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on Africa |
| By: | Carl Grekou; Romain Perez |
| Abstract: | Since 2000, child mortality has dramatically decreased in Africa. Based on an econometrical analysis over 45 sub-Saharan African countries, this paper analyses the determinants of such evolution, and shows that urbanization, sanitation improvement and GDP growth per capita played a critical role in this overall improvement over 2000-2011. The increase in public health expenditures proved to be also decisive, though the elasticity with mortality rate is much weaker. Reaching the Abuja target of 15% of public health expenditure in total public expenditures would have decreased the under-5 child mortality rate by 9% over 2001-2011. It could further reduce this rate by 14% over 2012-2021, and allow Africa to save 19.8 million of children lives. It would also help the region to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on child mortality (reduce by two thirds under-5 child mortality over 1990-2015) by 2022-23, while it would not be reached before 2027 otherwise, according to our estimates. |
| Keywords: | Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Under-5 mortality rate, sub-Saharan Africa, Public expenditure on health. |
| JEL: | H51 I12 I18 O15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2014-28&r=afr |
| By: | Kaminski, Jonathan; Christiaensen, Luc; Gilbert, Christopher L. |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the extent of seasonality in African livelihoods, which has disappeared from Africa's development debate. Through econometric analysis of monthly food price series across 100 locations in three countries during 2000-12, it is shown that seasonal movements in maize wholesale prices explain 20 (Tanzania, Uganda) to 40 (Malawi) percent of their monthly volatility. Monthly maize peak prices are on average 30 (Tanzania, Uganda) to 50 (Malawi) percent higher than their monthly troughs and two to three times higher than the seasonal gaps observed for white maize at the South African Futures Exchange. Furthermore, household food consumption is found to inversely track food prices in each country, decreasing when staple prices increase and increasing when they decline. Clearly, (excess) seasonality in African food markets and consumption persists, necessitating policy attention. |
| Keywords: | Food&Beverage Industry,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2014–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6907&r=afr |
| By: | Dani Rodrik |
| Abstract: | Africa’s recent growth performance has raised expectations of a bright economic future for the continent after decades of decline. Yet there is a genuine question about whether Africa’s growth can be sustained, and if so, at what level. The balance of the evidence suggests caution on the prospects for high growth. While the region’s fundamentals have improved, the payoffs to macroeconomic stability and improved governance are mainly to foster resilience and lay the groundwork for growth, rather than to generate productivity growth on their own. The traditional engines behind rapid growth, structural change and industrialization, seem to be operating at less than full power. If African countries do achieve growth rates substantially higher, they will have to do so pursuing a growth model that is different from earlier miracles based on industrialization. This might be agriculture-led or services-led growth, but it will look quite different than what we have seen before. |
| JEL: | O11 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20188&r=afr |
| By: | De Vreyer, Philippe; Roubaud, François |
| Abstract: | The population of Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 854 million in 2010. Annual population growth averaged 2.5 percent, with a relatively high sustained fertility rate, fostered by the fact that two-thirds of the population is under 25. The region has the highest proportion of poor people in the world, with 47.5 percent of its population living on less than $1.25 a day, as measured in terms of purchasing power parity in 2008. It is also the only region in which the number of poor is still rising. This book contributes to knowledge on the functioning of urban labor markets in Sub-Saharan Africa by investigating following questions: which individuals lack access to employment or are employed beneath their capacities; does education improve working conditions?; what opportunities does the labor market offer to climb the social ladder?; is the lack of good-quality jobs for adults and the poverty it implies one of the reasons for the prevalence of child labor?; do women and ethnic minorities have the same access to the labor market as everyone else?; how does the formal sector live alongside the informal sector?; what role does migration play in the functioning of labor markets?;and are there traits common to all urban labor markets in Africa, or is each country different? This book attempts to answer these questions by studying 11 cities in 10 countries (table O.1). Comparative studies are often based on disparate measurement instruments, which risk marring the validity of the findings. This study is based on a set of perfectly comparable surveys. The study also covers a number of topics (migration, child labor, job satisfaction, discrimination, and work after retirement) in addition to the topics covered by Lachaud (unemployment, access to employment and mobility, segmentation, labor supply, and poverty). This book is divided in five parts. The first is comparative analysis of urban labor markets in Sub-Saharan Africa; second is job quality and labor market conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa; third is dimensions of labor market inequalities; fourth is the key coping mechanisms and private responses; and fifth is moving forward. |
| Keywords: | Marché du travail; Politique du travail; Afrique noire; Labor & Employment Law; Labor Markets; Labor Policies; Youth and Governance; |
| JEL: | O55 O17 O15 I32 J21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dau:papers:123456789/13410&r=afr |
