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on Africa |
| By: | Benjamin Davis (FAO); Pamela Pozarny (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)) |
| Abstract: | The From Protection to Production (PtoP) project aims to identify the productive impacts of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy. It takes advantage of ongoing impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes in seven sub-Saharan African countries to analyse the impact of these programmes on broader household economic activities, including labour supply and risk-sharing mechanisms and networks, as well as the local economy. The project is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and uses a mixed-methods approach, combining econometric analysis of impact evaluation data, simulation modelling of the village economy and qualitative methods. (?) |
| Keywords: | Qualitative Research and Analyses of the Economic Impacts of Cash Transfer Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:184&r=afr |
| By: | Silvio Daidone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Benjamin Davis (FAO) |
| Abstract: | Cash transfer (CT) programmes have become an important tool of social protection and poverty reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. However, most of their impact evaluations pay little attention to economic and productive activities. The From Protection to Production (PtoP) project aims to study the impact of CT programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy. This research project is implemented jointly by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNICEF, and builds on ongoing or planned impact evaluations in seven sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. (?) |
| Keywords: | Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:185&r=afr |
| By: | Essers, Dennis; Cassimon, Danny |
| Abstract: | This paper starts from the concept of ‘original sin’ to demonstrate that the development of local currency bond markets remains a priority for Sub-Saharan African countries, both as a prevention mechanism against external shocks and to exploit growth-boosting investment opportunities. We present evidence suggesting that in Sub-Saharan Africa, as in other developing country regions, original sin (at least in its domestic form) is today less prevalent than it used to be. An increasing number of African governments now issue non-indexed local currency bonds with tenors of 10 years and more on a regular basis. This is not to say that all is well. African bond markets often lack liquidity, feature few corporate securities, and have a narrow investor base of commercial banks. Many more hurdles remain to be taken, by African countries themselves and the international community, if we are to further wash away original sin. |
| Keywords: | original sin; vulnerability; local currency bonds; domestic debt; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F33 G10 O55 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iob:wpaper:2012012&r=afr |
| By: | Simbanegavi, Witness; Greenberg, Josh; Gwatidzo, Tendai |
| Abstract: | This paper employs the Panzar and Rosse (1987) and the Bresnahan models to determine the level of competition in the South African banking sector. This level of competition was tested during the period 1998 to 2008 for the Panzar and Rosse approach and from 1992 to 2008 for the Bresnahan model. We find evidence of monopolistic competition in the South African banking sector. Our fi ndings are consistent with those of Bikker et al (2012) for South Africa. |
| Keywords: | banking industry; competition; South Africa; Panzar-Rosse model; Bresnahan model |
| JEL: | L10 D40 C33 G21 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43627&r=afr |
| By: | Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Kari Heggstad |
| Abstract: | This paper examines opportunities and constraints facing local revenue mobilization in Anglophone Africa with an emphasis on urban settings. Specific revenue instruments and their effects on economic efficiency, income distribution and accountability are discussed. In particular, political and administrative constraints facing various revenue instruments and factors affecting citizens’ compliance behaviour are addressed. The analysis is exemplified by cases from across Anglophone Africa. A general conclusion emerging from the study is that local revenues mobilised in most local government authorities in Africa are necessary but not sufficient to develop and supply adequate services for the fast-growing population. On this basis areas for further research on local government revenue mobilisation in Africa are identified. |
| Keywords: | Local government, Decentralization, Taxes, Business licenses, User fees, Africa |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2012-6&r=afr |
| By: | Abe, Shin; Takahashi, Ryo; Haruna, Akiko; Yamaji, Eiji; Wakatsuki, Toshiyuki |
| Abstract: | It is worthwhile to understand farming strategies of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, especially those of farmers who are in transition from traditional to alternative agriculture in terms of adoption of innovative technologies. In a case study of inland valleys in central Nigeria, we investigated the farming strategy of Nupe farmers who have a long-term tradition of wet rice cultivation and indigenous methods of land preparation for soil, water and weed management. In this region, a new method of land preparation has recently been introduced along with a recommendation to use improved seeds and chemical fertilizers. Our findings reveal that Nupe farmers directly sow traditional seeds and apply a marginal amount of fertilizer to paddy plots prepared by labor-saving methods on drought-prone hydromorphic valley fringes and flood-susceptible valley bottoms, whereas they preferentially transplanted improved seedlings and applied a relatively large quantity of fertilizer to paddy fields prepared by a labor-intensive and mechanized method on a valley position where they can access to optimum water condition (less risky against the drought and flood). |
| Keywords: | Nigeria, Agriculture, Agricultural technology, Farming techniques, Rice, Indigenous knowledge, Land preparation method, Rice cultivation, Risk management, Technology adoption |
| JEL: | N57 O33 Q16 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper355&r=afr |
| By: | Sebastian Levine (UNDP); Benjamin Roberts (Human Sciences Research Council) |
