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on Africa |
| By: | Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel; Barrientos, Armando; Hulme, David; Hickey, Sam |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of the recent extension of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies two main ‘models’ of social protection in the region: the Southern Africa and Middle Africa models. It then assesses the contrasting policy processes behind these models and examines the major challenges they face as regards financing, institutional capacity and political support. It concludes that, for an effective institutional framework for social protection to evolve in sub-Saharan African countries, the present focus on the technical design of social protection programmes needs to be accompanied by analyses that contribute to also ‘getting the politics right’ |
| Keywords: | social protection; poverty; transfer programmes; sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | O55 D63 O17 H53 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22422&r=afr |
| By: | Anika Moroff (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies) |
| Abstract: | Since 1990 the banning of ethnic and other identity-based parties has become the norm in sub-Saharan Africa. This article focuses on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as three East African countries that have opted for different ways of dealing with such parties. Using case studies, it traces the origins of the party bans in Tanzania and Uganda and explores the reasons for the absence of a ban in Kenya. The analysis shows that the laws on particularistic parties have actually been implemented by the appropriate institutions. However,these laws have only marginally influenced the character of the political parties in the three countries: A comparison of regional voting patterns suggests that bans on particularistic parties have not ensured the emergence of aggregative parties with a national following in Tanzania and Uganda. In Kenya on the other hand, where such a ban was nonexistent until 2008, parties have not proven to be more regional. |
| Keywords: | Sub-Saharan Africa, party ban, ethnic parties, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,party regulation, party nationalization |
| JEL: | F23 L14 O14 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:129&r=afr |
| By: | Witi Jongikhaya; Chaturvedi Vaibhav |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses some of the impacts attributed to climate change that are likely to hit Southern Africa as a result of increasing global greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. As South Africa is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and currently ranked first in Africa, the paper assesses the country.s greenhouse gas emissions profile and possible future projections of emissions and their implications. It then discusses the strategic interventions proposed by South Africa in reducing the gap in emissions between what is required by science and what would happen if development continues at current rates without abating greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the majority of emissions are a result of energy consumption, the paper provides practical solutions to themes such as energy efficiency mostly for the industrial and commercial sectors. With international treaties on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. Kyoto protocol), there are business opportunities in the area of climate change mitigation. Thus, the paper finally discusses the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scenario in South Africa and how the country can benefit from other emission trading schemes being practiced in different regions of the world. |
| Date: | 2009–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:wp2009-10-02&r=afr |
| By: | Bezabih, Mintewab (University of Portsmouth); Mannberg, Andréa (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Visser, Martine (University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically assesses links between expectations of future health and income on sexual risk taking on a sample of young adults in Cape Town, South Africa. An important contribution of the paper lies in combining a wide range of variables measuring risky sexual behavior such that the maximum information possible is extracted from, and adequate weights are attached to each measure, as opposed to previous studies that are based on individual measures or arbitrary aggregations. The findings indicate that expected income and health and future uncertainty are significant determinants of current patterns of sexual risk taking. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that reducing poverty and improving social insurance as well as reducing the taboo related to talking about HIV may constitute important issues to be addressed. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS; Health risk; Risk aversion |
| JEL: | D81 D84 D91 I10 |
| Date: | 2010–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0804&r=afr |
| By: | Quamrul Ashraf; Oded Galor |
| Abstract: | This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a signi.cant e¤ect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe a¤ected genetic diversity and has had a direct long-lasting e¤ect on the pattern of comparative economic development that could not be captured by contemporary geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped e¤ect on development outcomes in the pre-colonial era, re.ecting the trade-o¤ between the bene.cial and the detrimen- tal e¤ects of diversity on productivity. Moreover, the level of genetic diversity in each country today (i.e., genetic diversity and genetic distance among and between its ancestral populations) has a similar non-monotonic e¤ect on the contemporary levels of income per capita. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among the Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. Further, the optimal level of diversity has increased in the process of industrialization, as the bene.cial forces associated with greater diversity have intensi.ed in an environment characterized by more rapid technological progress. |
| Keywords: | .Out of Africa. hypothesis; Human genetic diversity; Comparative development; Population density; Neolithic Revolution; Land productivity; Malthusian stagnation |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2010-7&r=afr |
| By: | Olusegun A. Akanbi (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This study empirically examines the pattern of domestic investment that is consistent with a neoclassical supply-side model of the Nigerian economy. The estimations are carried out with time-series data from 1970 to 2006 using the Johansen estimation techniques. The results conform to the findings of existing literature that real output, user cost of capital, and the level of financial development are significant determinants of domestic investment in Nigeria. The distinctive feature of the study is the significant role played by governance in explaining the longterm pattern of domestic investment in Nigeria. The results from the long-run estimation and the impulse responses revealed that a well-structured and stable socio-economic environment will boost domestic investment over the long run. Therefore, in modelling domestic investment for Nigeria, it is imperative to incorporate the significant role played by governance. |
| Keywords: | Investment, Governance, Nigeria |
| JEL: | E22 E21 G39 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201010&r=afr |
| By: | Cathie Laroche Dupraz; Carole Ropars Collet |
| Abstract: | [Paper in French] Since the beginning of 2000s, imports of frozen pieces of chicken from the European Union or Brazil have considerably increased in several African and Caribbean developing countries, competing with local chicken meat. Obviously, imported chicken has replaced domestic one in households’ consumption. The level of substitution between imported chicken and the several domestic chicken types is not specifically known. In order to focus on this point, investigations have been done in 2005 in Yaoundé (Cameroon) and in 2006 in Port-au-Prince (Haiti). Because of a lack of available statistical data, we surveyed 180 urban households in each country, showing that imported frozen pieces of chicken have widely substituted for the local chicken which has already quite disappeared in Port-au-Prince, but is still appreciated by Yaoundé consumers. This article aims to assess the impacts, on such an evolution of i) socio-economic features of consumers and ii) of chicken consumption habits of households. Without data on income, and to deal with a large number of qualitative variables, we implemented multiple correspondence analyses to build asset indexes usable in our econometric regressions. |
| Keywords: | Chicken, urban consumption, developing countries, household’s characteristics, Cameroon, Haiti |
| JEL: | Q18 Q17 D12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201003&r=afr |