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on Africa |
| By: | Banga Karishma; Balchin Neil |
| Abstract: | This study explores the potential for South Africa to become an engine for intra- regional trade and industrial development by linking other Southern African countries to its global value chains and, in the process, improving its global trade competitiveness.The study identifies ¢â‚¬Ëœlead products¢â‚¬â„¢ exported by South Africa, and then uses revealed comparative advantage and unit cost analysis to identify intermediate inputs in which Southern African countries have competitiveness to export that is currently untapped due to a lack of supply capacity or other factors. Such products are potential areas where regional investments could lead to the successful creation of regional value chains.The study also identifies ¢â‚¬Ëœnew markets¢â‚¬â„¢ for agricultural lead products exported by South Africa, which could open new opportunities for Southern Africa to supply intermediate agricultural inputs. |
| Keywords: | Regional integration,Regional value chains,Global value chains |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-62&r=all |
| By: | Alain Pholo Bala; Michel Tenikue; Baraka Nafari |
| Abstract: | This paper informs the debate on the existence of agglomeration effects in Africa. It uses a structural estimation approach to investigate the impact of agglomeration economies and forward linkages on the localization of French affiliates in Africa. Using a sample of French subsidiaries in Africa, we compate the theoretically derived measure of market potential with the standard form used by geographers and with a measure of local demand. Our results show that maket potential matters for location choice. However, the semi-elasticity estimates suggest that the intensity of demand linkages in Africa is lower than what has been observed in the European Union. Moreover, their effects seem to be insignificant when we consider the spillover variables. These spillover effects have a positive and significant impact on location which suggests that agglomerations effects are at play throughout Africa. |
| Keywords: | Aggloreration Economics, Local of Firms, Market Potential, Africa |
| JEL: | F12 F15 R30 R32 R34 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:774&r=all |
| By: | Funjika Patricia; Getachew Yoseph |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the relationship between differences in skills measured among‚ within-country ethnic groups and individual human capital accumulation in eight African‚ countries.Our results show that the skills of an individual in these countries depends more on the‚ human capital levels of their parents¢â‚¬â„¢ ethnic group (ethnic capital) than on parental investment.‚ Therefore, differences in initial levels of ethnic capital may explain the persistence of ethnicitybased‚ differences in educational attainment over time. Birth cohort analysis and the results from‚ an interaction effects model show that ethnic capital has a persistent effect, and that this effect is‚ higher in former British colonies than former French colonies.Using historical religion-based data‚ from the colonial and independence periods as instruments for ethnic capital, we demonstrate‚ large effects of parental ethnicity on an individual¢â‚¬â„¢s human capital skill level and show that colonial‚ origin may be important in understanding intergenerational mobility in African countries. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility,Human capital,Education,Colonialism,Ethnicity |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-64&r=all |
| By: | Fredah Guantai (University of Tsukuba, Japan); Yoko Kijima (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | This study is an examination of the effect of intrauterine exposure to electoral violence on child birthweight; an outcome that has long-term effects on an individual’s education, income, and health in later life. By considering the electoral violence that resulted from the introduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya as an exogenous source of shock and by adopting difference-in-differences method and mother-fixed effect model, we found that prenatal exposure to the violence increased the probabilities of low birth weight and a child being of very small size at birth by 19 and 6 percentage points, respectively. We found that violence exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy decreased birth weight by 271 grams and increased the probabilities of low birthweight and very small size at birth by 18 and 4 percentage points, respectively. The results reaffirm the significance of the nine months in utero as one of the most critical periods in life that shapes future health, economic, and educational trajectories. |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:19-19&r=all |
| By: | Gift Dafuleya |
| Abstract: | Income pooling in the context of geographically stretched households, that is, households with migrants who maintain close relations and economic ties with household members left behind, is examined in this article. Focus is also directed at evaluating whether migration assists in reducing food deprivation in the household of origin. A model to generalise the relationship between the migrant and the family left behind is presented and then applied to Bulawayo, the second largest city of Zimbabwe. The analysis is tripartite. First, the determinants of migrant remittances are established; second, tests of income pooling between migrant remittances and income of the household at origin are conducted; and third, the impact of migration on family left behind is examined in the context of food deprivation. Results show that gender is not a determinant of remittances, but it matters for income pooling of remittances with income at the household of origin on frequent and low-cost purchases. The evidence provided challenges the idea that a household is a separate and independent unit composed of co-residents eating from the same pot. |
| Keywords: | migration, Remittances, income pooling, geographically stretched household, food deprivation |
| JEL: | D13 D64 F24 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:784&r=all |