91PORN

As a young man in his native Benin, Leonard Wantchekon was arrested for leading a student uprising against the repressive government, tortured in prison, and 18 months later escaped from prison into Nigeria.

Nearly four decades later, he is now a Princeton economist and the founder of the African School of Economics. But the experiences and observations from his astonishing early life embedded themselves into his work in economics—not just his research, but his mission to educate a new generation of African economists.

Leonard speaks with Cardiff about those formative events, and then they discuss the following research papers published by Leonard:

—  [Co-authored with Marko Klasˇnja and Natalija Novta]

— [Co-authored with Piero Stanig]

— [Co-authored with Nathan Nunn]

And they also discuss Leonard’s goals as founder of The African School of Economics, and why it’s so important for African students economists to be taken more seriously inside the economics profession.