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Geographers have shown how mobile phones are transforming urban economies in Africa by altering the temporal and spatial nature of commercial transactions. Less well documented is how young people in Africa are using mobile phones to navigate the interplay between personal hopes, social expectations, and financial uncertainty associated with urban life. Drawing on qualitative data from youth in two Ghanaian cities, and insights from literature on youth geographies, hustling, and everyday urbanism, this paper explores how young people use mobile phones to conjure up and sustain social relations and income‐generating opportunities in urban settings. Three significant thematic findings emerge from our empirical data: the role of mobile phones in shaping young people's social status and responsibilities; the use of mobile phones as instruments for surveillance and relationships; and the use of mobile phone technologies as assets for realising income‐generating opportunities. Conceptually, our exploration of mobile phone usage furthers geographical scholarship by providing new insights on the multidimensional nature of constraints faced by youth and their strategies to overcome them. Furthermore, the incorporation of a comparative element within the study illustrates the need for a more spatially nuanced understanding of young people's uptake and use of mobile phone technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile financial services (MFSs) are perceived to be a potential solution in addressing emerging economies' challenges. Through MFS, benefits associated with economic financial inclusion and economic growth and opportunities could be realised. Yet, not all emerging economies fully experience these benefits, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and more specifically the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) group of individuals who are characterised as the world's poorest consumers, living primarily in the informal sector. This study sought to examine the factors contributing to the BoP group's behavioural intention to adopt MFS in South Africa. The study was positivist in nature, using survey-based questionnaires to garner information from BoP users on MFS adoption. Data were tested for validity and analysed by using structured equation modelling to assess the hypotheses. The findings show that habit, performance expectancy and uncertainty avoidance are strong predictors of behavioural intent. These findings can have significant implications on how MFS service providers operate in the South African context and can be used by government to drive technology as a basis for financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the effect of changes in international financial markets on the debt dynamics in sub‐Saharan Africa in recent years. A key development is the rise of the private sector as both a lender and a borrower in African debt markets, a process that is associated with the growing integration of the region into global financial markets. The article argues that the Debt Sustainability Framework of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank has taken some steps to account for this growth of private sector, cross‐border debt, but such steps still fall short of what is needed. A full appreciation of the importance of private debt implies, first, that debt sustainability in sub‐Saharan Africa be understood in the context of countries' integration in global financial markets and the global liquidity cycles that characterize those markets and, second, that the interplay between private and public debt be monitored in order to provide a fuller picture of the impact of private sector debt on fiscal sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major component of tax administration reform in sub-Saharan Africa for the last 30 years has been the creation of semi-autonomous revenue authorities (SARAs). The effects of their creation on revenue performance have been much debated, although there are only a few quantitative studies. The core argument of this paper is that existing research suggesting diverse and contradictory outcomes has not taken account of trends in revenue performance in the years before the establishment of SARAs. Allowing for this revenue history our analysis, based on 46 countries over the period 1980–2015, provides no robust evidence that SARAs induce an increase in revenue performance. This does not imply that SARAs may not provide benefits for tax collection, but they do not demonstrably increase (or decrease) revenue collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absent actual panel household survey data, we construct for the first time synthetic panel data for more than 20 countries accounting for two-thirds of the population in sub-Saharan Africa. We employ in this process repeated cross sections that span, on average, a six-year period for each country. Our analysis suggests that all these countries as a whole have had pro-poor growth. In particular, one third of the poor population escaped poverty during the studied period, which is larger than the proportion of the population that fell into poverty in the same period. The region also saw a 28 per cent increase in the size of the middle class. Chronic poverty, however, remains high and a considerable proportion of the population is vulnerable to falling into poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lipset's (1959) modernization hypothesis advances that economic development supports democratic institutions. • Income per capita is a narrow definition of economic development in empirical analysis for hypothesis testing. • We use principle component analysis for a composite measure for economic development. • We find the results for the modernization hypothesis to be more consistent with the economic development index than with income per capita. Previous empirical literature