nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2023‒05‒29
four papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
Xiamen University Malaysia Campus

  1. Social and institutional determinants of digital financial inclusion in Africa: A system GMM Approach By Evans, Olaniyi
  2. La Turquie soutient-elle le développement en Afrique de l'Ouest ? L'exemple du Nigeria, du Ghana et de la Côte d'Ivoire By Kohnert, Dirk
  3. Diffusion of OECD Transfer Pricing Regulations in Eastern Africa: Agency and Compliance in Governing Profit-Shifting Behaviour By Vet, Cassandra
  4. Health performance and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: new evidence based on quantile regressions By Simplice A. Asongu; Nicholas M. Odhiambo

  1. By: Evans, Olaniyi
    Abstract: African nations have shown remarkable promise in digital financial services in recent years. However, much more remains to be done. Given this background, this study empirically investigates the social and institutional determinants of digital financial inclusion for a panel of 42 African countries using system GMM for the period 1995-2018. The empirical results show that social factors such as literacy, infrastructure, unemployment rate and standard of living have significant influence on digital financial inclusion. These results suggest that social realities matter for digital financial services. Equally, institutional factors such as political stability and absence of violence, control of corruption, regulatory quality, government effectiveness and rule of law have statistically significant and positive effects. These results suggest that better governance and better institutions correlate with faster digital financial inclusion. The estimates are robust to changes in estimation methods.
    Keywords: digital financial services, social and institutional determinants
    JEL: O3 O33 O35
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117006&r=afr
  2. By: Kohnert, Dirk
    Abstract: In the 19th and 20th centuries, Turkey considered only North Africa a substantial part of the Ottoman Empire and neglected sub-Saharan Africa unless vital interests were at stake. However, the apathy of successive Turkish governments changed with the 1998 "Africa Action Plan". Since then, the Turkish state has intensified its diplomatic, political, economic and cultural interactions with sub-Saharan Africa. Turkish-African relations received a further boost when Ankara declared 2005 the "Year of Africa". Although the predominantly Muslim region of North Africa is the focus of Turkish foreign policy due to their shared history, the importance of Sub-Saharan Africa has also increased due to the growing demand for military and medical supplies. Since 2005, Ankara promoted state-building in sub-Saharan Africa, although it does not follow Western democratization policies. Turkey's growing economic, political and security involvement in Africa aims to open new markets for its manufactured goods, particularly its defence and security industries. Presenting itself as a relevant regional power without colonial ballast, Turkey sets itself apart from traditional Western players on the continent. Turkey's engagement in sub-Saharan Africa differed markedly from that of other emerging powers such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. While Ankara shared the disregard for Western sanctions due to BRICS members' democratic deficits, it went beyond traditional state-to-state relations and increasingly relied on cooperation with non-state actors. African partners value Turkish products and expertise. In addition, Ankara has taken a coordinated approach to working with African states and leaders, avoiding entanglements with international organizations or other alliances, as in Somalia and Kenya, but more recently in much of East, South and West Africa. This has been demonstrated using the example of the three West African countries Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
    Keywords: Turquie; Afrique subsaharienne; Afrique de l'Ouest; Nigeria; Ghana; Côte d'Ivoire; commerce international; migration; développement durable; démocratisation; postcolonialisme; nationalisme; BRICS; Chine; France; Grande-Bretagne; aide au développement; ONG; Études africaines;
    JEL: E26 F22 F24 F35 F52 F54 F63 I31 J46 J61 L31 N14 N17 N37 N47 O17 O35 O55 Z13
    Date: 2023–05–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117215&r=afr
  3. By: Vet, Cassandra
    Abstract: Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda introduced transfer pricing regulations into national law in 2006, 2011 and 2020 respectively, and invested in transfer pricing audits to reduce profit shifting by multinational enterprises (MNEs). These countries used the dominant OECD transfer pricing guidelines as a template for reform – the wisdom of this approach is contested. Critical authors stress that Western states largely dominate rule-setting procedures, and that costly transfer pricing enforcement drains the scarce resources of revenue authorities. How can we reconcile the critical perspective in global debates with the roll-out of OECD-type transfer pricing regimes on the ground?
    Keywords: Governance,
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idq:ictduk:17947&r=afr
  4. By: Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa)
    Abstract: The present study investigates the nexus between health performance dynamics and economic growth in 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2004-2018. Four health performance dynamics are used, notably: total life expectancy, male life expectancy, female life expectancy and risk of maternal death. The empirical evidence is based on quantile regressions in order to put into perspective the conditional distribution of economic growth. The following findings are established: (i) total life expectancy and male life expectancy increase economic growth exclusively in the 10th and 90th quantiles of economic growth; (ii) female life expectancy boosts economic growth in the 90th quantile of economic growth and (iii) the risk of maternal death reduces economic growth in the 75th and 90th quantiles of economic growth. Policy implications are discussed. The study complements the literature on the nexus between health performance and economic growth by assessing the nexuses throughout the conditional distribution of economic growth.
    Keywords: health performance; economic growth; sub-Saharan Africa; quantile regression
    JEL: D31 I10 I32 K40 O55
    Date: 2023–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:23/029&r=afr

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