|
on Africa |
| By: | Paula Armstrong (University of Stellenbosch); Janca Steenkamp |
| Abstract: | Trade unions played an important role in South Africa’s transition from apartheid in 1994 and continue to play a very public role in the South African economy. Trade unions are found to have had an increasingly positive effect on members’ wages, although it appears that this increase has resulted in part from changes in the composition of union membership. Unions also had an inequality-reducing character, with union premiums for workers at the lower end of the wage distribution being greater than those for workers at the higher end of the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | Wage level and structure, Trade unions, Objectives, Structure and effect |
| JEL: | J31 J51 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers58&r=afr |
| By: | Sanja Lutzeyer (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch and North Carolina State University) |
| Abstract: | Global warming is today, without a doubt, one of the biggest international issues. Whilst no country will go completely unscathed by future consequences of climate change, the impacts thereof – in terms of loss of life as well as the relative effects on economies – are expected to be felt most severely in developing countries, specifically Africa. Nevertheless, the development of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the global environmental treaty – the Kyoto Protocol – has brought with it the potential of socially and environmentally sustainable industrial and energy development in Africa. This paper examines the carbon trading system resulting from the Kyoto protocol, and investigates the implications of the associated Clean Development Mechanism for Africa. Although the carbon market is still in its formative stages, the benefits of this research are plentiful. Not only is such research critical for raising awareness, but also ensures that African countries get a foothold in this nascent market. It is found that while producing carbon credits, CDM projects also have the potential to bring numerous benefits – such as sustainable development, transfer of skills and technology, improved adaptive capabilities, as well as access to new markets – to African host countries. If changes are implemented as suggested, the CDM has the potential to bring billions of dollars to Africa – a feat invaluable to the social and environmental development of the continent. |
| Keywords: | Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, Africa, Climate Change, Emissions Trading, Policy, Carbon Credits, Carbon Markets |
| JEL: | Q54 Q56 Q59 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers60&r=afr |
| By: | Chinhui Juhn; Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan; Belgi Turan |
| Abstract: | The historical pattern of the demographic transition suggests that fertility declines follow mortality declines, followed by a rise in human capital accumulation and economic growth. The HIV/AIDS epidemic threatens to reverse this path. A recent paper by Young (2005), however, suggests that similar to the "Black Death" episode in Europe, HIV/AIDS will actually lead to higher growth per capita among the affected African countries. Not only will population decline, behavioral responses in fertility will reinforce this decline by reducing the willingness to engage in unprotected sex. We utilize recent rounds of the Demographic and Health Surveys which link an individual woman's fertility outcomes to her HIV status based on testing. The data allows us to distinguish the effect of own positive HIV status on fertility (which may be due to lower fecundity and other physiological reasons) from the behavioral response to higher mortality risk, as measured by the local community HIV prevalence. We show that HIV-infected women have significantly lower fertility. In contrast to Young (2005), however, we find that local community HIV prevalence has no significant effect on non-infected women's fertility. |
| JEL: | I12 J13 O12 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14248&r=afr |
| By: | Horna, Daniela; Smale, Melinda; Al-Hassan, Ramatu; Falck-Zepeda, José |
| Abstract: | "Tomato, cabbage, and garden egg (African eggplant, or Solanum aethiopicum) are important crops for small-scale farmers and migrants in the rural and peri-urban areas of Ghana. Genetic modification has the potential to alleviate poverty through combating yield losses from pests and diseases in these crops, while reducing health risks from application of hazardous chemicals. This ex ante study uses farm survey data to gauge the potential for adoption of genetically modified (GM) varieties, estimate the potential impact of adoption on farm profits, and highlight economic differences among the three crops. Farmers' expenditures on insecticides are below the economic optimum in all three crops, and the estimated function for damage abatement shows that insecticide amounts are significant determinants of cabbage yields only. Nonetheless, yield losses from pests and disease affect insecticide use. A stochastic budget analysis also indicates a higher rate of return to vegetable production with the use of resistant seeds relative to the status quo, even considering the technology transfer fee for GM seed. Non–insecticide users could accrue higher marginal benefits than current insecticide users. Comparing among vegetable crops with distinct economic characteristics provides a wider perspective on the potential impact of GM technology. Until now, GM eggplant is the only vegetable crop that has been analyzed in the peer-reviewed, applied economics literature. This is the first analysis that includes African eggplant." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Biotechnology Developing countries, Genetically modified crops, pesticides, Pests Management, eggplant, damage abatement, stochastic budget analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:785&r=afr |
