26 September 2012

What are the policy research priorities for South Sudan?

There was an interesting session at the IGC Growth Week at the LSE today on South Sudan, with speakers including the President's Economic Adviser Aggrey Tisa Sabuni (also doing a public lecture at LSE on 2 Oct), former Minister Luka Biong Deng, IGC Juba staff Peter Biar Ajak and Utz Pape, and trade economist Pierre Sauvé. You can read my notes on twitter under the hashtag #growthweek.

One thing that stood out for me were the suggestions for policy research priorities by Utz Pape; land rights, mobile money, the labour market, macroeconomic management, and oil management. For me, the economics of the macro and oil issues are fairly straightforward, the question is the politics of implementation. The questions on land rights (would improved private land titling increase agricultural investment?), mobile money (what is the best regulatory system to encourage development?), and the labour market (why is it so dominated by foreigners?) are all interesting.

Any other ideas for important research questions?

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