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on Africa |
| By: | Andrew Mold (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - ECA) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | Africa, Poverty |
| JEL: | L30 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:24&r=afr |
| By: | Robert Pollin (Univ. of Massachusetts); Gerald Epstein (Univ. of Massachusetts); James Heintz (Univ. of Massachusetts); Léonce Ndikumana (Univ. of Massachusetts) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | . |
| JEL: | H21 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:1&r=afr |
| By: | Kalie Pauw (Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU)); Liberty Mncube (University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This country study evaluates the experience of the South African economy with respect to growth, poverty and inequality trends since the advent of democracy in 1994. The post-apartheid government took a definite turn toward greater spending on social security, while job creation and a narrowing of the gap between the so-called first and second economies â?? the latter defined as the informal part of the economy that is also largely removed from formal sector activities â?? enjoyed priority in its economic strategy. Despite this focus on uplifting the poor, it remains unclear to what extent the government has been successful. Some controversy exists around whether relatively fewer South Africans are poor ten years after the democratic government came into power. There seems to be greater consensus among analysts that inequality has in fact increased. This study attempts to shed some light on these issues, drawing on recent South African literature and data. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, CCT, Inequality, South Africa |
| JEL: | H21 O23 O17 F23 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:7&r=afr |
| By: | Degol Hailu (UNDP SURF) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | Scaling-up, HIV, AIDS, Financing, Macroeconomic, Policies, Kenya |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cpaper:4&r=afr |
| By: | Kalie Pauw (Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU)); Liberty Mncube (University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | For a large proportion of the South African population, social welfare grants are an important source of income. Since 2000, rapid increases in government expenditure on social security have further enhanced the contribution of welfare grants to the income of poor households and have thus been important in the fight against poverty. Given these apparent successes, many are calling for further expansions in social security provisioning, with the idea of developing conditional cash transfer schemes occasionally surfacing in policy circles. However, as we argue in this Country Study, there are various constraints to such expansions of the welfare net. Whereas in the past much of the increased expenditure on social security provisioning could be financed out of government revenue overruns, further increases are likely to be possible only through reallocation of government expenditures. There is already evidence of substitution taking place within the social budget since education and health expenditures have apparently declined in favour of increased welfare transfer expenditures. This trend, we argue, is untenable and may harm the already weak education and health services in South Africa. Conditional grants linked to school attendance and visits to health clinics would place further pressure on health and education services, as well as on the agencies responsible for disbursing and monitoring welfare payments in the country. We argue, therefore, that budgetary and service delivery constraints currently present a strong argument against expansion of the social welfare system in the immediate future. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, CCT, Inequality, South Africa, Opportunities, Challenges |
| JEL: | H21 O23 O17 F23 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:8&r=afr |
| By: | Matías Vernengo (Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Utah) |
| Abstract: | This Conference Paper by Matias Vernengo was presented at the ?Global Conference on Gearing Macroeconomic Policies to Reverse the HIV/AIDS Epidemic?, jointly organized by UNDP?s HIV/AIDS Group and IPC and held in Brasilia, November 2006. It is part of an IPC-supported Research Programme on ?Macroeconomic Policies to Combat HIV/AIDS?. The paper maintains that the monetary policies best suited to manage the macroeconomic effects of an MDG-related scaling up of HIV/AIDS financing are those that support the needed expansion of public spending - namely, monetary policies that maintain low rates of interest, increase overall liquidity in the economy and try to achieve a relatively depreciated currency. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, MDG, HIV/AIDS, Monetary Policies |
| JEL: | B41 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cpaper:2&r=afr |
| By: | Bernard Walters (Economics Discipline Area, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | Fiscal, Implications,ODA, HIV, AIDS, Pandemic |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cpaper:3&r=afr |
| By: | Jean Bourdon (IREDU, University of Bourgogne); Markus Frölich (SIAW, University of St. Gallen, IFAU Uppsala and IZA); Katharina Michaelowa (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Primary school enrolment rates are very low in francophone Africa. In order to enhance education supply, many countries have launched large teacher recruitment programmes in recent years, whereby teachers are no longer engaged on civil servant positions, but on the basis of (fixed-term) contracts typically implying considerably lower salaries and a sharply reduced duration of professional training. While this policy has led to a boost of primary enrolment, there is a concern about a loss in the quality of education. In this paper we analyse the impact on educational quality, by estimating nonparametrically the quantile treatment effects for Niger, Togo and Mali, based on very informative data, comparable across these countries. We find that contract teachers do relatively better for low ability children in low grades than for high ability children in higher grades. When positive treatment effects were found, they tended to be more positive at the low to medium quantiles; when negative effects were found they tended to be more pronounced at the high ability