| By: | Pierre Courtois (Laboratoire Montpelliérain d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, INRA); Julie Subervie (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA) |
| Abstract: | In many Sub-Saharan African countries, farmers typically have a choice between selling their pro ducts to traders who travel between villages and markets and transporting their products to the nearest market themselves. Because of communities' remoteness and poor communications with marketplaces, farmers' uncertainty about market prices is usually high. Traders may take advantage of farmers' ignorance of the market price and extract a rent from them by offering very low prices for their pro ducts. In this article, we model bargaining interactions between a farmer and a trader who incur different transportation costs, and we study how price information affects the bargain and the balance of power. We then estimate the causal effect of a Market Information System (MIS) working through mobile phone networks on Ghanaian farmers' marketing performances. We find that farmers who have benefited from the MIS program received significantly higher prices for maize and groundnuts: about 12.7% more for maize and 9.7% more for ground-nuts than what they would have received had they not participated in the MIS program. These results suggest that the theoretical conditions for successful farmer use of MIS may be met in field. |
| Keywords: | market information system, agricultural markets, bargaining power, africa |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inr:wpaper:197114&r=afr |
| By: | Abdoulaye CAMARA (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA; Montpellier SupAgro); Foued Cheriet (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA; Montpellier SupAgro); Fatiha Fort (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA; Montpellier SupAgro) |
| Abstract: | L’objet de ce travail exploratoire est triple. Il s’agit d’abord de mener une analyse critique de la littérature portant sur les issues des alliances stratégiques internationales. Ensuite, en s’inspirant des travaux de Blanchot (2006), de Reus et Ritchie (2004) et de Cheriet (2009), de proposer un « tableau de bord » de la mesure de la performance de ces relations coopératives avec une triple logique : multi-dimensions du construit, multi-perspectives des partenaires et tenant compte de la dynamique de la relation. Enfin, il s’agira de discuter des perspectives de son application au contexte spécifique des industries agroalimentaires et du secteur de la distribution alimentaire en Afrique de l’Ouest. Ce travail d’étape est aussi destiné à identifier les indicateurs de performances pertinents à travers l’examen des résultats des principales recherches empiriques sur la performance des alliances stratégiques dans le contexte des pays émergents et de s’interroger sur les possibilités de réplication méthodologique au contexte africain. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this exploratory study is threefold. It is first to conduct a critical literature review on international strategic alliances’ issues. Then, drawing on combined frameworks of Blanchot (2006), Reus and Ritchie (2004), and Cheriet (2009), we aim to propose an integrated model of performance measurement of these cooperative relationships with three logics: multi-dimensions of the construct,multi-perspectives of partners and integration of cooperative relationship dynamics. Finally, our word will also discuss the possibilities of its application to the specific context of agribusiness in West Africa countries. This first work intends to identify appropriate performance indicators through the examination of the main empirical research on the strategic alliances’ performance o in the context of emerging countries and to consider the possibilities of methodology replication to African context. |
| Keywords: | stratégie de l'entreprise, coopération économiquealliance stratégique, performanceafrique |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inr:wpaper:226533&r=afr |
| By: | Cheteni, Priviledge |
| Abstract: | Since the global financial crisis that crippled the world’s financial markets in 2007, interest in nonlinear dynamics in form of deterministic chaos has increased. Hence, the main purpose of this study was to detect if whether stock returns exhibit nonlinear and chaotic tendencies. By using recent statistical tools to overcome some of the limitations faced in financial data. The study made use of the powerful BDS test, LM test and Variance Ratio Test. The empirical results suggest that the ALBI index exhibit nonlinear tendencies and chaotic behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Non-Linear,JSE, ALBI index, BDS, South Africa |
| JEL: | G1 G14 G15 |
| Date: | 2013–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56369&r=afr |
| By: | Zuzana Brixiova; Mthuli Ncube; Zorobabel Bicaba |
| Abstract: | The shortages of entrepreneurial skills have lowered search effectiveness of potential young entrepreneurs and the rate of youth start-ups. Our paper contributes to closing a gap in the entrepreneurship and development literature with a model of costly firm creation and skill differences between young and adult entrepreneurs. The model shows that for young entrepreneurs facing high costs of searching for business opportunities, support for training is more effective in stimulating productive start-ups than subsidies. The case for interventions targeted at youth rises in societies with high costs of youth unemployment. We test the role of skills and training for productive youth entrepreneurship on data from a recent survey of entrepreneurs in Swaziland. |
| Keywords: | youth entrepreneurship, model of skills and structural transformation, policies, Africa |
| JEL: | J11 J08 L26 O11 |
| Date: | 2014–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2014-1077&r=afr |
