Social Capital and Socioeconomic Development in sub-Saharan Africa

My doctoral thesis explores the interplay between social capital and long-term socioeconomic development in sub-Saharan Africa. I am specifically interested in the way that historical kinship systems, systems of pre-colonial class stratification, and legacies of educational inequality may be sticky over time, thus perpetuating differential access to social capital for certain individuals or groups. To implement this project, I plan on employing quantitative research methodology, and working with survey, ethnographic, and archival data. My aim is to highlight wider cross-country trends, but also focus on one country cases, to increase causal leverage in my research.