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Matthew K. Ribar

@mattkribar.bsky.social
283 followers 351 following 171 posts

Postdoctoral fellow in political science @weidenbaumcenter.bsky.social. I study the political economy of land, development, and informality in West Africa. matthewkribar.com

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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
Lastly, we show that exposure to violence attenuates the perceived effectiveness of *all* types of natural resource governance, suggesting that no system can be truly resilience in the face of ongoing violence. (6/6)
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
Interestingly, members of local ethnic out-groups also prefer community based governance. This result is a bit surprising if we think that local elites might be biased against this out-group, but this bias still might be preferred to the governance of a distance or ineffective state. (5/6)
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
The answer to the first question is yes: respondents overwhelmingly prefer community natural resource governance. While they would also prefer a state-led system to the status quo, the comparison isn’t close—it’s community-led governance all the way. (4/6)
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
To answer this questions, we administered a vignette experiment ito about 3,000 household heads in rural Mali and Niger. We presented respondents with one of three hypothetical natural resource systems: the status quo (the control condition), a state-led system, and the community led system. (3/6)
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
Both African governments and donor organizations have focused on community-based natural resource governance in recent years: devolving control, the argument goes, helps local communities manage resources in a way best suited to local circumstances. But when does this strategy work? (2/6)
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 8h
Very happy that my paper “Belonging, Violence, and Natural Resource Governance: Experimental Evidence from Mali and Niger” (with Alma Bezares Calderón, Simon Mercer, and Ifeoluwa Olawole) is out at the Journal of Peace Research doi.org/10.1093/jopr...
doi.org
Belonging, violence, and natural resource governance: experimental evidence from Mali and Niger
Abstract. The presence of non-state armed groups in the Sahel complicates effective natural resource governance, which is critical for conflict resolution,
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Even the business meeting had folks standing in the back this year!
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Sticking around at APSA until Sunday? Come listen to me talk about the political economy of land tenure formalization in Cote d’Ivoire. This paper (joint with Cathy Boone) uses newly digitized administrative data to understand who goes `the last mile’ from land certification to land titling.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I’m just waiting for the Trump admin to announce its bilateral aid agreement with the kingdom of Prester John.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Ah, you mean more money overall, not more money for reviews. You’re probably right.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Wouldn’t that just incentivize the journals to concentrate more to avoid paying larger fees for more junior/contingent faculty?
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Congrats!
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American Political Science Review @apsrjournal.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
From our May Issue: Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa by @mattkribar.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
A new paper on at least the first question slipped under my radar, it may have slipped under your’s: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Aiding peace or conflict? The impact of USAID cuts on violence
Less than a week after its inauguration, the second Trump administration issued a blanket stop-work order for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the largest national human...
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Bummed to have missed it!
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Reminds me of the French army returning to the trace italienne fortifications during Operation Barkhane.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
And let’s not forget administrator of USAID.
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 14/04/2026
Yes, it is very well documented that M**k and the sneering staffers who did his bidding causes mass death all over the world, deaths that continue to mount each day that the illegal closure of USAID continues.
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Wes Burdine @wesburdine.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
BREAKING: Following the American threat of an “Avignon Papacy,” Robert Kennedy has begun a Diet of Worms
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Or destroys an independent agency created by congress, a la USAID
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
This also might depend on the outcome of 26 Jane Does v Musk on the USAID separation of powers question.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
This piece will be incredibly valuable if---like me---you've been using Murdock's ethnographic atlas for years to measure precolonial centralization but have always wondered if there was something better. Now there is!
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
There's a long, bad journalistic tradition: All conservative grass-roots political movements are fascinating heartland phenomena, all progressive grass-roots political movements are ineffectual bleating. This one is written off as powered by white female college grads--the wine-moms slur, basically.
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American Political Science Review @apsrjournal.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
From our FirstView article: Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa by @mattkribar.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
doi.org
Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core
Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Same—this was a helpful list!
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African Politics Conference Group @africanpoliticscg.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
The call for 2026 APCG Award Nominations is live! The deadline for nominations is May 1st. Nominate scholars for Best Dissertation, Best Graduate Student Paper, Distinguished Africanist, Best Article and Best Book! www.afpol.org/blog/2026-ap...
