Kevane (economics, Santa Clara University) explores gender issues in the context of Africa's poor economic performance. He overviews the sources of underdevelopment in Africa and the role of gender in economic transactions, then presents evidence on the gendered realities of land rights, the control of labor, bargaining power within households, the marriage market, and families. He also reviews specific development programs aimed at women, emphasizing the necessity of gender-sensitive structural changes for development.

Michael Kevane has published articles on the performance of Sudanese rural institutions and markets in journals such as Review of Development Economics, World Development, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Africa. He is also co-editor (with Endre Stiansen) of a book, Kordofan Invaded: Peripheral Incorporation and Sectoral Transformation in Islamic Africa, published by E.J. Brill. He currently works on gender issues, including a research project in southwestern Burkina Faso investigating how social norms determine home and market production, and the allocation of time more generally, for women in rural areas, and another research project using Indonesian data to explore the effects of social and parental preference for boys rather than girls.