Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Introduction: Sustainable Livelihoods, Conflicts, And Transformation, Brandon D. Lundy, Akanmu G. Adebayo

Brandon D. Lundy

Introduction to the Journal of Global Initiatives Volume 10, Number 2 "Sustainable Livelihoods and Conflict."

Notes On The Seminar On African Economic Outlook 2015, Held On The 8th Of October 2015 At The House Of The Estates Of Finland, J. G. A. Saviranta

Akseli Saviranta

The following document presents summarised key notes from the United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) seminar titled “African Economic Outlook 2015 – Unlocking the potential of local economies for inclusive growth”. The seminar presented the 2015 report titled “African Economic Outlook 2015 – Regional Development and Spatial Inclusion”, produced by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre, and the United Nations Development Programme. The African Development Bank, UNU-WIDER, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland were the co-organisers of the Seminar.

The Dynamics Of Poverty, Inequality And Economic Well-Being: African Economic Growth In Comparative Perspective, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

Two hundred and fifty million Africans (about 45% of the population) are poor. In rural areas, where most Africans live, there is, alas, a 'poor majority'. Rural poverty rates range from 37% in Madagascar and 41% in Kenya to 88% in Zambia and 94% in Ghana (Table 1). It is hard to imagine an issue in development economics that is of greater importance to humankind than the effects of economic growth on poverty and economic well-being. Yet there is remarkably little consensus on this vitally important issue, as illustrated by the following two polar positions: New patterns of growth will …

App Newsletter 3, Riccardo Pelizzo

Riccardo Pelizzo

third issue of the APP newsletter where we discuss the results of the Nigerian elections, the consequences of falling oil price, and the costs of instability

App Newsletter 2, Riccardo Pelizzo

riccardo pelizzo

This is the second issue of the newsletter of African Politics and Policy. In this issue our collaborators discuss the uneasy relationship between democracy and development, Tourism in Tanzania, elections in Togo, and Chinese Investments in Africa.

Newsletter, Riccardo Pelizzo

riccardo pelizzo

first issue of the African Politics and Policy Newsletter

Varieties Of Resource Nationalism In Sub-Saharan Africa's Energy And Minerals Markets, Stefan Andreasson

Stefan Andreasson

This article examines resource nationalism in sub-Saharan Africa’s energy and minerals markets. It does so by exploring economic and political developments in three cases: Nigeria as an example of a petro-state established by means of expropriation in the wake of decolonisation; South Africa, a mature mining industry shaped by its settler colonial history; and Mozambique, a new and therefore highly-dependent entrant into the league of significant natural gas producers. Extractive industries have played a controversial role in sub-Saharan Africa due in particular to the prevalence of the resource curse. Nevertheless, energy exports will continue to play an important role in …

Do Foreign Direct Investment And Foreign Aid Promote Good Governance In Africa?, Adugna Lemi, Blen Solomon, Sisay Asefa

Adugna Lemi

The literature on the roles that governance/political and economic stability play to attract capital flows into African economies has been burgeoning. Good governance, liberalization, infrastructure, incentive packages have been regarded as cures to break the deadlock to reverse the economic plight, to attract inflow of capital and, in some cases, to reverse outflows of African economies. The flow of capital, however, has undesirable side effects on host economies’ working conditions, environmental standard, inequality, and culture, among others. These economic and social external or negative spillover effects are due to the phenomenon of “race-to-the-bottom” where companies invest in economies with lax …

A Labor Market Approach To The Crisis Of Health Care Professionals In Africa, Mabel Andalón, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

This paper adopts a labor market economics perspective to understanding the crisis of healthcare professionals in Africa. Five challenges resulting from this crisis are identified: a production challenge, an underutilization challenge, a distributional challenge, a performance challenge, and a financing challenge. Differences between the labor market approach and others used in the health field are noted. We conclude that more empirical data, a full labor market analysis, and the use of social benefit-cost criteria are all needed before policy recommendations to address any of these challenges can be confidently offered.

A Critical Examination Of The Relationship Between The Use Of Gatekeepers, Trust, And Organisation Knowledge-Sharing, Deogratias Harorimana Dr

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

This thesis critically examines the relationship between gatekeepers, trust, and an organisation’s knowledge sharing. The research applied mixed methods with the case study approach. In this research the concept ‘gatekeeper’ is widely used to represent a class of those who are part of a knowledge management strategy; they collect information and knowledge and contextualise this before they can share it with the rest of the members of the organisation’s knowledge networks - within the formal and informal organisation. In this study, it was found that there was a strong relationship between the openness of a given firm, as regards its …

The Probability Of Military Rule In Africa, 1970-2007, Raul Caruso, Roberto Ricciuti

Raul Caruso

In this paper we empirically analyze the socio-economic determinants of the existence of military dictatorships in Africa. A recent literature in political economy analyses the relationship between the civil undemocratic government and the military as an agency problem: the civilian government needs the army to avoid internal violence, but a larger army reduces the opportunity-cost for the military to run a coup d’état and seize power. These papers derive three main causes of military rule: income inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and external threat. We empirically analyze these issues by estimating the probability that a country experiences a military rule. We consider …