quantiles. Hence, overall it seems that contract teachers do a relatively better job for teaching students with learning difficulties than for teaching the ‘more advanced’ children. This implies that contract teachers tend to reduce inequalities in student outcomes. At the same time, we also observe clear differences between the countries. We find that, overall, effects are positive in Mali, somewhat mixed in Togo (with positive effects in 2nd and negative effects in 5th grade) and negative in Niger. This ordering is consistent with theoretical expectations derived from a closer examination of the different ways of implementation of the contract teacher programme in the three countries. In Mali and, to some extent, in Togo, the contract teacher system works more through the local communities. This may have led to closer monitoring and more effective hiring of contract teachers. In Niger, the system was changed in a centralized way with all contract teachers being public employees, so that there is no reason to expect much impact on local monitoring. In addition, the extremely fat hiring of huge numbers of contract teachers may also have contributed to relatively poor performance in Niger. These results are expected to be relevant for other sub-Saharan African countries, too, as well as for the design of new contract teacher programmes in the future. |
| Keywords: | teacher incentives, quantile treatment effects, nonparametric estimation |
| JEL: | O15 I21 C14 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2844&r=afr |
| By: | Garth Frazer; Johannes Van Biesebroeck |
| Abstract: | This paper explores whether one of the most important U.S. policies towards Africa of the past few decades achieved its desired result. In 2000, the United States dropped trade restrictions on a broad list of products through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Since the Act was applied to both countries and products, we estimate the impact with a triple difference-in-differences estimation, controlling for both country and product-level import surges at the time of onset. This approach allows us to better address the "endogeneity of policy" critique of standard difference-in-differences estimation than if either a country or a product-level analysis was performed separately. Despite the fact that the AGOA product list as chosen to not include "import-sensitive" products, and despite the general challenges of transaction costs in African countries, we find that AGOA has a large and robust impact on apparel imports into the U.S., as well as on the agricultural and manufactured products covered by AGOA. These import responses grew over time and were the largest in product categories where the tariffs removed were large. AGOA did not result in a decrease in exports to Europe in these product categories, suggesting that the U.S.-AGOA imports were not merely diverted from elsewhere. We discuss how the effects vary across countries and the implications of these findings for aggregate export volumes. |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F15 O19 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13222&r=afr |
| By: | Robert Pollin (Univ. of Massachusetts); James Heintz (Univ. of Massachusetts) |
| Abstract: | This IPC Country Study by Robert Pollin and James Heintz examines three policy areas related to monetary policies in Kenya: inflation dynamics and the relationship between inflation and long-run growth; monetary policy targets and instruments; and exchange rate dynamics and the country?s external balance. It concludes with five main policy recommendations |
| Keywords: | Poverty, Inflation Control, Exchange Rate |
| JEL: | H21 O23 O17 F23 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:6&r=afr |
| By: | John Weeks (Professor Emeritus, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Terry McKinley (International Poverty Centre) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | Debt, Increase, Fiscal Space, Zambia, MDG |
| JEL: | H21 O23 O17 F23 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:5&r=afr |
| By: | Didier Plat (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Amakoé Adolehoume (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat], DEST - Département Economie et Sociologie des Transports - [INRETS], Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Bano Barry (Université de Conakry - [Université de Conakry]); Esther Boupda (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Lourdes Diaz Olvera (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Xavier Godard (DEST - Département Economie et Sociologie des Transports - [INRETS]); Louis-Roger Kemayou (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Pascal Pochet (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Maïdadi Sahabana (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Bi Nagone Zoro (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]) |
| Abstract: | Cette étude, réalisée par le réseau SITRASS pour le compte du SSATP (Banque mondiale et Commission Economique pour l'Afrique), du Ministère des Transports du Cameroun et de la Communauté Urbaine de Douala, a pour objectif une connaissance fine des conditions de mobilité et d'accessibilité aux services urbains des Doualais pauvres, de manière à préparer l'identification de programmes d'actions ciblés. L'étude s'appuie sur un travail de terrain effectué à l'automne 2003, en parallèle à celui réalisé à Conakry : entretiens auprès de citadins pauvres et enquête-ménages sur la mobilité quotidienne, focalisée sur les ménages les moins favorisés. |
| Keywords: | Conditions de mobilité ; conditions d'accessibilité ; zone urbaine ; pauvreté ; enquête-ménages ; Douala |
| Date: | 2007–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00087781_v1&r=afr |
| By: | Didier Plat (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Amakoé Adolehoume (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat], DEST - Département Economie et Sociologie des Transports - [INRETS], Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Bano Barry (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Esther Boupda (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Lourdes Diaz Olvera (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Xavier Godard (DEST - Département Economie et Sociologie des Transports - [INRETS]); Louis-Roger Kemayou (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]); Pascal Pochet (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Maïdadi Sahabana (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - [CNRS : UMR5593] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat]); Bi Nagone Zoro (Solidarité Internationale sur les Transports et la Recherche en Afrique Sub-Saharienne - [SITRASS]) |
