nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2018‒01‒22
seven papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
The University of Mines and Technology

  1. The development of the African system of cities By Henderson, J. Vernon; Kriticos, Sebastian
  2. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Goals: The Need for Innovative and Institutional Solutions By Adel Ben Youssef; Sabri Boubaker; Anis Omri
  3. Market Potential, Agglomeration Effects and the Location of French Firms in Africa By PHOLO Alain; TENIKUE Michel; NAFARI Baraka
  4. Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa By Imam, M.; Jamasb, T.; Llorca, M.; Llorca, M.
  5. Control of Moroccan public institutions: situation and perspectives By M'Bark Ouashil; Said Ouhadi
  6. Child Labor and Schooling in Tunisia By Donia Smaali Bouhlila; Mouez Soussi
  7. Re-conceptualize CSR in the context of an African emerging country. The case of circular economy in Cameroon By Joel Ntsonde; Franck Aggeri

  1. By: Henderson, J. Vernon; Kriticos, Sebastian
    Abstract: Sub-Saharan Africa has urbanised at tremendous speed over the last half century, in a process that has dramatically reshaped the economic and spatial profile of the region. Simultaneously, it has challenged much of the conventional empirical wisdom about how and why people move to cities. As we show in this article, the traditional view that countries urbanise alongside struc-tural transformation is challenged in Africa, where urbanisation occurs despite low productivity in agriculture, very limited industrialisation, and a high share of primary sector employment across the urban hierarchy. There appear to be large household income gaps between urban and rural areas inducing migration, and these income premiums apply equally well to farm and non-farm families. Looking across the urban hierarchy, we also discuss how urban primacy can be problematic for economic growth in Africa, how secondary cities are lagging in industrial development, and how growth of employment in tradable services may signal a different path to structural transformation in Africa.
    Keywords: Urbanisation; industrialisation; primacy; structural transformation; wage premium; Africa.
    JEL: Q15
    Date: 2017–11–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:86349&r=afr
  2. By: Adel Ben Youssef (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur); Sabri Boubaker (Champagne School of Management groupe ESC Troyes - Champagne School of Management groupe ESC Troyes); Anis Omri (FSEGN - Faculté des Sciences Economique et de gestion de Nabeul - Faculté des Sciences Economique et de gestion de Nabeul)
    Abstract: The relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development has received considerable attention from academics and policymakers, as society searches for solutions leading to sustainability. The role of innovation and institutional quality in reaching sustainability goals is one of the key areas tackled by the current sustainable development debate, particularly in developing countries. Using a modified environmental Kuznets curve model, this study attempts to better improve our understanding of the critical roles of innovation, institutional quality, and entrepreneurship in the structural change toward a sustainable future in Africa. The empirical results show that both formal and informal entrepreneurship are conducive to less environmental quality and sustainability in 17 African countries where the contribution of informal entrepreneurship is much higher compared to the formal one. However, the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development becomes strongly positive when the levels of innovation and institutional quality are higher. This research makes a contribution to this important emerging research area in that it clarifies conditions through which countries and firms in Africa can move toward more sustainable products and services. Formalizing the informal sector can lead to the improvement of the environmental and economic performance.
    Keywords: Innovation,Institutions quality 2,Entrepreneurship,Sustainability
    Date: 2017–12–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01653946&r=afr
  3. By: PHOLO Alain; TENIKUE Michel; NAFARI Baraka
    Abstract: The impact of agglomeration economies in African urban development has not been clearly measured yet. To inform the debate on their existence and their intensity, there is a need for empirical studies providing new evidence on agglomeration effects in the African region. In this research we contribute in bridging this gap by investigating, through a structural estimation approach, the impact of agglomeration economies and forward linkages on the localization of French affiliates in Africa. Using a sample of French subsidiaries in Africa, we compare the theoretically derived measure of market potential with the standard form used by geographers and with a measure of local demand. Our results show that Market Potential matters for location choice. However, the semi-elasticity estimates suggest that the intensity of demand linkages in Africa is lower than what has been observed in the European Union. Moreover, their effects seem to be insignificant when we consider the spillover variables. These spillover effects have a positive and significant impact on location which suggests that agglomerations effects are at play throughout Africa.
    Keywords: agglomeration economics; location of firms; market potential
    JEL: F12 F15
    Date: 2017–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2017-19&r=afr
  4. By: Imam, M.; Jamasb, T.; Llorca, M.; Llorca, M.
