|
on Africa |
| By: | Cham, Awa |
| Abstract: | There is a lack of consensus on how urbanization contributes to economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a panel data of sub-Saharan African countries spanning the years 2012 - 2019, we estimate a two-way fixed effects model, and our results indicate a positive relationship between Urbanization and Economic Development. Furthermore, we also find that this effect is amplified by existing levels of basic education, contribution of the services sector to GDP, and measures of institutional quality. Our results hence provide directions for development policy in this region. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, Agglomeration |
| JEL: | O18 R00 |
| Date: | 2025–12–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127391 |
| By: | S. Benson Simwanza (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics , University of Delhi); Dibyendu Maiti (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics , University of Delhi) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates whether the thriving application of ICTs, e-government, reduces the level of corruption within nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a simple Ramsey model, it models the tax evasion in the presence of ICTs and demonstrates how the level of digital-institutional quality that improves digitalisation strengthens institutions, reduces corruption, and thereby enhances growth. Not digitalisation, but digitalisation with institutional quality matters most. Furthermore, this study empirically explores the nexus between perceived corruption and e-government using a panel data set for 44 Sub-Saharan African countries during the period 2003-2022 using various methods of estimation: OLS, IV, FE, and GMM methods. The regional e-government development index (EGDI) average is below the global average. The findings indicate that e-government does not lessen the corruption perception index across all indicators. E-government is robust in reducing the perceived corruption index when full interactions between government effectiveness and e-government, as well as between government effectiveness and economic prosperity, are introduced into the models. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, E-government, IV–2SLS, Dynamic Panel GMM JEL codes: O33, O44, O57 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:357 |
| By: | Ayoki, Milton |
| Abstract: | Since 2003, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) have implemented binding directives to harmonize mining tax regimes and eliminate fiscal competition. Yet, we observe a proliferation of mine-specific stability clauses—contractual provisions that freeze tax rates for 20-30 years—in response to these coordination efforts. Analyzing 47 mining contracts across 12 WAEMU and CEMAC countries (2010-2023), this paper identifies a Stability Clause Paradox: instruments designed to provide tax certainty have become the primary vehicle for undermining regional tax coordination. Our results show that mines with stability clauses face effective tax rates that are 18-23 percentage points lower than statutory rates, creating a dual fiscal regime that coordination cannot reach. Our theoretical model demonstrates that stability clauses act as commitment devices in tax competition, locking in race-to-the-bottom dynamics for decades. The paper provides the first empirical evidence that regional tax coordination in Africa is systematically circumvented through contractual tax stabilization, with immediate implications for WAEMU's ongoing mining code reforms and CEMAC investment policy reviews. |
| Keywords: | Tax competition, regional integration, stability clauses, WAEMU, CEMAC, extractive sector, tax coordination, mining contracts |
| JEL: | H25 H77 O13 O17 Q38 |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127203 |
| By: | Liser, Florizelle; Treiber, Laird |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the African Growth and Opportunity Act—the United States’ unilateral trade preference program for Sub‑Saharan Africa—has served as an effective instrument for development and what its modernization should entail. The study synthesizes 25 years of the African Growth and Opportunity Act experience using U.S. International Trade Commission and related trade statistics, complemented by sectoral and country case studies. The findings indicate that while overall U.S.–Africa two‑way trade remains modest ($48.7 billion in 2024, below its 2008 peak), the African Growth and Opportunity Act’s impacts have been more substantial in non‑oil sectors where tariff preferences are largest. In textiles and apparel—facing most favored nation tariffs of roughly 15-32 percent—the African Growth and Opportunity Act has supported more than 1 million formal jobs, with women comprising 75-90 percent of plant workforces in several countries. Regional value chains have deepened, notably in Southern Africa’s automotive industry, where South Africa’s African Growth and Opportunity Act–eligible auto exports (~$2.6 billion) integrate components from neighbors such as Botswana and Lesotho. Nonetheless, supply‑side bottlenecks, limited firm awareness, and uncertainty from time‑limited reauthorizations and annual eligibility reviews have constrained uptake. The policy implications are threefold: (i) reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act on a long horizon to reduce uncertainty and encourage investment; (ii) align with the African Continental Free Trade Area by facilitating regional cumulation and considering inclusion of North Africa; and (iii) evolve toward a more reciprocal—but still preferential and development‑oriented—framework that couples market access with support to address logistics, standards, and competitiveness constraints. |
| Date: | 2025–12–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11277 |
| By: | Giorgio Chiovelli; Stelios Michalopoulos; Elias Papaioannou |
| Abstract: | Landmines affect the lives of millions in many conflict-ridden communities long after the end of hostilities. However, there is little research on the role of demining. We examine the economic consequences of landmine removal in Mozambique, the only country to transition from heavily contaminated in 1992 to mine-free in 2015. First, we present the self-assembled georeferenced catalog of areas suspected of contamination, along with a detailed record of demining operations. Second, the event-study analysis reveals a robust association between demining activities and subsequent local economic performance, reflected in luminosity. Economic activity does not pick up in the years leading up to clearance, nor does it increase when operators investigate areas mistakenly marked as contaminated in prior surveys. Third, recognizing that landmine removal reshapes transportation access, we use a market-access approach to explore direct and indirect effects. To advance on identification, we isolate changes in market access caused by removing landmines in previously considered safe areas, far from earlier nationwide surveys. Fourth, policy simulations reveal the substantial economywide dividends of clearance, but only when factoring in market-access effects, which dwarf direct productivity links. Additionally, policy counterfactuals uncover significant aggregate costs when demining does not prioritize the unblocking of transportation routes. These results offer insights into the design of demining programs in Ukraine and elsewhere, highlighting the need for centralized coordination and prioritization of areas facilitating commerce. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Development, History, Conflict, Landmines, Market Access, Transportation Infrastructure. |
| JEL: | N47 N77 O10 O55 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:2506 |
| By: | Alessandra Cassar (University of San Francisco, Department of Economics); Eeshani Kandpal (Center for Global Development); Miranda Lambert (Texas A&M University, Department of Economics); Christine Mbabaze Mpyangu (Makerere University, Department of Peace and Religious Studies); Danila Serra (Texas A&M University, Department of Economics and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Girls and women are disproportionately exposed to forced displacement and physical and sexual violence during armed conflicts. Between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) abducted over 50, 000 people in Northern Uganda, including more than 25, 000 children. We study approximately 550 women in Northern Uganda, half of whom were abducted before or during adolescence. Leveraging the plausibly exogenous nature of LRA abductions and combining incentivized behavioral games with detailed survey data, we assess the long-term effects of childhood abduction on a range of socioeconomic and mental health outcomes, as well as on behavioral traits and preferences. Childhood abduction significantly reduces educational attainment but has little persistent effect on economic activity, marriage outcomes, or risk tolerance. In contrast, nearly two decades after the conflict ended, formerly abducted women still exhibit substantially higher rates of depressive symptoms and perceived stress, heightened stress responses, reduced social support and prosociality, and greater grit. These findings highlight the need for post-conflict interventions that prioritize long-term mental health and social reintegration, alongside standard investments in education and livelihoods. |
| Keywords: | war, childhood abduction, mental health, gender |
| JEL: | D74 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:738 |