focuses on income per capita as a measure for economic development. Using Lipset's modernization hypothesis as our theoretical framework, we contend that this measure does not capture the fundamental quality of economic development and as such may disadvantage low income regions when conducting empirical analysis. Our initial results using income per capita highlight this, showing a negative relationship between income per capita and democracy for sub-Saharan Africa between 1960 and 2010. However when we create a composite measure for economic development by employing the principle component analysis on the indicators that are suggested by Lipset, we obtain positive and significant results for democracy. This evidence suggests that we need to be wary of income per capita as a measure for economic development as the two are not synonymous. Income per capita may not capture other factors that also encompass development in a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long acting reversible and permanent contraception (LARPs) offer promising opportunities for addressing the high and growing unmet need for modern contraception and helps to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortion rates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study examines the contextual factors that influence the use of long acting reversible and permanent contraception among married and fecund women in Ethiopia. Method: We use data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey to examine the contextual factors that influence choice of long acting reversible and permanent contraception among married, non-pregnant and fecund women. The DHS collects detailed information on individual and household characteristics, contraception, and related reproductive behaviors from women of reproductive age. In addition, we created cluster level variables by aggregating individual level data to the cluster level. Analysis was done using a two-level multilevel logistic regression with data from 6994 married (weighted = 7352) women residing in 642 clusters (communities). Results: In 2016, 12% of married, non-pregnant and ‘fecund’ women were using long-acting reversible and permanent methods of contraception in Ethiopia. A higher proportion of women with secondary and above education (17.6%), urban residents (19.7%), in the richest wealth quintile (18.3%) and in paid employment (18.3%) were using LARP methods compared to their counterparts. Regression analysis showed that community level variables such as women’s empowerment, access to family planning information and services, region of residence and knowledge of methods were significantly associated with use of LARP methods. Age, wealth status, employment status and women’s fertility preferences were among the individual and household level variables associated with choice of LARP methods. With regards to age, the odds of using LARP methods was significantly lower among adolescents (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.32–0.85) and women over the age of 40 (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.44–0.90) compared to women in their 20’s. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that the demand for long-acting reversible and permanent contraception is influenced not only by women’s individual and household characteristics but also by the community’s level of women’s empowerment, socio-economic development, as well as access and exposure to family planning information and services. Thus, improving knowledge of long-acting reversible and permanent methods, improving women’s decision making autonomy and upgrading the capacity and skills of health workers particularly the midlevel providers and community health extension workers on the provision of LARP methods and rights-based approach is important to improve the uptake of LARP methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of an individual's belonging to some ethnic groups as it relates to the meanings associated with food consumption as well as the outcome(s) of ethnic food consumption. To achieve this goal, data were collected from 607 individuals, using a survey and structural equations analysis. Findings revealed that ethnic food consumption triggers specific emotions associated with different ethnic origins; there is a significant and positive moderating effect of sense of belonging to the product's region of origin. Attachment serves as a mediator of the effect of ethnicity on commitment. These findings have several notable implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to growing economic growth in tandem with regional economic developments on the route connecting Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), several countries in the SSA region such as South Africa have been developing container ports. This paper analyzes potential trunk line routes and transshipment flows that could be captured by potential hub ports in the SSA region. To this end, integer programing models are developed to represent liner shipping networks in the SSA region and a wide variety of numerical experiments based on realistic data are conducted for the SSA-Europe and SSA-Asia trade routes. This paper draws various meaningful policy and managerial implications through scenario analyses such as the effects of network evolution, different vessel sizes and speeds, carbon taxes and insights in association with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiated by China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two and a half decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), along with several other developing countries, implemented the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Since the 1990s when war broke out in the DRC triggered by the control of natural resources, unemployment and poverty have been on the rise in the country. Despite this, ever since the Government Action Plan for Natural