burundi to explore how various institutional proxies affect investments in soil conservation. We "unbundle" institutions and distinguish between various proxies for tenure security and social norms. While we find significant correlations between certain proxies for tenure and social norms on the one hand, and inve...

Dit onderzoek analyseert diverse prijs-risicomanagementinstrumenten die kunnen worden toegepast in de landen van Sub-Sahara Afrika. Alleen in een zeer beperkt aantal landen zijn zowel de marktinstituties als de infrastructuur voldoende ontwikkeld om geavanceerde risicomanagementinstrumenten toe te passen. In landen met ineffectieve marktinstituties...

Abstract In this paper we give an overview of the leading thoughts in current literature concerning social capital and its effects on rural resilience. Studying social resilience of rural areas is relevant in the emergence of global change. We demonstrate that social capital can either contribute to social resilience, or restrict it, depending on...