African Economic Blocs And Trade: Case Study Of Comesa And Sudan, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Comprehensively, Economic Trade Partnerships and Blocs are important to a member country. However, with the continuing global financial distresses it is useful to evaluate them to maximize possible benefit. The question of joining, continue membership with the Comesa is vital to the Sudanese economy that presently stands in a very decisive time. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa is a free trade area with nineteen member states stretching from Libya to Zimbabwe. COMESA formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981. Nine of the member states formed a free trade area in …

Success And Failure Of African Exporters, Olivier Cadot, Leonardo Iacovone, Denisse Pierola, Ferdinand Rauch

Olivier Cadot

Using a novel dataset with transaction-level export data from four African countries (Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper explores the determinants of success upon entry into export market, defined as survival beyond the first year at the (firm x product x destination) level. We find that the success probability \textit{rises} with the number of same-country competitors exporting the same product to the same destination, suggesting the existence of some cross-firm externalities. We explore several conjectures on the determinants underlying these externalities and provide evidence that these may operate through information spillovers.

Small And As Productive: Female‐Headed Households And The Inverse Relationship Between Land Size And Output In Kenya, Mwangi Githinji, Charalampos Konstantinidis, Andrew Barenberg

Mwangi Wa Githinji

Access to land and particularly its distribution has reemerged as an important part of both academic and policy discussions in the last decade, leading to the resuscitation of the debate on the relationship between size of holdings and output per land unit. Across the world, studies have suggested the existence of a decreasing relationship between land size and output per unit of land. The most-widely accepted explanation for this relationship is that households with smaller holdings tend to be labor rich relative to land, and therefore can achieve higher output through the increased application of labor. Despite the rich literature …

Slides - Africa In The World Trade Network, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

Here you find the slides of the presentation of the paper Africa in the World Trade Network held in Lausanne University at ETSG 2010, September 10th 2010

Africa In The World Trade Network, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

Crime Against Informal Businesses In Africa: Natives Vs. Immigrants, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

The literature on crime seeks to identify groups of agents based on their socio-economic-demographic characteristics that are more likely to be victims of crime than others. The present paper contributes to this literature by focusing on crime against informal businesses in Africa and highlighting how victimization rates vary between businesses owned by natives and immigrants. We find that immigrant-owned businesses are significantly more likely to be targeted by criminals than native-owned businesses. However, much of this difference is due to higher victimization rates for businesses owned by recent immigrants to the city. Businesses owned by immigrants that have spent about …

Gender And Informality (A Short Note), Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

For a sample of informal firms in Burkina Faso, Cameroons, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Mauritius, this note compares male and female owned businesses. The results provide mixed evidence on a number of hypotheses discussed in the literature for firms in the formal sector. First, the female under-performance hypothesis is confirmed, but only for firm-size. For firm-efficiency measured by the average productivity of labor, we find little difference across male and female owned businesses. Second, consistent with the view that women may face glass-ceiling in getting managerial positions, we find that women managers in our sample have less experience …

Gender And Firm-Size: Evidence From Africa, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

A number of studies show that relative to male owned businesses, female owned businesses are smaller in size. However, these studies are restricted to the formal or the organized sector. Also, with some exceptions, they focus on the developed countries. This paper explores the gender and firm-size relationship for a sample of informal or unregistered firms in six developing countries in Africa including Burkina Faso, Cameroons, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Mauritius. We find strong evidence that female owned businesses are smaller than male owned businesses.

[Data and Stata do files included]

Home-Based Informal Businesses And The Gender Dimension, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Anecdotal evidence suggests that working from home makes it easier to balance work and family life. This is particularly attractive to women, who are viewed as primary caregivers in the family in most developing countries. However, there is some concern in the literature that family responsibility may detract from doing business, leading to fewer hours of operation and lower efficiency for home-based businesses run by women. The present paper tests these hypotheses using data on informal or unregistered firms in five African countries. We find strong evidence that female entrepreneurs have a greater proclivity compared with male entrepreneurs to work …

Immigrants In The Informal Sector: Evidence From Africa (Short Note), Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

A survey of informal businesses in Burkina Faso, Cameroons and Cape Verde shows that roughly half of the businesses are owned by immigrants. Systematic differences between immigrant-owned and native-owned businesses might be expected given that immigrants are usually a vulnerable group and take time to assimilate with the native community. While the survey shows some important differences between native and immigrant owners of businesses, there is no clear evidence that relative to natives, immigrants are either discriminated against, are less efficient or come from a relatively less privileged background. However, immigrants are more likely to be males, unmarried and migrate …

Necessity Vs. Opportunity Entrepreneurs In The Informal Sector (Short Note), Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Some informal businesses are started to take advantage of business opportunities (opportunity firms) while others are started because the owner cannot find a satisfactory job (necessity firms). Comparing opportunity vs. necessity informal firms, this note finds that opportunity firms are more efficient and larger. They are also more likely to use external finance, and suffer less from infrastructure bottlenecks such as power outages. The key point in all these differences is that they apply to the manufacturing sector alone. With the exception of having more educated managers and more businesses located outside than inside household premises, opportunity firms in the …

