Karol Boudreaux

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Karol Boudreaux

  • Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow
  • Lead Researcher, Enterprise Africa!

Karol Boudreaux is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and lead researcher for Enterprise Africa, a research project that is investigating, analyzing, and reporting on enterprise-based solutions to poverty in Africa.  She is a member of the faculty of the George Mason University School of Law, and served on the Working Group on Property Rights of the U.N.'s Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor.

Ms. Boudreaux's main areas of interest include property rights and development, human rights, and international law. The current focus of her research is contemporary Africa and the ways in which particular institutional arrangements have either helped or hindered human flourishing and economic development on the continent.

Before joining the Mercatus Center, Ms. Boudreaux was assistant dean at the George Mason University School of Law. Additionally, she taught for four years at Clemson University in the legal studies department after which she served as director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, NY.

Ms. Boudreaux earned her BA in English literature from Rutgers University (Douglass College) and her JD from the University of Virginia's School of Law.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Research Paper/Study

A Better Brew for Success

Economic Liberalization in Rwanda’s Coffee Sector
Karol Boudreaux | May 12, 2010
This paper analyzes the recent transformation of Rwanda’s coffee sector. It begins with a brief discussion of the history of coffee production in Rwanda, then focuses on government efforts since the genocide to break a “low quality/low quantity trap” in the sector.
Economic Affairs
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Land Reform as Social Justice: The Case of South Africa

Karol Boudreaux | Mar 08, 2010
As a result of a very long history of discriminatory legislation, black South Africans suffered substantial harms at the hands of past governments. Following the political transition in 1994, the new government implemented land reform policies designed, in part, to satisfy calls for social justice. This paper examines these policies in the context of Hayek's arguments about social justice.
Journal Article
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Land Conflict and Genocide in Rwanda

Karol Boudreaux | Jul 11, 2009
In his 2005 best-selling book Collapse, Jared Diamond argues that some societies “choose to fail or succeed.”  One of the cases he explores in his book is the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which he calls a modern day Malthusian crisis.  However, the arguments he employs to explain why Rwandan society was unable to peacefully and effectively manage rising population pressures overlook a host of political factors that limited the ability of people to respond to increased competition for land in pre-genocide Rwanda.
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WORKING PAPERS

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Land Reform as Social Justice: The Case of South Africa

Karol Boudreaux | Oct 2009
In his 1976 work Law, Legislation and Liberty, F.A. Hayek discusses the concept of social justice, pursued by redistributing resources acquired through an unplanned and impersonal market order, to increase the material equality or equality of outcome of the members of that order.  But, how would these prescriptions translate into actual policy making? What kinds of policies would correct past injustice but not work a new injustice?
The Role of Entrepreneurship in Conflict Reduction in the Post-Genocide Rwandan Coffee Industry image

The Role of Entrepreneurship in Conflict Reduction in the Post-Genocide Rwandan Coffee Industry

Jutta Tobias, Karol Boudreaux | Jun 2009
Entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged as a catalyst for poverty reduction and economic development. This paper presents evidence from a field survey conducted during the summer of 2008 among a sample of Rwanda’s emerging specialty coffee workers and reports on significant correlations between economic satisfaction and life satisfaction, as well as meaningful work contact with members from the other group with an attitude of reconciliation.

POLICY BRIEFS

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Land Tenure Security and Agricultural Productivity

Daniel Sacks, Karol Boudreaux | Sep 2009
In mid-July, the G-8 nations announced a $20 billion commitment to help farmers in developing countries increase their food production.1 Although these efforts are intended to increase food supplies and agricultural productivity over the short run, long-term institutional change is needed to help farmers improve output beyond one or two seasons. One major reform that would help farmers across Africa is increased attention to problems of land tenure security.
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South Africa Election: Policy Recommendations for a New Government

Johan van der Walt, Karol Boudreaux | Mar 2009
As South Africa faces a new round of parliamentary elections in April 2009, the country confronts a host of difficult political challenges. This Mercatus on Policy provides recommendations for any new government on how to address some of the domestic and international challenges.
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Starving for Change

Daniel Sacks, Karol Boudreaux | Nov 2008
The United States government spends over two billion dollars a year on food aid, suppos­edly to help poor, hungry people around the world fight off starvation. However, much of this money is not helping the hungry, but instead supports U.S. farmers, shipping companies, and food manufacturers.
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MEDIA CLIPPINGS

The Daily Caller

A better partnership for protection

Karol Boudreaux | Apr 23, 2010
Namibia is now a world leader in community conservation and provides a powerful example for the US.
AllAfrica.com

Empower Women Financially and Develop Communities

Karol Boudreaux | Dec 04, 2009
Karol Boudreaux discusses the role of women's empowerment in relation to the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals in an article on AllAfrica.com

Karol Boudreaux on Fraser Fast Track

Karol Boudreaux | Jul 2009
Lead Researcher Karol Boudreaux recently appeared on Fraser Fast Track discussing whether foreign aid helps or hinders developing countries
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