nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2016‒10‒30
eight papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
The University of Mines and Technology

  1. Demand-side determinants of access to healthcare service: Empirical evidence from Africa By Wa Ntita Serge Kabongo; Josue Mbonigaba
  2. Africa’s Evolving Employment Structure By Yeboah, F. Kwame; Jayne, T.S.
  3. Mortality and urbanization: An African tragedy By Markus Brueckner
  4. Catallactics misapplication it crucial role in Africa's underdeveloped economy By Senzu, Emmanuel Tweneboah
  5. Determinants of Property Rights Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa By Simplice Asongu; Oasis Kodila-Tedika
  6. Public policies promoting the informal economy: effects on incomes, employment and growth in Burkina Faso By Traoré, Jean Abel; Ouedraogo, Idrissa Mohamed
  7. Apples and Dragon Fruits: The Determinants of Aid and Other Forms of State Financing from China to Africa By Dreher, Axel; Fuchs, Andreas; Parks, Bradley; Strange, Austin M.; Tierney, Michael J.
  8. Regionalization versus Internationalization of African Stock Markets: A frequency-time domain analysis By Gideon Boako; Paul Alagidede

  1. By: Wa Ntita Serge Kabongo; Josue Mbonigaba
    Abstract: This study identifies the key determinants of access to healthcare in Africa and estimates the short-run and long-run effects of these determinants. Panel data from 37 African countries, collected from the World Bank Development Indicators and World Health Organisation databases for the period 1995-2012, were analysed using the pooled mean group estimators. Income appeared the strongest determinant of access in the long run in countries in Africa included in the sample. Access to healthcare was a necessity with the long-run income elasticity for access to healthcare being 0.1149. The short-run effects of income on access were, however, only significant in four of the countries in the sample. The difference in the effects of income in the short run and the long run was generally applicable to other variables. These findings imply that policy makers should focus on income to increase access to healthcare while taking cognisance of country-specific conditions in the short run to mitigate varying levels of shocks.
    Keywords: Access to healthcare, Dynamic panel data, Africa
    JEL: I11 I15 I18 C23
    Date: 2016–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:641&r=afr
  2. By: Yeboah, F. Kwame; Jayne, T.S.
    Abstract: Using nationally representative, multi-year survey data for nine African countries, this study documents trends in the sectoral composition of Africa’s work force. The study highlights differences in sectoral employment trends by age category, gender, and rural vs. urban areas. By analyzing sectoral employment shifts over the past decade, we can gain insights about the strength and robustness of economic transformation processes in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
    Keywords: International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Productivity Analysis,
    Date: 2016–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midiwp:246956&r=afr
  3. By: Markus Brueckner
    Abstract: Since the 1980s, no significant negative relationship exists in sub-Saharan Africa between adult mortality and urbanization. In the rest of the world, the relationship between adult mortality and urbanization is significantly negative. High prevalence of HIV likely explains the absence of a significant negative relationship between adult mortality and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV can spread more rapidly in the city than in the countryside because the costs of finding multiple sexual partners are lower in the city than in the countryside. During the 1960s and 1970s, i.e. prior to the HIV pandemic, adult mortality and urbanization are significantly negatively correlated in sub-Saharan Africa.
    Date: 2016–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2016-66&r=afr
  4. By: Senzu, Emmanuel Tweneboah
    Abstract: The Paper seek to solve the macroeconomic error which emerges from the dispensing of the monetary policy by African Central Banks as a result refuses to address the desired economic growth expected by the individual developing and underdeveloped countries
    Keywords: Monetary Policy, Catallactics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, fiscal policy, development economics
    JEL: D2 E5 E6
    Date: 2016–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74769&r=afr
  5. By: Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Oasis Kodila-Tedika (University of Kinshasa)
    Abstract: This article complements existing literature by assessing determinants of property rights protection with particular emphasis on history, geography and institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 47 countries for the period 2000-2007. Random effects GLS regressions are employed using property rights measurements from the Mo Ibrahim and Heritage foundations. The results broadly show that ethnic fractionalisation, Polity IV and GDP per capita have positive effects on property rights institutions while the following have negative effects: military rule, the Protestant religion, maturity from colonial independence and population density. The findings have relevant policy implications for countries in the sub-region currently on the path to knowledge-based economies.
    Keywords: Property rights protection; Panel data; Africa
    JEL: F42 K42 O34 O38 O57
    Date: 2016–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:16/041&r=afr
  6. By: Traoré, Jean Abel; Ouedraogo, Idrissa Mohamed
    Abstract: Since the 1990s, Burkina Faso has intensified the implementation of supporting policies to enhance the access to capital and liquidity in the informal economy. This paper analyzes the effects of these policies on incomes, employment and economic growth by taking into account the interactions between the informal sector, the formal sector and the agricultural sector. For that purpose, policy shocks are simulated through the Partnership for Economic Policy Network’s static computable general equilibrium model which is adapted to the structure of a 2008-based social accounting matrix developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Our results highlight mixed effects including a paradoxical contraction of the informal sector, the formal sector and economic growth as well as an improvement of the informal households and the farmers’ incomes.
    Keywords: Informal economy, Public Policies, CGE model
    JEL: E16 E26 H81 O17
    Date: 2015–12–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74760&r=afr
  7. By: Dreher, Axel; Fuchs, Andreas; Parks, Bradley; Strange, Austin M.; Tierney, Michael J.
    Abstract: Chinese “aid” is a lightning rod for criticism. Policymakers, journalists, and public intellectuals claim that Beijing is using its largesse to cement alliances with political leaders, secure access to natural resources, and create exclusive commercial opportunities for Chinese firms—all at the expense of citizens living in developing countries. We argue that much of the controversy about Chinese “aid” stems from a failure to distinguish between China’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and more commercially-oriented sources and types of state financing. Using a new database on China’s official financing commitments to Africa from 2000-2013, we find the allocation of Chinese ODA to be driven primarily by foreign policy considerations, while economic interests better explain the distribution of less concessional flows. These results highlight the need for better measures of an increasingly diverse set of non-Western financial activities.
    Keywords: Development Finance; Foreign Aid; Non-DAC Donors; China; Tracking Underreported Financial Flows
    Date: 2016–10–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0620&r=afr
  8. By: Gideon Boako; Paul Alagidede
    Abstract: This paper examines regional and global co-movemnt of Africa’s stock markets using the three-dimensional continuous Morlet wavelet transform methodology. The analyses which are done in segments investigate co-movements with global markets; bilateral exchange rates expressed in US dollars and euro; and four regional markets in Africa. First, we find evidence of stronger co-movements broadly narrowed to short-run fluctuations. The co-movements are time-varying and commonly non-homogeneous – with phase difference arrow vectors implying lead-lag relationships. The presence of lead-lag effects and stronger co-movements at short-run fluctuations may induce arbitrage and diversification opportunities to both local and international investors with long-term investment horizons. The findings also reveal that some African equity markets are, to a degree, segmented from volatilities of the dollar and euro exchange rates. Thus, inferring that international investors may diversify their portfolio investments across those markets without worrying about the effects of currency price volatility.
    Keywords: wavelet coherency, African stocks, volatilities, Co-movement, exchange rates, diversification.
    JEL: C40 F36 G11 G15
    Date: 2016–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:642&r=afr

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