| Abstract: | Cette étude, réalisée par le réseau SITRASS pour le compte du SSATP (Banque mondiale et Commission Economique pour l'Afrique) et du Ministère des Transports de la République de Guinée, a pour objectif une connaissance fine des conditions de mobilité et d'accessibilité aux services urbains des populations pauvres à Conakry, de manière à préparer l'identification de programmes d'actions ciblés. L'étude s'appuie sur un travail de terrain effectué à l'automne 2003, en parallèle à celui réalisé à Douala : entretiens auprès de citadins pauvres et enquête-ménages sur la mobilité quotidienne, focalisés sur les ménages les moins favorisés. |
| Keywords: | Conditions de mobilité ; conditions d'accessibilité ; zone urbaine ; pauvreté ; enquête-ménages ; Conakry |
| Date: | 2007–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00087800_v1&r=afr |
| By: | Gerald Epstein (Univ. of Massachusetts); James Heintz (Univ. of Massachusetts) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | Monetary Policy Financial Sector; Reform; Ghana |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:2&r=afr |
| By: | Santanu Chatterjee (University of Georgia); Paola Giuliano (International Monetary Fund, Harvard University and IZA); Ilker Kaya (University of Georgia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines fungibility as a possible explanation for the "missing link" between foreign aid and economic growth. The composition of aid plays a crucial role in determining the composition of government spending and, consequently, the magnitude of fungibility and its impact on growth. Embedding fungibility as an equilibrium outcome in an endogenous growth framework, we show that the substitution away from domestic government investment is higher than from government consumption. This leads to a reduction in domestic productive public spending and completely offsets any positive impact that aid might have on growth. The main predictions of the model are tested using a panel dataset of 67 countries for 1972-2000. We find strong evidence of fungibility at the aggregate level: almost 70 percent of total aid is fungible in our sample. We also find that investment aid is more fungible than other categories of aid. In the presence of fungibility, there is no statistically significant relationship between foreign aid and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | foreign aid, economic growth, fungibility, fiscal policy |
| JEL: | E6 F3 F4 O1 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2858&r=afr |
| By: | Reinikka, Ritva; Svensson, Jakob |
| Abstract: | What is the most effective way to increase primary school enrolment and student learning? We argue that innovations in governance of social services may yield the highest return since social service delivery in developing countries is often plagued by inefficiencies and corruption. We examine this hypothesis by exploiting an unusual policy experiment: A newspaper campaign in Uganda aimed at reducing capture of public funds by providing schools (parents) with information to monitor local officials' handling of a large education grant program. Combining survey and administrative data, we show that the campaign was successful, and the reduction in capture of funds had a positive effect on enrolment and student learning. |
| Keywords: | Corruption; Education; Newspaper campaign |
| JEL: | D73 I22 O12 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6363&r=afr |
| By: | Balogun, Emmanuel Dele |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the perspective of banking sector reforms since 1970 to date. It notes four eras of banking sector reforms in Nigeria, viz.: Pre-SAP (1970-85), the Post-SAP (1986-93), the Reforms Lethargy (1993-1998), Pre-Soludo (1999-2004) and Post-Soludo (2005-2006). Using both descriptive statistics and econometric methods, three sets of hypothesis were tested: firstly that each phase of reforms culminated in improved incentives; secondly that policy reforms which results in increased capitalization, exchange rate devaluation; interest rate restructuring and abolition of credit rationing may have had positive effects on real sector credit and thirdly that implicit incentives which accompany the reforms had salutary macroeconomic effects. The empirical results confirm that eras of pursuits of market reforms were characterized by improved incentives. However, these did not translate to increased credit purvey to the real sector. Also while growth was stifled in eras of control, the reforms era was associated with rise in inflationary pressures. Among the pitfalls of reforms identified by the study are faulty premise and wrong sequencing of reforms and a host of conflicts emanating from adopted theoretical models for reforms and above all, frequent reversals and/or non-sustainability of reforms. In concluding, the study notes the need to bolster reforms through the deliberate adoption of policies that would ensure convergence of domestic and international rates of return on financial markets investments. |
| Keywords: | Banking sector reforms; monetary policy; macroeconomic performance |
| JEL: | E58 E52 |
| Date: | 2007–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3804&r=afr |
| By: | Balogun, Emmanuel Dele |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses specifically on the recent Soludo’s banking sector reforms. The study noted that the Soludo’s reforms focused on strengthening the financial systems through banking sector consolidation, foreign exchange market stabilization, interest rates restructuring and the pursuit of stabilization as against structural adjustment policies for monetary and inflationary controls. A review of theoretical qualifications to the Soludo’s reform show that in thoughts, it is rooted in the Classical traditions of Say’s Law, acts monetarist, but expects a Keynesian outcome that money can stimulate expansion in aggregate domestic output. In concluding, the study noted the need to adopt an interest rate operating procedures for monetary policy in addition to moving the economy consciously towards the ‘law of one market and one price’ for the domestic and foreign money markets. |
| Keywords: | Monetary Policy; Reforms; |
| JEL: | E58 E52 E5 |
| Date: | 2007–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3803&r=afr |