MIT Study on Local Democracy in Afghanistan

In a recent study the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) examined the effect of local institutions and the quality of governance in Afghanistan. The study centered on the distribution of wheat and the effects of aid to villages needing the wheat. The study looked at the differences in distribution by elected councils (such as Community Development Councils), customary leaders, or newly created local councils. A news article on Foreign Policy discusses the study and its findings and the study itself is available on the Social Science Research Network here.