| By: | Ali, Daniel Ayalew; Collin, Matthew; Deininger, Klaus; Dercon, Stefan; Sandefur, Justin; Zeitlin, Andrew |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on a randomized field experiment that uses price incentives to address economic and gender inequality in land tenure formalization. During the 1990s and 2000s, nearly two dozen African countries proposed de jure land reforms extending access to formal, freehold land tenure to millions of poor households. Many of these reforms stalled. Titled land remains the de facto preserve of wealthy households and, within households, men. Beginning in 2010, the study tested whether price instruments alone can generate greater inclusion by offering formal titles to residents of a low-income, unplanned settlement in Dar es Salaam at a range of subsidized prices, as well as additional price incentives to include women as owners or co-owners of household land. Estimated price elasticities of demand confirm that prices -- rather than other implementation failures or features of the titling regime -- are a key obstacle to broader inclusion in the land registry, and that some degree of pro-poor price discrimination is justified even from a narrow budgetary perspective. In terms of gender inequality, the study finds that even small price incentives for female co-titling achieve almost complete gender parity in land ownership with no reduction in demand. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Housing and Land,Political Economy |
| Date: | 2014–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6908&r=afr |
| By: | Stefania Lovo (Legatum Institute, London); Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | Malnutrition is recognized as a major issue among low-income households in developing countries with long-term implications for economic development. Recently, agricultural diversification has been recognized as a strategy to improve nutrition and health, and a risk coping strategy used by farmers in the face of climate change. However, there is no systematic empirical evidence on the role played by crop diversification in improving human health. We use the Tanzania National Panel Survey for years 2008 and 2010, which includes about 3,700 children, to investigate the effect of crop diversification on child health. Using an instrumental variable approach we estimate the effect of crop diversification on child growth and control for unobserved heterogeneity. We show that crop diversification has a positive and significant impact on long-term child nutritional status, in particular for girls. An increase in crop diversification has a positive and significant effect on children’s height, while it has no effect on weight, and BMI. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, children, health, crop diversification, food security, nutrition, Tanzania |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:08/2014&r=afr |
| By: | Azomahou T.T.; Diallo F.L.; Raymond W. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique and large-scale quasi-experimental data to study the effect of deworming and school meals programs as a package on educational outcomes pupils test scores aggregate, French or math; enrollment, promotion or dropout rates in rural Senegal. We extend the endogenous selection model la Heckman to incorporate a double-index selection mechanism. We also generalize the Roy model accordingly. We develop estimation strategies based on the full information maximum likelihood and the two-step method. We derive a wide and rich collection of treatment effects ranging from exclusive to relative effects including sequential and substitution effects. The results show that the combination of deworming and school meals programs is more beneficial to pupils achievements than taking programs separately. The sequence of implementation does matter. The two programs are complementary in increasing scores and promotion rates. However, they are substitutes in reducing dropouts. The cost-effectiveness analysis shows the deworming program is by far cheaper than the meals intervention. Implementing meals program before deworming is more cost-effective than the reverse. Lastly, unlike the deworming, meals program and the package deworming and meals have a welfare-enhancing effect on households. Key words Deworming programs; school meals programs; double-index selection; complementarity vs. substitutability; educational outcomes; quasi-experiment; social welfare; Africa; Senegal |
| Keywords: | Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models; Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Education and Economic Development; |
| JEL: | I25 C31 C34 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014026&r=afr |
| By: | Wendyam Ulrich Wilfried Zombre (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement); Emmanuelle Bouquet (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement); Jean-Philippe Colin (UMR GRED. Gouvernance, Risque, Environnement, Développement, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) |
| Abstract: | L’article s’inscrit dans le champ des travaux sur le rôle du marché du faire-valoir indirect dans le développement, en explorant l'incidence des contraintes de financement sur les choix contractuels dans la région du lac Alaotra, à Madagascar, caractérisée par un marché locatif actif et par une relativement forte implantation d’institutions financières formelles. Nos résultats suggèrent que la contrainte de financement influe sur les arbitrages entre location et métayage, et nous conduisent à proposer une interprétation de l’existence du métayage fondée sur ses propriétés de contribution au relâchement de la contrainte financière pour les tenanciers, dans un contexte de propriétaires globalement neutres au risque. En reportant le règlement de la rente au moment de la récolte, le contrat de métayage assure une fonction de quasi crédit entre le propriétaire et le tenancier, contribue à mitiger les conséquences du rationnement du crédit formel, et s’avère plus inclusif que la location pour les tenanciers pauvres. |
| Keywords: | métayage, financement, mode de faire valoir indirect, contrat agrairemadagascarmarché foncier |
| JEL: | Q12 Q14 Q15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inr:wpaper:226293&r=afr |