Resource Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade was implemented in 1992, the population blamed the SAP for causing the heightened poverty of the 1990s. However, during the reform period it was difficult to point out which policies had an adverse effect on unemployment, poverty and productivity growth. It is in that context that this paper analyses the effects of reducing tariffs through a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of the DRC. The specific DRC Formal-Informal Model (DRCFIM) is a multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium model that captures the observed structure of the DRC's formal and informal economies, as well as the numerous linkages or transmission channels connecting their various economic agents, such as investors, firms, traders, and the government. The parameters of the CGE equations are calibrated to observed data from a social accounting matrix (SAM). The paper finds that tariff reduction increases formal employment and output but hurts informal producers. It considerably increases the output and employment of the formal sector by raising import competition without providing further opportunities for the informal sector to access foreign export markets. Nonetheless, it induces productivity improvements when local producers survive import competition by seeking importing inputsaving technologies and production practices. These findings highlight the importance of differentiating between the formal and informal sector impacts of the DRC's socioeconomic policies. In particular, this study draws the attention of policy makers to a different employment outcome when tariff reduction is taken into consideration. We suggest that the DRC government considers subsidising low income household to avoid widening inequality in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines theoretical and methodological issues in the study of African developmental states. We argue that applying this concept beyond East Asia must take into account changes in the global economic context - in particular systemic tendencies towards deficient consumer demand - to uncover the conditions under which demand for commodity production remains or becomes expansionary. We further argue for a mixed methods case study approach to structural transformation, blending quantitative and qualitative evidence at multiple levels of analysis. The examples of concrete manufacturing and oil and gas in Nigeria and Tanzania illustrate our approach to researching state-led development in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents, delineates, and analyzes terrorism as well as total war along with the psychological development and economic factors that play a role in them. The purpose of this discussion and its corresponding research is to determine whether acts of terrorism are distinct from total war. This article cross-references United States total war history with examples of total war and terrorism from other areas such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Burkina Faso. Through Psychologist Clark Hull's Drive Reduction Theory, this article aims to explain the motivations behind acts of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we use cointegration techniques to investigate the determinants of diesel demand in Cameroon over the period 1994-2014. Our model produces robust and significant estimates of price and income elasticities. We find that short run elasticity is smaller than long run elasticity, showing that consumers are inelastic in the short run whereas elasticities are greater than unity in the long run. This confirms the assertion that diesel demand in the long run is principally determined by the pace of economic activity. Earlier elasticities reports for Cameroon show deviations that are acceptable in relation to the time span taken into account. Our estimates are in accordance with findings in other African countries that share similarities with Cameroon in their economic background and demographics. The results are useful in guiding tax and regulatory policies aimed at stabilizing diesel consumption through price changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country with high natural resources, but it has suffered from decades of civil wars and social turmoil, being heavily aid-dependent. In the DRC, several Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) are major players in fighting poverty and enhancing welfare. This research aims to analyse the effectiveness of small NPOs in improving poor peoples’ lives through health, education, and economic activities. Two NPOs working in the DRC, one in a rural and the other in an urban area, are compared by researching the aid sites and surveying 201 households (aid beneficiaries). Our case observations and the survey results facilitate analysing the mission accomplishment, effectiveness, and accountability of the NPOs although we admit that the DRC conditions make exact measurements difficult. Multivariate analyses are used to study the differences in aid impacts. There are significant differences in the beneficiaries’ perception of the NPO effectiveness in improving health while no significant differences in education impact were found. This is probably because both case NPOs have succeeded in getting a large proportion of the children of their area registered in the education centres created by the NPOs. Differences were observed in the accountability and reporting style of the NPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The problem of gender inequality in formal land ownership in Africa is often attributed to African indigenous culture. Deviating from convention, this study considers the problem to be a function of macroeconomic factors. Empirical data were drawn from Cameroon. Multiple regression analyses involving natural logarithm and commensurate statistics were employed to analyze the data. Gender inequality, the dependent variable, was operationalized as the percentage