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on Africa |
| By: | Voxi Heinrich Amavilah (Economics/Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences Estrella Mountain College); Antonio Rodriguez Andres (Faculty of Management Technology, German University in Cairo) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge has emerged as a potentially key driver of economic growth and competitiveness, thereby attracting more attention in Africa than before because it is crucial to understand the factors and policies that influence the knowledge economy (KE) process and economic performance. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge economy, African countries, Seemingly unrelated regression, Economic growth |
| JEL: | O10 I20 O55 O33 O40 C2 C3 C51 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:guc:wpaper:57&r= |
| By: | Kohnert, Dirk |
| Abstract: | Francophone Africa has been dominated to date by the political, economic and cultural repercussions of France’s colonial rule. A major instrument to assert France's interests was the upkeep of a common monetary policy and currency, the CFA Franc. Although this has been increasingly resented by African politicians and economists, who wanted to replace it with a West African currency (the 'Eco') the CFA still prevails, due to the social network of French and African political leaders, the ‘messieurs Afrique’ who benefit from the system. The controversial international discussion concentrates on questions of sovereignty and formal political and economic questions. However, the rules of the informal sector proved to be at least as crucial in structuring the CFA-zone as the institutions and policies of the formal economic sector, including its monetary institutions. For decades, for example, prices of French imports were overpriced, due to protection by tied aid and other political and cultural non-tariff trade barriers. The cost of this rent-seeking was carried not only by the French Treasury, who guarantees the peg, but by the French and EU taxpayers, who financed budgetary bail-outs and development aid, and last, but not least, by the poorer African member countries and social strata. Although this applies strictly speaking only to the CFA zone, there are strong indicators that things haven't changed much since then for Francophone Africa in general. The repercussions of rent-seeking in Francophone Africa impact up to date negatively on economic performance. For example, growth levels have been significantly lower for two decades compared with Anglophone competitors. |
| Keywords: | France, Francophone Africa, post-colonialism, regulated market, special interests, regulatory capture, monetary policy, CFA franc, international trade, free trade area, customs union, African Studies, |
| JEL: | E26 E31 E42 E52 F13 F15 F22 F35 F45 F52 F54 L13 N17 N97 O17 R11 R58 Z13 |
| Date: | 2022–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112024&r= |
| By: | Tii N. Nchofoung (University of Dschang, Cameroon); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Vanessa S. Tchamyou (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | The need for gender inclusion was highlighted as the fifth sustainable development goal (SDG) (i.e. SDG5) and policies have been gearing towards attaining this objective and its subsequent effect on macroeconomic outcome. Equally, the demonstrated trend of infrastructures in Africa in terms of stocks and future need is unique compared to the rest of the world. The objective of this study is therefore to empirically examine the effect of women’s political inclusion on infrastructural development in Africa. The results through the system GMM and Quantile Regression techniques show that women’s political inclusion enhances infrastructural development in Africa. The result is robust across different measures of infrastructures and political inclusion. Besides, the positive relationship is maintained across income groups, levels of political stability and export structure. However, the effect is non-significant in countries with infrastructural scores around the extreme quantiles. The results of the study recommend African policymakers to prioritise the inclusion of women in the political agenda as one of the strategies towards the development of infrastructures. This could come through the putting in place of laws that favour women’s participation in politics. Moreover, the countries should ratify international conventions that favour gender inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructures, Women’s political empowerment, Africa |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aak:wpaper:22/004&r= |
| By: | Weiss, Tim; Perkmann, Markus; Phillips, Nelson |
| Abstract: | Research on new venture creation in Africa is growing rapidly. This increasing interest reflects both the potential for entrepreneurship to contribute to the economic and social development of Africa, as well as the potential for this research to provide new insights that challenge and extend theories developed primarily from studies of North American and European new ventures. In this editorial essay, we argue for an expansion of this important research stream to include a focus on how technology ventures scale in Africa. We identify seven topics that offer interesting opportunities for research on scaling in Africa: (1) the effect of venture location on scaling; (2) the effect of founding team diversity on scaling; (3) the effect of entrepreneurial strategies on scaling; (4) the effect of nascent ecosystems on scaling; (5) the effect of the institutional environment on scaling; (6) the effect of nascent financial markets on scaling; and (7) the societal effects of scaling. We discuss each of these topics, their potential to contribute to the existing literature, and provide examples of African technology firms that have scaled to illustrate each topic. We conclude with a discussion of how African social, political, and regulatory change, combined with rapidly developing entrepreneurial ecosystems, are creating a context where the successful scaling of technology ventures is becoming increasingly common, and research is therefore increasingly valuable. |
| Date: | 2021–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:z6rjg&r= |