nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2014‒10‒17
ten papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
The University of Mines and Technology

  1. A Local Budget Transparency Index for Cameroon's Local Councils : Insights from a Benchmarking Exercise By Martin Luis Alton; Sanjay Agarwal; Vera Songwe
  2. A Macro-econometric Model for the Economy of Lesotho By Igor LEBRUN; Ludovic DOBBELAERE
  3. Australian Policy Towards South Africa: Observation on the future Creation Date: 1994 By R.H. Bruce; R.N. Ghosh
  4. Channels of impoverishment due to ill-health in rural Ethiopia By Debebe, Z.Y.; Mebratie, A.D.; Sparrow, R.A.; Dekker, M.; Alemu, G.; Bedi, A.S.
  5. Determinants of crop yield and profit of family farms: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley By Elodie Blanc; Aurelia Lepine; Eric Strobl
  6. Egypt in an Arab-African-Sandwich: Are GAFTA and COMESA to be Implemented? By Tamer AFIFI
  7. Long run Equity Market Linkages in the Middle East and North Africa: in Search for Diversification Benefits By Thomas LAGOARDE-SEGOT; Brian M. LUCEY
  8. Socioeconomic Conditions and Violence in Cape Town, South Africa By Jeremy Seekings; Kai Thaler
  9. Solidarity with a sharp edge: Communal conflict and local collective action in rural Nigeria By Max Schaub
  10. Tracking Progress Toward Sustainable Energy for All in Sub-Saharan Africa By Elisa Portale; Joeri de Wit

  1. By: Martin Luis Alton; Sanjay Agarwal; Vera Songwe
    Keywords: Public Sector Expenditure Policy Public Sector Economics Social Development - Social Accountability Finance and Financial Sector Development - Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress Finance and Financial Sector Development - Debt Markets Public Sector Development
    Date: 2013–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:20130&r=afr
  2. By: Igor LEBRUN; Ludovic DOBBELAERE
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:002596:259600103&r=afr
  3. By: R.H. Bruce; R.N. Ghosh
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:94-04&r=afr
  4. By: Debebe, Z.Y.; Mebratie, A.D.; Sparrow, R.A.; Dekker, M.; Alemu, G.; Bedi, A.S.
    Abstract: We analyse the effects of ill-health on household economic outcomes in Ethiopia, using three years of household panel data and event history interviews. We examine the immediate effects of a variety of ill-health measures on health expenditure and labour supply, the subsequent household coping responses, and finally the effect on household income and consumption. We find evidence of substantial economic risk in terms of increased health expenditure and reduced agricultural productivity. Households cope by resorting to intra-household labour substitution, hiring wage labour, borrowing and depleting assets. While households are able to maintain food consumption, we observe imperfect insurance of non-food consumption. This effect is larger for households with the lowest ability to self-insure. Maintaining current consumption through borrowing and depletion of assets and savings is unlikely to be sustainable and displays the need for interventions that work towards reducing the financial consequences of ill-health.
    Keywords: health shocks, ill-health, consumption insurance, health expenditure, labour supply, poverty dynamics, Ethiopia
    Date: 2014–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:76962&r=afr
  5. By: Elodie Blanc; Aurelia Lepine; Eric Strobl
    Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of crop yield and profit of small family farms in Senegal using both a production and a profit function. The econometric analysis is based on information on agricultural inputs and outputs from 505 agricultural household members of a farmer organization in the Saint Louis region collected in 2009. The analysis of our results indicate that the development of commercialization sectors and agricultural loans would be required prior to increasing agricultural inputs. Our findings also suggest that information on planting technique, soil preparation and management of lands could allow productivity increases, but that an increase in the bargaining power of farmers is required to increase unit prices and consequently their profits.
    Keywords: crop productivity; profit; family farms; Senegal
    Date: 2014–09–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-596&r=afr
  6. By: Tamer AFIFI
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:003304:330400004&r=afr
  7. By: Thomas LAGOARDE-SEGOT; Brian M. LUCEY
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:003304:330400040&r=afr
  8. By: Jeremy Seekings; Kai Thaler
    Abstract: There is considerable debate over the causes of violence around the world, one which goes beyond the analysis of conflict to consider the dynamics of community behavior and the importance of economic and behavioral factors. South Africa competes with Colombia, Venezuela, and a number of Central American countries for the unwelcome distinction of having among the world’s highest homicide rates, and high prevalence of other forms of violence, including domestic and sexual violence, are also appallingly prevalent. This article presents an analysis of data from a panel of young men in Cape Town. It provides little support for the hypothesis that unemployment is a direct cause of violence against strangers. The impact of drinking (or taking drugs) by adults in the home or by the young men themselves, living in a bad neighborhood, and immediate poverty are associated with violence against strangers, but being unemployed is not. This suggests that few young people in South Africa in the early 2000s come from backgrounds that strongly predispose them against the use of violence.
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:203796&r=afr
  9. By: Max Schaub (European University Institute, Italy)
    Abstract: This paper provides new insights into the link between the experience of violent conflict and local collective action. I use the temporal and geographical information from four rounds of survey data from Nigeria to relate measures of cooperation to past and future incidences of communal conflict. I show that local collective action, measured in terms of community meeting attendance and volunteering, is highest before the outbreak of vio-lence – higher than both post-conflict levels and the generally lower levels of cooperation in regions not affected by violence. I develop a ‘mobilisation mechanism’ to explain these findings, arguing that, rather than being an indicator of ‘social capital’, collective action ahead of communal violence is inherently ambiguous, and driven by a form of situational-ly adaptive (and potentially aggressive) ‘solidarity with an edge’. I further show that the positive link between previous exposure to civil war-type violence and cooperation holds for Nigeria, too, but that it holds for rural areas only.
    Keywords: violent conflict; collective action; Nigeria
    Date: 2014–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:183&r=afr
  10. By: Elisa Portale; Joeri de Wit
    Keywords: Energy - Energy Demand Energy - Energy and Environment Power and Energy Conversion Energy - Energy Production and Transportation Environment - Environment and Energy Efficiency
    Date: 2014–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:20250&r=afr

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