of land titles issued to men minus the percentage issued to women. Two macroeconomic indicators, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita gross national income (GNI), comprised the predictor variables. A strong inverse relation between the dependent and predictor variables was hypothesized. Multiple tests validated all but one of the hypotheses. This revelation suggests that economic growth-promoting strategies can lead to the evaporation of gender-based gaps in access to land. The revelation is consistent with neoclassical theories that consider economic development a viable tool for improving the status of women. A positive relation between per capita GNI and gender inequality, conflicting with the hypothesized link, was found. This implies a need to redistribute the fruits of development in order to, inter alia , narrow the gender-based discrepancies in access to land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of globalization on governance in 51 African countries for the period 1996–2011. Four bundled governance indicators and four globalization (political, economic, social, and general) variables are used. The empirical evidence is based on instrumental variable quantile regressions. The motivation for using this estimation technique is that blanket governance - globalization policies are not likely to succeed unless they are contingent on initial levels of governance and tailored differently across countries with low, intermediate, and high levels of governance. The following findings are presented. First, globalization does, in fact, appear to promote good governance. Second, for the most part, the effect of globalization is higher in terms of magnitude in the bottom quantiles of the political, institutional, and general governance distributions. Third, the impact of globalization is overwhelmingly higher in terms of magnitude in the top quantiles of the economic governance distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of ideological mechanisms in support of long-term economic liberalisation. Specifically we examine the ideological roles of comparative advantage and debt reduction as precursors to austerity policy imposition. Austerity policies, as episodic mechanisms designed to deepen neoliberalisation, are examined in the comparative historical context of Africa and Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the year 2000, the world has witnessed an increased call for improved access to scholarly information. The cost of scholarly content is a major barrier in accessing needed research information. In order to fully contribute to the global knowledge economy, African scholars need to access both global information resources and locally published works. Few studies have focused on the African knowledge production vis-à-vis access to scholarly research information in Africa. This paper examines access to scholarly research information in sub-Saharan Africa. The review focuses on available published works on access to scientific literature in Africa and seeks to understand Africa's scholarly publishing scene. In the process, challenges and opportunities regarding access to scholarly research information are explored. Three approaches in addressing these issues emerge in literature - namely (i) open access, (ii) donor-funded schemes and (iii) negotiated access schemes for scholarly content. This review shows that these approaches have leveraged information access to the African researchers who now have almost the same levels of access to scientific literature as their peers in the developed world. African governments, institutions, researchers and librarians still need to exploit the potential of open access. There remain, however, infrastructural issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the African scholar enjoys access to current scientific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of the institutional environment on the performance of 291 microfinance institutions in 34 sub-Saharan Africa countries during the period 2006 to 2014, by analysing the unbalanced panel data using fixed effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques. The panel regression results demonstrate strong evidence that a strong institutional environment has a positive effect on the performance of microfinance institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically, the findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between business freedom and microfinance performance in sub-Saharan Africa. These vital findings not only provide useful information to policy makers and key microfinance industry players, but also highlight the impact that institutional qualities have on microfinance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somalia government has been accused of lacking transparency and proper accounting systems. This study investigates international monetary aid in Somalia's social and economic revival. A purposely chosen sample of Somalis living in Kenya ( N = 204) was used. Approximately 59.4% disagreed that the lives of a great number of Somali people have improved, while 65.2% acknowledged that there was lack of integrity and expertise in the management of foreign aids. Finally, the study suggests that the key to success of monetary aid in Somalia largely depends on; developing good financial infrastructure based on modern information technology and telecommunication, the establishment of strong financial institutions with good financial and aid policies, and enhanced transparency and rigorous accountability of Somalia government officials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on political, social and economic conditions in the African countries including Somalia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.

