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on Africa |
| By: | Avalos, Jorge Eduardo; Bossuroy, Thomas; Clay, Timothy Joseph Peter; Dutta, Puja Vasudeva |
| Abstract: | Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's fastest urbanizing region. This presentseconomic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable but also poses significant barriers to their economic inclusion. Withan increasing focus on jobs and economic transformation in Africa, productive inclusion programs have emerged as apromising instrument to promote job creation in the urban informal sector, especially for poor youth and women. Thispaper examines the operational feasibility of delivering productive inclusion programs in urban African areas atscale. It aims to provide technical clarity and contribute to the knowledge around urban productive inclusion, thusproviding operational teams with a framework and reference for designing and implementing such programs. The papershows that there is a clear case for expanding productive inclusion programs in urban Africa and emphasizes four maindesign and operational considerations. First, the challenges of beneficiary selection have implications for how programsdefine eligible groups as well as for delivery systems in registering and enrolling beneficiaries. Second, programobjectives and features should be based on the binding constraints to income generation of the target group inurban and peri-urban contexts. Third, delivery systems need to adapt to deliver high-intensity and group interventions.Fourth, effective engagement with urban actors and policies can stimulate complementary investments in people and places. |
| Date: | 2023–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:183525&r=afr |
| By: | Taoufik Noujoud (University Hassan II [Casablanca]); Ouadghiri Kaoutar (University Hassan II [Casablanca]); Jbali Brahim (University Hassan II [Casablanca]) |
| Abstract: | The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an initiative aimed at establishing a single market for goods and services across Africa. It was signed in March 2018 and became operational on January 1, 2021. The AfCFTA aims to promote intra-African trade, enhance economic diversification, facilitate industrialization and value addition, promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), encourage investment flows, and harmonize trade and economic policies. For Morocco, joining the AfCFTA presents potential benefits. The country has made the socio-economic development of Africa a priority and was among the first countries to sign the agreement. Simulations and studies suggest that Morocco's exports, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing industries, food, and textiles, could benefit from the AfCFTA. The agreement provides opportunities for increased trade, market access, and economic integration with other African countries. It is important to note that the implementation of the AfCFTA is an ongoing process, and its full impact will be realized over time. The collaboration and efforts of member states are crucial in realizing the potential benefits of the agreement and addressing challenges along the way. |
| Keywords: | The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) intra-African trade impacts, The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), intra-African trade, impacts |
| Date: | 2023–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04124594&r=afr |
| By: | Kohnert, Dirk |
| Abstract: | Money rules the world. But the importance of money is far greater than conventional economic theory and its heroic equations suggest. People have invented their own forms of currency, they have used money in ways that baffle market theorists, they have incorporated money into friendship and family relationships, and they have changed the process of spending and saving. Individuals, families, governments and businesses have given money a social meaning in ways that economists could not even dream of before. A century ago, Georg Simmel, in his Philosophy of Money, pointed to various systems of exchange for goods and services that made possible the existence of incomparable value systems (land, food, honour, love, etc.) that supposedly made personal freedom possible. More recently, Ariel Wilkis brought Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of power into dialogue with Viviana Zelizer's sociology of money. He showed that money is a crucial symbol used to negotiate not only material possessions but also the political, economic, class, gender and generational ties between people. The growing threat of international terrorism has raised awareness that its existence is in itself an economic fact, as it is financed in various ways. The Moral Money Summit Africa, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2023, aims to unlock capital to promote sustainable growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This is overdue, considering that multinational companies in SSA have been polluting the environment for decades and that corruption, money laundering, investments in conflict diamonds, arms and drug trafficking are widespread. The summit aims to answer questions such as: What role can Africa play in the global decarbonisation dilemma? How can ethics be ensured in commodity supply chains? How can ethical investors avoid investing in "sin stocks" such as "blood diamonds", arms and drug trafficking? However, given the unbroken power of multinational corporations and investment managers, the outcome of such summits is questionable. Comparative analyses of ESG awareness and frameworks in Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone African countries reveal significant differences. The most powerful three global asset managers, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, still show "rational restraint", especially with regard to firm-specific sustainability activism. Also they can use their power to engage in "rational hypocrisy", similar to corporate |
| Keywords: | Ethical banking;ESG; International financial institutions; norm entrepreneur; international development; commercial banks; Sub-Saharan Africa; sustainable development; post-colonialism; informal sector; international trade; ODA; South Africa; Nigeria; Senegal; Angola; African Studies; |
| JEL: | D63 E26 F18 F22 F35 F54 I31 L25 N17 N27 O17 O35 O55 P16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117779&r=afr |
| By: | Tanner Regan (George Washington University); Priya Manwaring (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Public disclosure of tax behavior is a promising policy tool for raising tax compliance in low-income countries with limited capacity for alternative enforcement mechanisms. Through a field experiment involving over 65, 000 taxpayers in Kampala, we study effects of reporting delinquents and recognizing compliers and provide evidence on the social determinants of tax compliance. The threat of publicly disclosing delinquency raises compliance, but subsequently disseminating delinquent behavior lowers compliance of others. Public recognition backfires, lowering compliance both for those promised recognition and for those who receive information about compliant taxpayers. These results are consistent with a model of tax evasion with privacy costs to tax eligibility status and limited shame of delinquency. Disseminating tax behavior reduces compliance by lowering compliance beliefs as measured in survey data. Overall, public disclosure policies in this context are limited at raising revenue and enforcement reminder nudges more effective. |
| Keywords: | property tax, tax morale, public disclosure, shaming |
| JEL: | O18 H30 H26 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2023-04&r=afr |