How Different Are Service And Manufacturing Firms In The Informal Sector? (Short Note), Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

A comparison of service and manufacturing firms in the informal sector shows that service firms are larger in terms of total sales and also generate more output per worker. They rely less on physical infrastructure and machines but more on human capital. Service firms also appear to be better integrated with the financial system with access to finance being less of an obstacle to their business. Some of the commonly held reasons for not registering such as taxes that registered businesses have to pay and benefits from registering such as better access to government programs appear to be less important …

Foreign Debt And Domestic Savings In Developing Countries, Luke Okafor, Joanna Tyrowicz

Joanna Tyrowicz

This paper approaches the question of potential causality between foreign debt and domestic savings in the context of developing countries. Literature provides evidence in as far as foreign debt and development is concerned, but little attention was given so far to internal potential for capital formation. We provide a theoretical framework and test its relevance using 1975-2004 data for two groups of countries: sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America with the Caribbean. With the use of instrumental variables we find negative impact of foreign debt on domestic savings especially in the long run. The results are not susceptible to the choice …

Eu-Acp Economic Partnership Agreements, Inma Martinez-Zarzoso, Sebastian Vollmer, Nils Klann, Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D.

Inma Martinez-Zarzoso

We estimate the welfare effects of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and nine African countries. Our analysis is based on highly disaggregated data for trade and tariffs. We extend the literature in two principal ways: First, we estimate bilateral elasticities of import demand from the disaggregated data. Second, in place of simulating rather general scenarios we apply the recently negotiated tariff reduction rates to estimate the agreement’s welfare effects. Results indicate that Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Namibia will profit from the interim agreements, while the effects for Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are close to zero.

South Africa And The Arab World: Facing Common Challenges, Marcus Noland, Howard Pack

Marcus Noland

Today the Arab countries of the Middle East face a challenge familiar to all South Africans: to create jobs for the large cohort of young people reaching working age. Over the next decade or so, the region may experience population growth of 150 million people—the equivalent of adding two Egypts (table 1). In demographic terms, the task is similar to that facing South Africa—only larger. Rising labor force participation by women only increases the pressure. The task is immense, and the stakes are high.

The Linkages Between Fdi And Domestic Investment: Unravelling The Developmental Impact Of Foreign Investment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Léonce Ndikumana, Sher Verick

Léonce Ndikumana

While the recent increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) to African countries is a welcome development, the question remains as to the impact of these resource inflows on economic development. This study posits that a key channel of the impact of FDI on development is through its effects on domestic factor markets, especially domestic investment and employment. In this context, this study analyses the two-way linkages between FDI and domestic investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results suggest that firstly, FDI crowds in domestic investment, and secondly, countries will gain much from measures aimed at improving the domestic investment climate. Moreover, …

Explaining Pro-Cyclical Fiscal Policy In African Countries, John Thornton

John Thornton

Simple time series regressions for 37 low-income African countries during 1960–2004 suggest that government consumption is highly pro-cyclical,with consumption responding more than proportionately to fluctuations in output in many cases. The results from a cross-country specification suggest that government consumption is more procyclical in those African countries that are more reliant on foreign aid inflows and that are less corrupt, and that it is less procyclical in countries with unequal income distribution and that are more democratic. These results contrast with those from recent research using data sets that comprise a more diverse groups of countries in terms of geography …

The Eu–Acp Economic Partnership Agreements And The ‘Development Question’: Constraints And Opportunities Posed By Article Xxiv And Special And Differential Treatment Provisions Of The Wto, Cosmas Milton Obote Obote Ochieng Ochieng

Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng Ochieng

This article argues that Article XXIV and special and differential treatment (SDT) provisions of the WTO present a number of constraints and opportunities to the design and scope of the proposed economic partnership agreements between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. It examines the negotiating positions of both sides to argue that were the EU's position to prevail, ACP and other developing countries would likely suffer an ‘erosion of the development principles’ embedded within the WTO. It is shown that the differences between the two groups over the desirability and/or applicability of negotiating free trade …

Saving, Investment And Capital Mobility In African Countries, John Thornton, Olumuyiwa S. Adedeji

John Thornton

Recently developed panel co-integration techniques are applied to data for six African countries to test the Feldstein–Horioka approach to measuring capital mobility. The results suggest three conclusions: savings and investment in panel data are non-stationary series and they are co-integrated; capital was relatively mobile in the African countries during 1970–2000, with estimated savings–retention ratios of 0.73 (FMOLS), 0.45 (DOLS), 0.51 (DOLS with heterogeneity) and 0.39 (DOLS with cross-sectional dependence effects); and there was a marked drop in the savings–retention ratio from 1970–85 to 1986–2000. The results could be interpreted as indicating that capital mobility in African countries has increased, reflecting …