    Abstract: In order to reduce the influence of corruption on electricity sector performance, most Sub-Saharan African countries have implemented sector reforms. However, after nearly two and half decades of reforms, there is no evidence whether these reforms have mitigated or exacerbated corruption. Neither is there evidence of performance improvements of reforms in terms of technical, economic or welfare impact. This paper aims to fill this gap. We use a dynamic panel estimator with a novel panel data set of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2002 to 2013. We analyse the impact of corruption and two key aspects of electricity reform model - creations of independent regulatory agencies and private sector participation - on three performance indicators: technical efficiency, access to electricity and income. We find that corruption can significantly reduce technical efficiency of the sector and constrain the efforts to increase access to electricity and national income. However, these adverse effects are reduced where independent regulatory agencies are established and privatisation is implemented. Our results suggest that well-designed reforms not only boost economic performance of the sector directly, but also indirectly reduce the negative effects of macro level institutional deficiencies such as corruption on micro and macro indicators of performance.
    Keywords: Panel data, dynamic GMM, electricity sector reform, corruption, Sub-Saharan Africa
    JEL: Q48 D02 K23 D73
    Date: 2018–01–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1801&r=afr
  5. By: M'Bark Ouashil (GREGO/Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech - ENCG Marrakech); Said Ouhadi (GREGO/Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech - ENCG Marrakech)
    Abstract: This paper aims to present, through a documentary analysis, a situation of control in the context of Moroccan public institutions. It seems that the prior control, focused on the regularity and the conformity of the public institutions with the regulation, predominates until the end of 2016. This presents insufficiencies of the current control framework. However, reforms have been initiated in order to reduce the control and to pass from a logic of means to a logic of result. Also, they aim promoting controls resulting from public institutions (internal control, management control, etc.) Résumé Cet article a pour objectif de présenter, à travers une analyse documentaire, un état des lieux du contrôle dans le contexte des établissements publics marocains. Il en ressort que le contrôle a priori, axé sur la régularité et la mise en conformité des établissements publics avec la réglementation, prédomine jusqu'à fin 2016.
    Abstract: Cet article a pour objectif de présenter, à travers une analyse documentaire, un état des lieux du contrôle dans le contexte des établissements publics marocains. Il en ressort que le contrôle a priori, axé sur la régularité et la mise en conformité des établissements publics avec la réglementation, prédomine jusqu'à fin 2016. Ce constat révèle des insuffisances du cadre de contrôle en vigueur. Cependant, des réformes sont entamées en vue d’alléger le contrôle exercé et de passer d'une logique de moyen vers une logique de résultat d’une part. D’autre part, elles visent favoriser les contrôles résultants des établissements publics (contrôle interne, contrôle de gestion, etc.).
    Keywords: public institution,internal control,control,prior control
    Date: 2017–03–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01665804&r=afr
  6. By: Donia Smaali Bouhlila (University of Tunis El Manar); Mouez Soussi
    Abstract: This paper provides evidence on the extent of child labor in Tunisia, its determinants and its impact on schooling. It shows that 5.87% of the target population are involved in work. A rate which may increase in the future if policy-makers and stakeholders do not take adequate measure to protect children’s rights to a decent life and to a better education. In this paper, and using TLMPS data (2014), we show the “atypical” picture of Tunisia regarding this phenomenon. First, child labor is mostly an urban phenomenon: the impact of poverty on child labor is more pronounced in urban areas than in rural ones. Second, most children are involved in the service sector with 51.6% in services against only 32.2% in agriculture. And third, poverty is not the main reason to explain child labor family characteristics and the kind of father’s job are still significant. Moreover, we provide evidence that working-children are more likely to repeat school-grade and to lag behind grade levels. Likewise, working-children are more at risk to dropout, with girls more affected by dropout than boys.
    Date: 2017–12–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1167&r=afr
  7. By: Joel Ntsonde (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - PSL Research University - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Franck Aggeri (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - PSL Research University - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Developing countries have to deal with increasing environmental issues which are related to their lightning urbanization, so they need to figure out how they can combine economic development and protection of the environment. In order to deal with such a challenge, socioeconomic actors develop innovative approaches of CSR that cannot be conceptualized with current theoretical models which mainly come from works related to northern countries. Thanks to a field research carried out on circular economy in Cameroon and a qualitative analysis, we propose an original theoretical model, more relevant for conceptualizing CSR in the context of an African emerging country
    Abstract: Confrontés à des problématiques environnementales croissantes liées à leur urbanisation fulgurante, les pays en voie de développement doivent trouver un moyen de conjuguer développement économique et protection de l'environnement. Ce défi considérable amène les acteurs socio-économiques à adopter des approches innovantes en termes de RSE qui ne peuvent pas se penser avec les cadres théoriques actuels, principalement issus de travaux relatifs aux contextes des pays du Nord. A partir d'une revue de littérature sur le concept de RSE et d'une enquête qualitative effectuée sur l'économie circulaire au Cameroun, nous proposons un modèle théorique plus pertinent pour penser la RSE dans le contexte d'un pays africain en voie de développement.
    Keywords: CSR,North-South relationships,Africa,Circular economy,Waste,RSE,relations Nord-Sud,Afrique,Economie circulaire,Déchets
    Date: 2017–10–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01620352&r=afr

This nep-afr issue is ©2018 by Sam Sarpong. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.