| Abstract: | The economic, political and social transition of Namibia over the past two decades has been remarkable. From being mired in a protracted guerrilla war and after a century of colonial rule? until 1990 as a de facto annex to the South African Apartheid state?the country is now widely regarded as one of the more stable and well-governed democracies on the continent. Moreover, it is classified as ?upper middle income?, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) almost three times the average for sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, because of extreme levels of inequality, average GDP remains a particularly deceptive measure of welfare in Namibia. (?) |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:186&r=afr |
| By: | Oxford Policy Management (Oxford Policy Management) |
| Abstract: | This research guide was prepared as part of the joint FAO-UNICEF ?From Protection to Production? (PtoP) project (http://www.fao.org/economic/ptop/en/). The project takes advantage of ongoing impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa to look at the impact of these programmes on household economic activities, including labour supply, as well as their impact on the local economy. The project is using a mixed-method approach, combining econometric analysis of impact evaluation data, local economy Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)/computable general equilibrium (CGE) models and qualitative methods. (?) |
| Keywords: | Qualitative Research and Analyses of the Economic Impacts of Cash Transfer Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa ? a Research Guide Prepared for the from P |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:100&r=afr |
| By: | Leisa Perch (International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth); Ammad Bahalim (ICTSD/IPC-IG); Lidia Cabral (ODI); Alex Shankland (IDS) |
| Abstract: | Focus on Africa: Making South-South Cooperation on Agricultural development more inclusive and sustainable With Rio+20 only a week away, the theme of this Poverty in Focus resonates clearly with the broader discourse on sustainable development, in particular the expanded efforts to mainstream inclusion and equity and to improve institutional frameworks for sustainable development. The United Nations Development Programme?s first Africa Human Development Report, launched on 15 May 2012, highlights the extent to which recent growth in Africa has neither sufficiently reduced extreme poverty and hunger nor provided the number and scope of opportunities envisioned. One of its key messages is a call for more investment in agriculture to ensure both sustained growth and poverty reduction. The evidence is clear. We need new mechanisms, approaches and tools to address an ever-increasing combination of deeply embedded inequalities and new variations of instability and unsustainability. The international seminar on the Role of South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in Africa held on 17 May in Brasília served as an important space for dialogue to explore some of these issues, specifically in the context of agricultural futures and in the broader context of development. Emerging clearly was the conviction that South-South cooperation, as a mechanism, could be catalytic, if well designed and harnessed, effectively shaped and defined within a context of exchange, mutual benefits and learning. With the increasing attention on both the inclusivity of growth and its environmental sustainability, now being framed in the context of inclusive green growth, more reliance is also likely to be placed on South-South cooperation in defining a number of answers to the ?how?. As the Government of Brazil hosts Rio+20, attention also falls on the country?s role as a broker for such forms of South-South exchange, particularly on models which can deliver triple wins for the economy, society and the environment. A number of successes in reducing inequality, enhancing both social and productive inclusion and, in particular, engaging smallholder farmers in the growth process while also maintaining a successful commercial agriculture sector are among the important lessons/entry points for Brazil-Africa exchange in this context. At the same time, successes and innovations are also emerging from sub-Saharan Africa, in discrete flagship programmes, policies and in sectors. Thus far, there has been less discussion about bi-directional flows of good practice, lessons learned and technology transfers than the current reality merits. This Poverty in Focus, designed as a value-added output of the May 17 seminar, gives specific voice to the above, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities facing South-South cooperation as a tool for ?development? and not just development cooperation. This opportunity to discuss agriculture not just as a sector but as a force for development, for poverty reduction, food security, for greater cooperation within the South, and for greater lessons from the South to emerge on the international landscape builds on other similar efforts and discussions in 2012. It resonates with a key motto of one of our coordinating partners?agriculture is a key pathway out of poverty. Looking forward, the nexus between agriculture and development highlights two key issues: eliminating hunger and rethinking agriculture, in light of sustainability and equity. Climate change, livelihoods and food security, in particular, represent both challenges and opportunities for achieving these two objectives, and many questions do remain. It is the role of knowledge-based institutions, such as IPC-IG, the Futures Agricultural Consortium, CIRAD, Articulação Sul, with the support of DFID and UN Women, and in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), to probe and critically assess towards a greater understanding of both the potential and limits of South-South cooperation and to identify potential answers to urgent policy questions. It is our hope that the approach taken in the seminar and this Poverty in Focus defines a new scope for critical and inclusive policy dialogue, while shining a brighter light on some of the underlying development questions of our time, including how to maximise Africa?s incredible natural, social and cultural wealth into a source of sustainable growth for all its citizens. by Jorge Chediek, Interim Director, IPC-IG |