afpol.org
2026 APCG Award Nominations
The 2026 APCG Award nominations are now open and due May 1st! Nominate scholars for Best Dissertation, Best Graduate Student Paper, Distinguished Africanist, Best Article and Best Book.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Excellent news!
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Scenes from fieldwork on land tenure and land conflict in rural Liberia:
Sign says “talk to one another, settle your land palava”
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Not for nothing, but this is about 0.28 USAIDs.
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APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Why do so few African farmers get land titles despite easy access? Matthew Ribar's @apsrjournal article reveals: village chiefs block them in centralized countries, but push them in decentralized ones. Read clear summary by @deborah_saki on PSNow
politicalsciencenow.com
Why Do So Few African Farmers Have Land Titles?: An APSA Public Scholarship Program Summary
In the APSA Public Scholarship Program, graduate students in political science produce summaries of new research in the American Political Science Review. This piece, written by Deborah Saki, covers the new article by Matthew K. Ribar, Stanford University, "Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa". In developed economies, owning land usually comes with paperwork such as a deed, a title, or some official proof of ownership.
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Charles Kenny @charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
So now we can see the official report of what happened to PEPFAR coverage in 2025 compared to 2024. 14.5m fewer people received testing and counselling (leading to a 400k drop in positive tests) 100,000 fewer on ARVs 1.6m drop in ART patients with documented viral load
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Thomas [DARK MODE], DO @tom.medsky.social · 27/01/2026
Downfall Bovino Edition. You're welcome.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Thanks! The second opinion is helpful.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
An academic question: what's your threshold for peer-review delays that would cause you to withdraw the paper from the journal? I submitted a paper on September 17th and it's still "awaiting reviewer selection." This is absurd, right?
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Just sent you a message!
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Alan Owlport 🦉 🎃 @alanallport.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
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The Last Mile with USAID @thelastmilewithusaid.substack.com · 19/11/2025
The unraveling of USAID was deliberate. Paul Martin sounded an alarm about nearly half a billion dollars in food aid, and he lost his post for it. That choice weakened the country’s own safeguards and its standing overseas. A government committed to democratic practice protects its overseers.
radio.wpsu.org
Democracy Works: The dismantling of USAID and the death of government oversight
Former NASA and USAID Inspector General Paul Martin joins us to recount the chaotic end to his decades-long career in public service and discuss the role that oversight plays in American democracy.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 06/11/2025
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
By this time next week, the estimated deaths due to the illegal destruction of USAID and the shuttering of its aid efforts will breach 400,000. More than 260,000 will be children. Source: www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...
bu.edu
Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts
Brooke Nichols has launched online tracking tools that capture estimated increases in mortality and disease spread for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases as a result of the near-total...
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Also worth remembering the host of violence prevention programs in northern Nigeria that USAID was funding
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The Last Mile with USAID @thelastmilewithusaid.substack.com · 04/11/2025
pulitzercenter.org
Cuts and Consequences: The End of USAID
In the series Cuts and Consequences: The End of USAID, producer Molly Knight Raskin and PBS NewsHour correspondent William Brangham report on the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to shut....
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Excellent turnout amidst crummy weather here in St Louis!
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Thanks Will! I have also gotten the reasonable question "what does this paper do that Honig (2017,2022) doesn't?" Glad I've convinced you.
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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
It's going up to $40 billion. USAID's budget last year was $28 billion.
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Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 26/09/2025
#OpenAccess from @apsrjournal.bsky.social - Land, Power, and Property Rights: The Political Economy of Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa - cup.org/46qHNnT - @mattkribar.bsky.social #FirstView
Banner image featuring the hashtag #OpenAccess on a green background above the text 'American Political Science Review' on a blue background.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Big thanks to my supportive advisors, the various groups who funded this research, my wife, and one particularly fussy editor:
Pierre, a cat, lays upside down.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
The field survey in Cote d’Ivoire process-traces three intermediate steps: (1) strong chiefs lead to more titles because Ivorian chiefs have an incentive to facilitate rather than impede; (2) chiefs capture land management and exclude the local out-group; and (3) chiefs benefit from this capture.
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
But households aren’t the only actors here; traditional chiefs either facilitate titling (if the state devolved land governance, meaning that chiefs can capture these institutions) or impede it (if titling remains centralized).
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Matthew K. Ribar @mattkribar.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
First, if farmland isn’t valuable enough (or if there are limited returns to the kind of agricultural investment that titling facilitates, like fertilizing land or planting trees), then households won’t bother to title.
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