The issue of poor economic performance and growth of sub-Saharan African economies have become so worrisome and this has called for a wide range of research and experts argued in favor of official development assistance as an important catalyst for growth in salvaging the sub-Saharan African economies. Available statistics showed that there has been surge in official development assistance flow into Africa. Specifically, the statistics show that Sub-Saharan Africa has received more official development assistance than any other region reaching 10 times and 15 times of inflow to transition and developed economies respectively over the years. Despite this flow of ODA, sub-Saharan African economies have always witnessed dwindling economic performance. Experts opined that poor economic policies, diversion of official development assistance to unproductive consumption and volatility of aid have been responsible for the ineffectiveness of aid to salvage recipient countries. This study therefore sets out to examine the effectiveness of official development assistance on per capita GDP growth for the different regions in Sub-Sahara Africa. The study first undertakes to establish the existence of official development assistance volatility in the selected countries and examines its effect on per capita growth and as well accounting for policy environment as a channel to the link. The study covers the period 1970-2013 and Thirtythree Sub-Saharan African countries were selected based on data availability. The study employs the panel data co-integration and panel data error correction modelling approach to analyze the relationship between official development assistance and per capita Growth in these regions. The Autoregressive Conditional Heteroschedasticity (ARCH) and the General Autoregressive Conditional Heteroschedasticity (GARCH) models were also used to establish volatility with regards to official development assistance in the countries before the main analysis.ODA was found to have a positive and insignificant effect on West Africa, East Africa and non-oil exporting countries but the effect was positive and significant for Southern Africa, Central Africa and Oil Exporting countries. For West Africa, the effect became significant on growth only when Macroeconomic policy environment variables are captured. The study therefore recommends that government of Sub-Sahara countries embrace foreign international assistance while putting a befitting economically viable macroeconomic environment. And donor agencies should be more concerned in promoting good governance and policy framework in these countries than so much disbursement of ODA as such can undermine productive investment. This however will make the best of the ODA received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable data on economic livelihoods remain scarce in the developing world, hampering efforts to study these outcomes and to design policies that improve them. Here we demonstrate an accurate, inexpensive, and scalable method for estimating consumption expenditure and asset wealth from high-resolution satellite imagery. Using survey and satellite data from five African countries—Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, and Rwanda—we show how a convolutional neural network can be trained to identify image features that can explain up to 75% of the variation in local-level economic outcomes. Our method, which requires only publicly available data, could transform efforts to track and target poverty in developing countries. It also demonstrates how powerful machine learning techniques can be applied in a setting with limited training data, suggesting broad potential application across many scientific domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) have diverse economic structures. Some countries are oil exporters, some are oil importers and some countries are very poor, dependent on agriculture. Since current account is an important indicator of an economy's health, it is of interest to examine if current account balances in MEA region are sustainable. However, empirical research paid scant attention to this issue. No study has been conducted before to examine this issue. The present paper makes an attempt to fill this research gap by employing panel data model over the period from 1995 to 2014 to examine current account sustainability in MEA countries. We follow intertemporal budget constraint approach and examine long-run relationship between export and import plus interest on net foreign debt. As we work with panel data, we pay special attention to cross-section dependence. We use annual data collected from World Development Indicators. All data (exports, imports and interest on long-term external borrowing) are in current US dollar and expressed as percentage of GDP. Interest payment on long-term external borrowing (also in current US dollar) is used as a proxy for interest on net foreign debt. Panel unit root test to cross-section dependence indicate variables are first-difference stationary. We next use panel cointegration and bootstrap critical values under null hypothesis to accommodate cross-section dependence. Panel cointegration result suggests that current account is sustainable. However, panel cointegrating regression estimation indicates that the value of sustainability coefficient is less than 1 (one), which implies that current account is weakly sustainable. As current account is weakly sustainable, it is desirable to make policy intervention at macro level to ensure strong sustainability. This may be achieved by accelerating ongoing trade reforms in MEA countries to boost export earnings and hence ensure the sustainability of external debt in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The streams of Chinese migration to Africa are growing in tandem with rising Chinese investments and trade flows in and to the African continent. In spite of the high profile of this phenomenon in the media, there are few rich and broad descriptions of Chinese communities in Africa. Reasons for this include the rarity of official statistics on foreign-born populations