| Keywords: | The Role of South-South Cooperation in Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Development: Focus on Africa |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:ifocus:24&r=afr |
| By: | Chuku, Chuku |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the rationality of proceeding with a common currency in West Africa by testing for symmetry and speed of adjustment to four underlying structural shocks among a pair of 66 ECOWAS economies. The findings reveal that there is relatively high degree of symmetry in the responses of the economies to external disturbances, while about 85 percent of the correlations in supply, demand and monetary shocks among the countries are asymmetric. The size of the shocks and speed of adjustment among countries are also dissimilar, suggesting that ECOWAS should not yet proceed with the eco, since the costs will outweigh the benefits. |
| Keywords: | Monetary union; Structural VAR; Optimal currency area; ECOWAS; West Africa |
| JEL: | F42 E52 F36 |
| Date: | 2012–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43739&r=afr |
| By: | Ann E. Harrison; Justin Yifu Lin; L. Colin Xu |
| Abstract: | Africa’s economic performance has been widely viewed with pessimism. In this paper, we use firm-level data for 89 countries to examine formal firm performance. Without controls, manufacturing African firms do not perform much worse than firms in other regions. But they do have structural problems, exhibiting much lower export intensity and investment rates. Once we control for geography and the political and business environment, formal African firms robustly lead in sales growth, total factor productivity levels and productivity growth. Africa’s conditional advantage is higher in low-tech than in high-tech manufacturing, and exists in manufacturing but not in services. While geography, infrastructure, and access to finance play an important role in explaining Africa’s disadvantage in firm performance, the key factor is party monopoly. The longer a single political party remains in power, the lower are firm productivity levels, growth rates, and sales growth for manufacturing. In contrast, the business environment and firm characteristics (except for foreign investment) do not matter as much. We also find evidence that the effects of the political and business environment are heterogeneous across sectors and firms of various levels of technology. |
| JEL: | O14 O4 O43 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18683&r=afr |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Tristan Reed; James A. Robinson |
| Abstract: | The lowest level of government in sub-Saharan Africa is often a cadre of chiefs who raise taxes, control the judicial system and allocate the most important scarce resource - land. Chiefs, empowered by colonial indirect rule, are often accused of using their power despotically and inhibiting rural development. Yet others view them as traditional representatives of rural people, and survey evidence suggests that they maintain widespread support. We use the colonial history of Sierra Leone to investigate the relationships between chiefs' power on economic development, peoples' attitudes and social capital. There, a chief must come from one of the ruling families recognized by British colonial authorities. Chiefs face less competition and fewer political constraints in chiefdoms with fewer ruling families. We show that places with fewer ruling families have significantly worse development outcomes today - in particular, lower rates of educational attainment, child health, and non-agricultural employment. But the institutions of chiefs' authority are also highly respected among villagers, and their chiefdoms have higher levels of "social capital," for example, greater popular participation in a variety of “civil society" organizations and forums that might be used to hold chiefs accountable. We argue that these results are difficult to reconcile with the standard principle-agent approach to politics and instead reflect the capture of civil society organizations by chiefs. Rather than acting as a vehicle for disciplining chiefs, these organizations have been structured by chiefs to control society. |
| JEL: | D72 N27 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18691&r=afr |
| By: | Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Collette Schulz-Herzenberg; Ingrid Hoem Sjursen |
| Abstract: | What are the key determinants of taxpayer compliance? And which features of citizen-state relations govern attitudes and behaviour regarding taxation? This paper examines the analytical foundation, methodological approaches and key findings of available empirical literature on taxpayer behaviour in Africa. Understanding how citizens perceive and experience taxation may provide an essential diagnostic of the political realities for tax reform. Attempts to broaden the tax base require insights into how citizens experience and perceive the tax system, whether people perceive they are paying taxes or not, what they eventually pay, their views on tax administration and enforcement, and whether and how their tax behaviour is correlated with how they perceive the state. Attitude and perception surveys of current and potential taxpayers may also help to identify perceived weaknesses of the tax system, and enable tax authorities to focus attention efficiently on high-risk categories of taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | Taxation, Tax behaviour, Compliance, Evasion, Fiscal exchange, Surveys |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2012-7&r=afr |
| By: | Mensah, Justice T.; Pomaa-Berko, Maame; Adom, Philip Kofi |
| Abstract: | As a burgeoning capital market in an emerging economy, automation of the stock market is regarded as a major step towards integrating the financial market as a conduit for economic growth. The automation of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in 2008 is expected among other things to improve the efficiency of the market. This paper therefore investigates the impact of the automation on the efficiency of the GSE within the framework of the weak-form Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) using daily market returns from the Ghana Stock Exchange All-Share index from 2006 to 2011. The Unit Root Random Walk and the GARCH models were used to analyze the efficiency of the GSE in the pre and post automation sample periods. Results show that the GSE was weakly inefficient in both pre and post automation periods, suggesting that the automation of the GSE have not yielded the needed impact towards improving the efficiency of the exchange. |
