|
on Africa |
| By: | Kudzai Mataba; Faizel Ismail |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 has created a trade crisis in Southern Africa, with a dramatic slowdown in cross-border trade. The crisis, which exposed weaknesses and deficiencies in the trade facilitation regimes, presents an opportunity for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to address and contribute to greater levels of trade within Africa. This working paper looks at the impact of the border closures in response to the pandemic, and its impact on trade and the movement of goods in and out of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Trade facilitation, Regional integration, Infrastructure, SADC, International trade |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-67&r= |
| By: | Nomikos, William George |
| Abstract: | Despite the abundance of evidence that peacekeeping works, we know little about what actually makes peacekeepers effective. Recent work suggesting that local agendas are central to modern conflicts make this omission particularly problematic. The article demonstrates that the presence of peacekeepers makes individuals more optimistic about the risks of engagement and the likelihood that members of outgroups will reciprocate cooperation. I use data from a lab-in-the-field experiment conducted in Mali, a West African country with an active conflict managed by troops from France and the United Nations (UN), to show that UN peacekeepers increase the willingness of individuals to cooperate relative to control and French enforcers. Moreover, I find that UN peacekeepers are especially effective among those participants who hold other groups and institutions in low esteem as well as those who have more frequent contact with peacekeepers. Follow-up interviews and surveys suggest that perceptions of the UN as unbiased rather than other mechanisms account for its effectiveness. |
| Date: | 2021–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:36j8q&r= |
| By: | Patrick Plane (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UCA [2017-2020] - Université Clermont Auvergne [2017-2020] - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the domestic transport and logistics costs of importing a 20-foot container into Africa. We run regressions on a panel of 50 African countries for the period 2006-2014 using the RE-2SLS estimator. Distance from port of arrival to the point of delivery is an important explanatory factor of cost. Time-varying variables yield additional and valuable information. For the 2010-2014 sub-period, the simulations suggest that reducing processing times and adjusting real exchange rates to PPP equilibrium levels would save 12% of the cost to import for North Africa and 37% for Central Africa. |
| Keywords: | Cost of transport and logistics,Africa,Physical geography,Real exchange rate,Transaction costs,Rent seeking,Processing time |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03198081&r= |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark; Conchita D'Ambrosio; Elodie Djemaï |
| Abstract: | Public Goods aim to improve individual welfare. We investigate the causal consequences of roads on well-being in 24 African countries, instrumenting paved roads by 19th Century hypothetical lines between major ports and cities. We have data on over 32000 individuals, and consider both their objective and subjective well-being. Roads reduce material deprivation, in terms of access to basic needs, but at the same time there is no relation between roads and subjective living conditions. The benefit of roads in providing basic needs then seems to be offset by worse outcomes in non basic-needs domains. |
| Keywords: | roads, subjective well-being, basic needs, material deprivation, Africa |
| JEL: | D63 I32 O18 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1761&r= |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Folarin, Oludele; Biekpe, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the stability of money in the proposed East African Monetary Union (EAMU). The study uses annual data for the period 1981 to 2015 from five countries making up the East African Community (EAC). A standard money demand function is designed and estimated using a bounds testing approach to co-integration and error-correction modeling. The findings show divergence across countries. This divergence is articulated in terms of differences in CUSUM (cumulative sum) and CUSUMSQ (CUSUM squared) tests, short run and long term determinants and error correction in event of a shock. Specifically, the results show that the demand for money is stable in the cases of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania based on the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests, while for the remaining countries (Kenya and Uganda) only partial stability is apparent. In event of a shock, Kenya will restore its long run equilibrium fastest, followed by Tanzania and Burundi. |
| Keywords: | Stable; demand for money; bounds test |
| JEL: | C22 E41 O55 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:107089&r=all |
| By: | Priscilla Twumasi Baffour; Festus Ebo Turkson; Ibrahim Mohammed; Wassiuw Abdul Rahaman |
| Abstract: | Historically, the issue of intergenerational evolution of income, wealth, and socioeconomic status has been the subject of considerable research in the analysis of inequality. Such intergenerational linkages are anticipated to come from two sources: first, the inheritance of innate abilities and social network of family from parents by children; and second, capital market imperfections which present barriers to human capital investment. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, socioeconomic status, Occupational choice, Human capital, Gender, Occupations |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-66&r= |
| By: | Florian Perrotton (IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles - IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles, EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Olivier Massol (IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles - IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles, IFP School, University of London [London]) |
| Abstract: | In poor developing countries, the discovery of large gas deposits often stimulates the public authorities' appetite for ambitious development strategies requiring the construction of a large national pipeline system. However, the foreign private investors financing its installation usually prefer smaller infrastructure designs that are solely intended to supply a few creditworthy industrial sites. Focusing on the situation in Mozambique, we examine whether the adoption of rate-of-return (RoR) regulation can reconcile these conflicting objectives. As a first step, we assess the magnitude of the overcapitalization generated ex ante at the planning stage by the application of RoR regulation (i.e., the Averch-Johnson effect) to the investors. Then, analyzing the ex post situation when the enlarged domestic demand materializes, we prove that the allowable rate of return can be set by the regulator to obtain ex ante the degree of overcapitalization needed ex post to serve the enlarged demand in a cost-efficient manner. We finally discuss whether RoR regulation can still protect society from monopoly prices when it is tuned to prompt an optimal degree of building ahead of proven demand. |
| Keywords: | Buildingahead of demand,Overcapitalization,Natural gas,Pipeline,Regulatory economics,Developing countries,Mozambique |
| Date: | 2019–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03192508&r= |