in African censuses, the absence of predefined sampling frames required to draw representative samples with conventional survey methods and difficulties to reach certain segments of this population. Here, we use a novel network-based approach, Network Sampling with Memory, which overcomes the challenges of sampling 'hidden' populations in the absence of a sampling frame, to recruit a sample of recent Chinese immigrants in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and collect information on the demographic characteristics, migration histories and social ties of members of this sample. These data reveal a heterogeneous Chinese community composed of 'stateled' migrants who come to Africa to work on projects undertaken by large Chinese state-owned enterprises and 'independent' migrants who come on their own accord to engage in various types of business ventures. They offer a rich description of the demographic profile and social organization of this community, highlight key differences between the two categories of migrants and map the structure of the social ties linking them. We highlight needs for future research on inter-group differences in individual motivations formigration, economic activities, migration outcomes, expectations about future residence in Africa, social integration and relations with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa, the dawn of political independence, which many countries experienced in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, ushered in political freedom but not economic prosperity. It was for this reason that the onset of the third wave of democratisation, which culminated into the end of the Cold War in 1989, came to be hailed by the African masses as a second form of liberation. The Africans hoped that democracy, once consolidated, would be the basis for economic development on their continent. This article observes, nonetheless, that democracy in many African countries has not proceeded to the expected phase of democratic consolidation due to several challenges that the article outlines. The article explains further that despite the uninspiring picture of political instability on the continent, Africa is actually home to at least six of the fastest growing economies in the world. The article, thus, suggests that India should not hesitate, but seek to increase its investment portfolio in Africa, since the continent’s unstable political environment is not at all inimical to foreign direct investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates gender wage differentials using pooled 2005 and 2010 Cameroon labour force surveys. Decomposition of the returns to endowment component reveals that men were overpaid, while women were underpaid on the average and across percentiles. Education, hours worked, agricultural employment and urban residence were contributing in that order in widening the gender wage-gap in terms of endowments, male advantage and female disadvantage. As a policy option, reducing human capital and labour market constraints that provoke the differential pricing of endowments held by men and women, and the differential access to endowments between them should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1960's, many African countries have experienced anemic growth and high levels of acute poverty, even in the presence of natural resources abundance. Ending this poverty trap has been the goal of the 2015 UN Millennium Project. There are a myriad of reasons cited for this trend. The explanations include the inward looking policies adopted by the African countries since 1960s, poor policy management or other socio/political issues, macroeconomic issues such as inflation, exchange rate volatility, poor governance, and institutions. While many previous studies have analyzed the determinants of economic growth of African countries, they fail to consider the possible impact of the economic performance of proximate countries. Results from such studies may be biased as stated in Greene, 2003. It is, therefore, important to properly investigate the determinants of economic growth in Africa and propose appropriate policy directions. In this study, we estimate a spatial economic growth model with spatial correlations in the dependent variable and the error terms by using a panel data on 48 African countries for the years spanning 1980 to 2011. The model controls for some of the conventional sources of economic growth such as gross capital formation, openness of the economy, overseas development assistance, and inflation. We use a variety of proximity matrices including cultural, ecological, developmental, economic, and regional to explore the effect of the rate of economic growth of one country on the growth rates of its proximate countries. We find significant positive spatial linkages in the dependent variable and negative ones in the error terms, indicating that proximate sub-Saharan African countries experience similar levels of economic growth due to the cluster effects and the fact that they compete intensively for growth sources when shocks such as global capital retreats occur. Based on this result, the implication is that the policy makers in Africa should consider planning and implementing strategic and comprehensive regional growth agenda for all proximate countries and consider growth forecasts of proximate nations in the process of making fiscal and monetary policy decisions. Further, our result indicates that without correcting for spatial linkages in determining growth rates, the estimation results may be downward biased. The only significant determinants of economic growth are the gross fixed capital formation as a percent of GDP and gross secondary school enrollment with larger magnitudes for the spatial model. This result, perhaps, indicates that the most important driver of economic growth and development in Africa is fixed capital formation and infrastructure development. In a continent where