| Keywords: | Stock; efficiency; automation; Ghana; |
| JEL: | E0 A1 G0 |
| Date: | 2012–08–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43642&r=afr |
| By: | Solomon Asfaw (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Silvio Daidone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Benjamin Davis (FAO); Josh Dewbre (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Alessandro Romeo (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Paul Winters (American University); Katia Covarrubias (FAO); Habiba Djebbari (Universite Laval) |
| Abstract: | Cash transfer programmes have become an important tool of social protection and poverty reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. In the past decade, a growing number of African governments have launched cash transfer programmes as part of their strategies of social protection. Most of these programmes have been accompanied by rigorous impact evaluations. Concern about vulnerable populations in the context of HIV/AIDS has driven the objectives and targeting of many of these programmes, leading to an emphasis on those people who are ultra-poor, labour-constrained, with prevalence of adverse health conditions, elderly and/or caring for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) (Davis et al., 2012). As a result, the objectives of most of these programmes focus on food security, health, nutritional and educational status, particularly of children, and so, as would be expected, the accompanying impact evaluations concentrate on measuring these dimensions of programme impact. (?) |
| Keywords: | Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour ? Methodological Guidelines for the From |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:101&r=afr |
| By: | Nyamwange, Mathew |
| Abstract: | This study advices on a suitable strategy for financing healthcare in Kenya as the sector faces challenges of underfunding with an increased demand of quality and availability of health care services that are equitable and affordable for a growing population.The study examines the effect of per capita gross domestic product (GDP per capita) on public healthcare expenditure (PHCE) in Kenya, and uses estimates of public recurrent & development expenditures, (1982 - 2012), as well as the economic survey and statistical abstracts for the same years. The analysis is a time series estimation of the effect of per capita gross domestic product on public healthcare expenditure, so as to explain the minimum amount of funding that the government should direct to public healthcare expense given future predictions of GDP per capita by institutions like World Bank. The study employs OLS regression and checks for co-integration on the long-run relationship between PHCE and GDP per capita, as well as other tests of granger causality, unit root presence and stationarity and study attempts to determine the properties of healthcare in Kenya. Results reveal that healthcare in Kenya is a necessary good and has an elasticity of 0.024% to GDP per capita. This is to mean that for every 1% increase in GDP per capita, PHCE should increase by 0.024%. |
| Keywords: | Public Healthcare Expenditure; Economic Growth; Kenya Healthcare Financing; |
| JEL: | E0 H0 A1 C0 D9 B4 H5 E6 H6 C2 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43707&r=afr |
| By: | Michael MacLennan (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | The economic lens, through which development has been viewed for over 250 years, has often promoted growth at the expense of the environment. However, today, harm to the environment in the pursuit of economic growth has begun to threaten both growth itself and indicators of social progress (World Bank, 2012). The argument for greener growth in this context thus places a greater focus on maximising the ?socio-economic? development synergies alongside minimising pollution, environmental degradation and socio-environmental harms. This focus is of particular importance for sectors of acute economic importance and high growth that serve as catalysts for social, economic or environmental problems. Extractive industries (EIs) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are such a sector (ibid.). (?) |
| Keywords: | Locating the Policy Space for Inclusive Green Growth within the SADC Extractive Sector |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:38&r=afr |
| By: | Sebastian Levine (UNDP); Benjamin Roberts (Human Sciences Research Council) |
| Abstract: | The authors estimate changes in the distribution of household consumption expenditure in Namibia since Independence in 1990 and the effects on poverty. To produce comparability between two household surveys, they use survey matching techniques and apply the framework of stochastic dominance to test the robustness of the results. The results reveal a significant decrease in the poverty headcount over the period and small but insignificant decreases in the country?s extremely high levels of inequality. Decomposition analysis shows that poverty reduction in Namibia is largely driven by growth in mean incomes rather than redistribution. Even so, there have been important changes in inequality, especially between different social groups, as educational attainment has replaced ethnicity as the main determinant of inequality between groups. (?) |
| Keywords: | Robust Estimates of Changes in Poverty and Inequality in Post-Independence Namibia |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:102&r=afr |
| By: | Zo Randriamaro (Researcher) |
| Abstract: | Although gender considerations are relatively new in the climate change discourse, it is hardly surprising that they have been at the heart of recent activism and policy advocacy efforts by multiple actors. Socio-economic research and evaluations of development effectiveness both confirm that access to resources and the agency to use them are influenced by gender roles, responsibilities and differential access to opportunities and influence (World Bank, 2010; UNFPA, 2009; Lipper, 2001; Kabeer, 1999). (...) |
| Keywords: | Greening the Economy and Increasing Economic Equity for Women Farmers in Madagascar |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:34&r=afr |