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on Africa |
| By: | AfDB AfDB |
| Date: | 2015–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2163&r=afr |
| By: | Jun Gu; Annika Mueller; Ingrid Nielsen; Jason Shachat; Russell Smyth |
| Abstract: | The last decade has seen a massive influx of Chinese migrants to sub-Saharan Africa, where many have opened small businesses to compete amongst local merchants. These Chinese have often met resistance from the local competition, resulting in a sharp social divide. The current paper draw’s on Allport’s (1954) contact hypothesis theory and reports on the results of two experimental studies that examined the effects of direct and imagined contact on indigenous Malawian shopkeepers’ willingness to spend future time with their Chinese counterparts. Results show that direct contact led to Malawians’ greater willingness to spend time with their Chinese counterparts, and this effect persisted over a time period of ten days, when a follow up survey was conducted. In contrast, imagined contact did not change Malawians’ willingness to spend future time with Chinese. Implications of these results for China’s ambitions to introduce its development model into Africa are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Chinese migrants in Africa, social contact, Chinese small business |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2015-04&r=afr |
| By: | Tirivayi J.N.; Koethe J. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | The relationship between immune status and employment outcomes in HIV-infected patients on long-term antiretroviral therapy ART in sub-Saharan Africa and their HIV-affected households is not well understood. We assessed the relationship between CD4 T-cell counts of ART-treated adults at public-sector clinics in Lusaka, Zambia median treatment duration 973 days and labour force participation in the HIV-affected households using clinical and survey data. In multivariable models, patients with a CD4 count 350 cells/l were 22 percentage points more likely to be engaged in labour 95 CI 0.02, 0.42 and worked approximately 6 more days per month compared to patients with a CD4 count 350 cells/l. A similar relationship between patient CD4 count and labour participation was observed for other adult family members in the HIV-affected household, but it was not statistically significant. These findings suggest interventions that promote and maintain robust immune recovery on ART may confer economic benefits. |
| Keywords: | Health: General; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health; Time Allocation and Labor Supply; |
| JEL: | I10 I18 J22 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2015018&r=afr |
| By: | Peter Nunnenkamp; Michaela Rank; Rainer Thiele |
| Abstract: | Aid proliferation and a lack of coordination are widely recognized as serious problems for aid effectiveness, and donors have repeatedly promised to tackle them, e.g. in the Paris Declaration in 2005 and the Accra Agenda for Action in 2008. In this paper, we employ geocoded aid data from Uganda to assess whether the country’s donors have increasingly specialized and better coordinated their aid activities at the district and sector level. Our findings point in the opposite direction: over the period 2006-2013, aid of most major donors in Uganda became more fragmented, and the duplication of aid efforts increased. There is tentative evidence that donors were more active in poorer parts of the country, which would provide some justification for clustered aid activities |
| Keywords: | Aid fragmentation, donor coordination, Uganda |
| JEL: | F35 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:2001&r=afr |
| By: | Iimi,Atsushi; Humphreys,Richard Martin; Melibaeva,Sevara |
| Abstract: | Africa has great potential for agriculture. Although international commodity prices have been buoyant, Africa?s supply response seems to be weak. A variety of constraints may exist. Using the case of Tanzania, the paper examines the impact of market connectivity, domestic and international, on farmers? crop choices. It is shown that the international market connectivity, measured by transport costs to the maritime port, is important for farmers to choose export crops, such as cotton and tobacco. Internal connectivity to the domestic market is also found to be important for growing food crops, such as maize and rice. Among other inputs, access to irrigation and improved seed availability are also important factors in the crop choices of farmers. The size of land area is one constraint to promote the crop shift. The paper also reports the finding that farmers are not using market prices effectively in their choice of crop, even after the endogeneity of local prices is taken into account. |
| Date: | 2015–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7306&r=afr |
| By: | Phiri, Andrew |
| Abstract: | This study examines cointegration and causal effects between tourism and economic growth in South Africa for annual data collected between the period of 1995 and 2014. The paper applies two empirical approaches to this end; one being the conventional Engle and Granger (1987) linear cointegration framework, and the second being a nonlinear cointegration framework of Enders and Granger (1998). Furthermore, two empirical measures of tourism development are used in the study, namely; tourist receipts and number of international tourist arrivals. In line with conventional wisdom, the empirical results of the linear framework supports the tourism-led growth hypothesis when tourist receipts are used as a measure of tourism development. However, the nonlinear framework depicts bi-directional causality between tourist receipts and economic growth. Furthermore, the linear framework supports the economic-growth-driven-tourism-hypothesis for tourist arrivals whereas the nonlinear framework depicts no causality between tourist arrivals and economic growth. Therefore, our study emphasizes on the direct relevance which tourist expenditures rather than number of tourist arrivals hold towards economic growth and overall economic development. |
| Keywords: | Tourism receipts; Tourist arrivals; Economic growth; cointegration; causality tests; MTAR-TEC; South Africa. |
| JEL: | C22 C51 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2015–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65000&r=afr |
| By: | Bertocchi, Graziella; Dimico, Arcangelo |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term determinants of the high rates of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among women, with a focus on family structure and sexual behavior as shaped by the demographic shock following the transatlantic slave trade. First we show that, in clusters where polygyny is more widespread, HIV infection rates are higher. By instrumenting polygyny with the demographic shock we can also establish that this link is causal. Next we turn to the channels through which polygyny is likely to affect HIV infection by focusing on sexual behavior, as captured by the intensity of sexual activity and the frequency of extramarital partnerships. We document relevant gender differences in behavior: in clusters affected by a larger demographic shock men (but not women) display a more intense sexual activity, while women (but not men) are more likely to engage in extramarital partnerships. We employ these findings to instrument sexual behavior when estimating its influence on HIV infection and we show that clusters exhibiting more frequent female extramarital partnerships are affected by significantly higher infection rates. We interpret our results as follows. The demographic shock induced by the slave trade represents a “primordial” risk factor which is still shaping contemporary family structure and sexual behavior. Polygyny is associated with unsatisfying marital relationships, particularly for women, with consequent female infidelity and an increased risk of infection, which is further multiplied for women co-habiting within polygynous households. |
| Keywords: | HIV; polygyny; sexual behavior; slave trade |
| JEL: | I15 J12 N37 O10 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10654&r=afr |