Dr. Maarten Jan Voors

Curriculum Vitae

Appointments

  • Assistant Professor Development Economics, Wageningen University, September 2013 - present
  • Isaac Newton Trust Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, November 2011 - present

Fields

Experimental, Environmental, Development, Behavioral, Political Economy

Education

  • PhD: Wageningen University, Development Economics (2011) cum laude
  • MSc: Wageningen University, Development Economics (2006) cum laude

Publications

  • Van de Grijspaarde, H. , Voors, M.J. , Bulte, E.H. , Richards, P. 2013. Who believes in witches? Institutional flux in Sierra Leone, African Affairs, vol.112(446):22-47
  • Voors, M.J., E.E.M. Nillesen, P. Verwimp, E.H. Bulte, B.W. Lensink and D.P. van Soest, 2012. Violent Conflict and Behavior: a Field Experiment in Burundi, American Economic Review 102(2):941-64
  • Voors, M., T. Turley, A. Kontoleon, E. Bulte and J. List, 2012. Exploring whether behavior in context-free experiments is predictive of behavior in the field: Evidence from lab and field experiments in rural Sierra Leone, Economics Letters 114 (2012):308-311
  • Voors, M., T. Turley, A. Kontoleon, J. List, and E. Bulte, 2011. Public Good Games and Behavior in the Forest: Evidence from Sierra Leone. American Economic Review (papers and proceedings) 101(3):329-33
  • Mokuwa, E,.M. Voors, E. Bulte and P. Richards, 2011. Peasant grievance and insurgency in Sierra Leone: Judicial serfdom as a driver of conflict. African Affairs, 110(440):339-366
  • Voors, M.J., Bulte, E.H. and R. Damania, 2011. Higher Incomes and Corruption in Africa: Does a Virtuous Cycle exist?, Journal of African Economies 20(3):395-418
  • Voors, M.J. and M. D’Haese, 2010. Smallholder dairy sheep production and market channel development: An institutional perspective of rural Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Journal of Dairy Science 93:3869-3879

Working Papers

  • When Economics Meets Hierarchy: A Field Experiment on the Workings of the Invisible Hand, with E. Bulte, A. Kontoleon, J. List, T. Turley (2012) (under review)
  • Conflict and the Evolution of Institutions: Unbundling Institutions at the Local Level in Burundi, with E. Bulte (2012) (under review)
  • Chief for a Day! Participatory Development and Elite Capture in Sierra Leone, with E. Bulte, A. Kontoleon, J. List, T. Turley (2013) (under review)
  • Social Effects of Earned versus Unearned Aid: A Field Experiment in Sierra Leone, with E. Bulte, A. Kontoleon, J. List, T. Turley (2013)
  • Revealed Identity in Social Networks: Evidence from Rural Communities in Sierra Leone, with N. Sincar, T.Turley, P van der Windt (2013)
  • Sanctioning Regimes and Local Institutional Quality in Liberia, with L. Nillesen and Ty Turley (2013)
  • Public Good Games and Status in Rural Villages, with E. Bulte and Ty Turley (2013)

Research Projects

My current main projects entail several randomized control trials on livelihood and forest conservation in Sierra Leone. In a collaborative effort with Gola Forest Program we assess the impact of livelihood and conservation programs in 200 communities around the forest reserve. The program involves implementing several field experiments varying the conditions under which aid is distributed to communities.

  • 2011-2013 (Lead Principal Investigator) Integrating socio-economic data to improve the design and subsequent impact of REDD+ schemes, University of Cambridge
  • 2011-2013 (Principal Investigator) The Impact of Conditional and Unconditional Transfers on Livelihoods and Conservation in Sierra Leone, Wageningen University
  • 2013-2015 (Participant) ESRC-DFID Clash of Institutions, Wageningen University
  • 2012-2013 (Participant) NSF Dissertation Grant Turley, Mali Elections
  • 2011-2013 (Participant) Isaac Newton Trust Post-Doctoral Research Grant, Funding for post-doc position
  • 2010-2012 (Participant) A framework for assessing livelihood impacts of forest conservation programmes
  • 2010-2012 (Participant) Youth violence and livelihoods on the forest edge: the Liberian Gola Forest and its environs as a security risk to Liberia and Sierra Leone

Research Grants and Awards

  • Winner of 2013 WASS Most Promising Publication Award for Violent Conflict and Behavior: a Field Experiment in Burundi
  • July 2012, 3IE Research Grant: The Impact of Conditional and Unconditional Transfers on Livelihoods and Conservation in Sierra Leone (USD 196k), with R. Lensink, A. Kontoleon, P. Richards and E. Bulte)
  • July 2012, CCI Research Grant: Integrating socio-economic data to improve the design and subsequent impact of REDD+ schemes (UKP 68k, with A. Kontoleon and D. Coomes)
  • Wageningen University Travel Grant (EUR 3k)

Teaching

  • Affiliated Lecturer (2012, 2013) MPhil course: Sustainability and International Environmental Policy (University of Cambridge) 2012 evaluation score 5 (out of 5)
  • Lecturer (2012, 2013) PhD course: Behavioral and Experimental Economics (WUR)
  • Lecturer (2011) MSc course: Economics and Governance (WUR), evaluation score 4.3 (out of 5)
  • Lecturer (2011) MSc course: Methods and Techniques of Field Research (WUR) 2011 evaluation score 4.2 (out of 5)
  • Teaching assistant (2009, 2010, 2011) BSc course: Introduction Development Economics (WUR)
  • Teaching assistant (2009, 2010, 2013) BSc course: Methods and Techniques of Research (WUR)

Presentations

  • Research seminars: University of Cambridge (2011); Erasmus University (2009); Wageningen University (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
  • Conferences: CSAE, Oxford, UK (2010, 2012, 2013), Spring Meeting of Young Economist, Mannheim, Germany (2012); University of Brussels, Belgium (2011); CSAE, Oxford, UK (2010), Nordic Conference in Development Economics, Oscarsborg, Norway (2009); Inaugural Conference Courant Research Centre PEG Gottingen University, Gottingen, Germany (2009); EAAE Conference, Ghent University, Belgium (2009)

Reviewing activities

Environmental and Resource Economics, American Economic Review, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Social Science Review, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Economic Journal, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture (guest editor special issue on Experiments in Agriculture with E. Bulte)

Selected Completed Courses

  • Summerschool Impact Evaluation (G. Imbens), 2010, Foundation of the Swiss National Bank
  • Summerschool Panel Data Econometrics (A. v. Soest), 2009, Wageningen University
  • Experiments in Social Science (J. Shogrun, M. Humphreys) , 2009, Workshop Wageningen University
  • Summerschool Civil Conflict, 2008, MICROCON, Olympia
  • Advanced Macro Economics, 2008, Wageningen University
  • Advanced Micro Economics, 2008, Wageningen University
  • Advanced Econometrics, 2008, Wageningen University
  • Development Economics, 2008, Wageningen University on behalf of Netherlands Network of Economics (NAKE)
  • Quantitative Research Methods and Statistics, 2008.Wageningen University

Thesis supervision

  • MSc thesis: G. Beekman, L vd Wal, J. Duchoslav, W. Vellema, B. Miranova, H. vd Grijspaarde, S. de Boer, V. Markiet, J Taylor, G. Koehler
  • BSc thesis: G. Ehmer

Other activities

  • Producer of Arts and Science film on rural development in Sierra Leone, and several educational short movies
  • Technical advisor for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2011-)
  • Workshop organizer on research and development topics (aid, resources, culture) at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013) Njala University, Sierra Leone (2013)