| By: | Judith Streak (Human Sciences Research Council); Derek Yu (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Servaas van der Berg (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers evidence on the sensitivity of child poverty in South Africa to changes in the Adult Equivalence Scale (AES) and updates the child poverty profile based on the Income and Expenditure Survey 2005/06. Setting the poverty line at the 40th percentile of households calculated with different AESs the scope and composition of child poverty are found to be relatively insensitive to the scale used. The rankings of children of different ages, girls versus boys, racial groupings and children living in rural versus urban areas are unaffected by choice of AES, although some provincial rankings on the poverty headcount measure are. The proportions of children and households ‘correctly’ identified as poor for the full range of scales is extremely high. These findings support the argument of Woolard & Leibbrandt (2006) that it may be appropriate for profiling poverty in South Africa to use a poverty line based on a per capita welfare measure. For the construction of the child poverty profile, per capita income is used as the welfare indicator with the poverty line set at the 40th percentile of household. The profile suggests that poverty amongst children is more extensive than amongst the population or adults even after the massive injection of transfers into households with poor children through the child support grant. The child poverty headcount, depth and severity are all highest amongst children age 0-4 and lowest amongst those aged 15-17, who are not yet beneficiaries of the grants. They are also highest amongst African and Coloured children. Large variations across provinces remain. The analysis underlines the importance of prioritising children in the fight against poverty, particularly in their earliest years. |
| Keywords: | Child poverty measurement, Adult equivalence scales, Social grants for children |
| JEL: | D31 I32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers61&r=afr |
| By: | Michael Els (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch and Duke University); Dieter von Fintel (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the South African residential housing market using hedonic price theory. It builds and tests pooled OLS, fixed effects OLS, pseudo-panel and quantile regression models. The main findings are in agreement with most modern related literature. This paper highlights how house price growth rates have been calculated incorrectly due to the changing aggregate house sold every year. It calculates more accurate growth rates for the property market, yielding surprisingly different growth patterns from those originally thought. It illustrates that much of the recent house price growth was caused by attribute inflation rather than pure price inflation. It also shows that most of the pure inflation occurred at the bottom end of the market while most of the attribute inflation occurred at the top end of the market. Furthermore, it shows that house price determinants change across the house price distribution The data used was sourced from the Residential Property Price Ranger and covers 1930 house sales measured half yearly over three years; from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2007. These sales were recorded in the towns of Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Strand and Gordon’s Bay. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic pricing, Housing market, Growth rates |
| JEL: | C21 C23 R31 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers62&r=afr |
| By: | Sanja Lutzeyer (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a hedonic price function for Stellenbosch wines to determine the association between market value and different characteristics of these wines. In such a hedonic price function, the price of a bottle of wine is ascribed to the implicit value of its attributes. Besides contributing to both South African and international wine pricing literature, the benefits of developing a hedonic wine pricing model extend to numerous players in the wine industry. Consumers are provided with guidelines on how to utilize their wine purchasing budget more efficiently, while producers are able to use estimates of the function to guide future investment decisions. The hedonic price function estimated in this paper includes numerous ‘objective’ characteristics, appearing on the label of the bottle, as well as subjective characteristics in the form of expert wine ratings. In an effort to address possible heterogeneity of wine as a product, separate regressions are run for red and white wines. The estimation of the hedonic price equation shows that, in general, wine quality (as modelled by blind and sighted wine ratings) and age of the wine are relevant in accounting for price deviations from average red wine prices. Further, it is found that only limited numbers of red wine varieties and sub-districts of production significantly influence the average price of Stellenbosch red wines. For white wines, only sighted wine ratings as well as age of the wine were found to significantly account for deviations from average white wine prices. While blind wine ratings and white wine varieties were not found to significantly influence average white wine prices, certain regions of production where found to be relevant in accounting for deviations from average white wine prices. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic pricing, Wine, Stellenbosch, South Africa |
| JEL: | Q11 C13 C21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers63&r=afr |