Ken Jackson
I am in the process of completing my PhD from the University of British Columbia while starting in the Economics Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. Generally, I am interested in the effects of formal and informal institutions and their effects on local, national and international governance. Most recently, my research has focused on the effects of ethnic diversity on the provision of public goods, such as piped drinking water and electricity, in Sub-Saharan Africa.
| Address |  |
| Department of Economics | |
| Wilfrid Laurier University | |
| 75 University Ave. W | |
| Waterloo, ON | |
| N2L 3C5 | |
| Contact Information | |
| Office - Peters Building P3104 | |
| Office Hours - by appointment | |
| E-mail - kjackson at wlu dot ca | |
| Phone - 519.884.0710 x.2316 | |
| Fax - 519.884.1015 |
Research
Diversity and Public Good Provision
My research is currently focused on two main projects. The first considers the role for diversity in limiting the effectiveness of governing institutions - both formal and informal. Existing research has demonstrated a tenuous link between diversity and the poor provision of public goods necessary for economic development. In two papers focused on a broad spectrum of countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, I provide empirical evidence that ethnic diversity limits the provision of piped water and electricity. However, the research indicates that measuring ethnic diversity at the correct geographic scale is critical to this result. In addition, this research sheds light on the mechanisms through which diversity has an effect on governance.
Institutional Change
The second project analyzes the interaction between legal institutions and the evolution of generalized trust in society. While these institutions can be taken as substitutes in a static context, I find that there may be strong complementarities between these insitutions at low levels of development if we take dynamic effects into consideration. In addition, I find that globalization may have significant effects on the development of informal institutions. In particular, while free trade has initially positive effects, it may result in underdeveloped countries being permanently stuck in relative poverty. In addition, developed countries may become over-reliant on formal institutions leading to an erosion of social norms.
More information and links to the working papers are available on my research page.