nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2022‒08‒15
five papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
Xiamen University Malaysia Campus

  1. Towards Inclusive Green Growth in Africa: Critical energy efficiency synergies and governance thresholds By Ofori, Isaac K.; Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y.; Ojong, Nathanael
  2. (Mis-)information technology: Internet use and perception of democracy in Africa By Joël Cariolle; Yasmine Elkhateeb; Mathilde Maurel
  3. Capital Market Performance and Macroeconomic Dynamics in Nigeria By Oladapo Fapetu; Segun Michael Ojo; Adekunle Alexander Balogun; Adeoba Adepoju Asaolu
  4. Life and debt: a view from the South By James, Deborah
  5. Ghana: Impacts of the Ukraine and global crises on poverty and food security By Diao, Xinshen; Dorosh, Paul A.; Pauw, Karl; Smart, Jenny; Thurlow, James; Asante, Seth; Patil, Pranav

  1. By: Ofori, Isaac K.; Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y.; Ojong, Nathanael
    Abstract: This study contributes to the scholarly literature on the drive towards sustainable development in light of the UN’s Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 by examining pathways through which energy efficiency (EE) promotes inclusive green growth (IGG) in Africa. Our contribution is novel from both the conceptual and empirical perspectives. With regard to the former, we develop a framework on how EE and governance feed into IGG, and on the latter, our contribution is based on country-level data for 23 African countries for the period 1996 – 2020. First, evidence from the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator shows that EE is not unconditionally effective for spurring IGG. Second, we find that governance is both directly, and indirectly effective for repackaging EE to foster IGG. In particular, the evidence suggests that governance mechanisms for controlling corruption while ensuring regulatory quality and government effectiveness are keys for forming relevant synergies with EE to foster IGG. Third, regarding the socioeconomic sustainability (SES) and environmental sustainability (EVS) dichotomy of IGG, we find that the EE-governance pathway is more effective for driving the latter compared to the former. We also make some policy recommendations.
    Keywords: Africa; Inclusive Growth; Inclusive Green Growth; Greenhouse Gases; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Intensity; Sustainable Development
    JEL: I3 I31 O11 O43 O55 Q01 Q43 Q56
    Date: 2022–06–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:113604&r=
  2. By: Joël Cariolle (Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International (FERDI)); Yasmine Elkhateeb (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Cairo University); Mathilde Maurel (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS, FERDI)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of internet use as a means of accessing news on African citizens' demand for and perception of the supply of democracy. This question is addressed using cross-sectional data from the last three rounds of the Afrobarometer survey for a sample of 25 African countries between 2011 and 2018. Using an instrumental variable approach to control for the possible endogeneity bias between internet use and citizens'perceptions, we found that using the internet to get news has a negative and significant effect on the demand for and on the perceived supply of democracy. The negative effect is channeled through two main factors. The first factor is the confidence in governments and governmental institutions, which is undermined by the use of the internet. In particular, we find that this internet-induced lower confidence translates into a higher probability of engaging in street protests instead of increased political participation. The second driving factor is the (mis-)information channel. On the one hand, we show that internet users' perception of the supply of democracy negatively diverges from experts' ratings. On the other hand, we document further that internet use increases the likelihood of incoherence in the respondent's stance about her demand for democracy. Finally, we show that the negative effect we found is mitigated when the internet is complemented by traditional media sources, especially the radio, to get informed. The findings of this study suggest that internet use is not neutral and tends to undermine citizens' preferences for democracy and alter perceptions about the functioning of political institutions
    Keywords: Internet news; democracy; Africa
    JEL: D72 D83 L86 P16
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:22010&r=
  3. By: Oladapo Fapetu; Segun Michael Ojo; Adekunle Alexander Balogun; Adeoba Adepoju Asaolu
    Abstract: The study examined the relationship between capital market performance and the macroeconomic dynamics in Nigeria, and it utilized secondary data spanning 1993 to 2020. The data was analyzed using vector error correction model (VECM) technology. The result revealed a significant long run relationship between capital market performance and macroeconomic dynamics in Nigeria. We observed long run causality running from the exchange rate, inflation, money supply, and unemployment rate to capital market performance indicator in Nigeria. The result supports the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) proposition in the Nigerian context. The theory stipulates that the linear relationship between an asset expected returns and the macroeconomic factors whose dynamics affect the asset risk can forecast an asset's returns. In other words, the result of this study supports the proposition that the dynamics in the exchange rate, inflation, money supply, and unemployment rate influence the capital market performance. The study validates the recommendations of Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) in Nigeria.
    Date: 2022–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2207.00773&r=
  4. By: James, Deborah
    Abstract: This paper explores how, in countries in the global south where sharp rises in indebtedness have accompanied the financialization of the economy, debt factors into other relationships and meanings in the life of the family and household. Using ethnographic material from South Africa, it explores local concepts of householding, obligation and saving (asking whether relations of commodified debt nullify those of longstanding social commitment), investigates how people convert between cash-based or short term imperatives and moral or longer-term ones, and shows how barriers are sometimes erected between these separate spheres thus making them incommensurable. The paper challenges some accounts of the “financialization of daily life” which imply a one-way, top-down intrusion by the market—with state backing—into people’s intimate relations, commitments and aspirations, and maintains that we need to explore the complicity of participants’ engagement with these processes rather than seeing them as imposed on unwilling victims.
    Keywords: aspiration; debt; family; financialisation; household; South Africa; RES-062-23-1290; UKRI block grant
    JEL: N0 F3 G3
    Date: 2021–02–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:106517&r=
  5. By: Diao, Xinshen; Dorosh, Paul A.; Pauw, Karl; Smart, Jenny; Thurlow, James; Asante, Seth; Patil, Pranav
    Abstract: Global food, fuel, and fertilizer prices have risen rapidly in recent months, driven in large part by the fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia. Other factors, such as export bans, have also contributed to rising prices. Palm oil and wheat prices increased by 56 and 100 percent in real terms, respectively, between June 2021 and April 2022, with most of the in-crease occurring since February (Figure 1). Wide variation exists across products, with real maize prices increasing by only 11 percent, and rice prices declining by 13 percent. The price of crude oil and natural gas has also risen substantially, while the weighted average price of fertilizer has doubled. With these changes in global prices, many developing countries and their development partners are concerned about the implications for economic stability, food security, and poverty.
    Keywords: GHANA, WEST AFRICA, AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, AFRICA, Ukraine, poverty, food security, armed conflicts, crises, prices, shock, agrifood systems, equality, diet, gross national product
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gccbrf:9&r=

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