capital is scarce and the availability and quality of infrastructure is for the most part pathetic, it is a very important for decision makers to implement policies that improve the availability and quality of capital formation and infrastructure development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continent of Africa is blessed with natural resources and most especially large expanse of land area suitable for agricultural production. But despite this huge deposit of untapped resources and opportunities in the continent, it is very appalling to know that many of the countries in Africa are homes to the poorest of the poor and vulnerable people across the globe. The continent is faced with multi-faceted problems of insecurity arising from the activities of violent extremists and marginalized sect, decaying infrastructural facilities exacerbated by corruption and prolonged neglect, rising youth unemployment occasioned by bad governance and inadequate planning coupled with dwindling income resulting from poor and inadequate production technologies. However, in spite of the worsening food crisis situation and constraints to agricultural transformation in Africa, agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for most Africans (especially those residing in the rural areas) remains the economic nerve centre considering its contribution to the African economy in terms of labor employment and share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Thus, the task of poverty reduction in Africa portends a moving target as the number of poor and undernourished people keeps increasing. This paper therefore examined the link between agriculture and poverty in Africa. The problems and prospects of African agriculture were x-rayed, the poverty situation in Africa and the likely causes were also highlighted. The paper suggests a bottom-up (also called community-driven development) approach to policy formulation through involvement of farmers in policy discussions at both national and international levels starting from project/problem identification to evaluation. There is the need for partnerships between government and private sector in the area of input and infrastructure provision. This is very important considering the fact that government alone can no longer shoulder the responsibility of providing and maintaining infrastructures due to declining revenue. Farm level processing and value addition should be encouraged by government through the provision of enabling environment and farmers should endeavour to join and participate in cooperative activities so as to enhance their access to credit, markets and benefit from collective bargaining power in terms of input acquisition and getting support from government and prospective funders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do the majority of African countries fail to take the steps that would lead them towards greater development? The aim of this work is to determine the factors affecting development, not only the economic ones, which play a central role in economic literature, but also social. To do so, we have used a wide sample of countries and have estimated a panel data for 171 countries of those that have been members of the United Nations (UN) for a period of 16 years (from 1995 to 2010 inclusive). Our results lead us to conclude that monetary instability and the colonial past of these countries have had a negative impact on their level of human development. However, improvements in the efficiency of governmental policy and instruments, investment in greater democracy, greater stability and less corruption, have, in all cases, a positive effect on human development in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper places recent growth and structural transformation in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries in historical and international perspective. During the early post-independence period, resources were reallocated to manufacturing activities with high productivity growth. Structural change stalled in the mid-1970s. When it resumed in the 1990s, workers mainly relocated to distributive trade services. Productivity levels in these activities were higher than in agriculture, enhancing overall economy performance. But services productivity growth was sluggish and increasingly falling behind the world frontier. These patterns are also observed in Latin America, but not in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We study the effect of two tax innovations – value added taxes (VAT) and autonomous revenue authorities (ARA) – on tax revenues in sub-Saharan Africa. The dataset consists of 47 countries over 1980–2010. We find that VATs have no effect on total tax revenues, neither in the short- nor in the long-run. ARAs lead to higher tax revenues in the short- and medium-run, but the effect dissipates over time. The main conclusion is that tax innovations are not a panacea to overcome the revenue shortages in African countries, but they are helpful in the short- and medium-run. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the improving business climate in Africa as of May 2015. It is noted that foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa has increased to 57 billion dollars in 2013 from 2.8 billion in 1990 and a new generation of African business magnates serves as role models for citizens and government officials. Interconnected economic and political developments beginning in the early 1990s that contributed to improvements Africa's fortunes are also cited.

This paper examines the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the real exchange rate for low-income countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, using a panel data approach and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) method. The results show that while the depreciation of the real exchange rate draws more FDI to Sub-Saharan African countries, the real exchange rate volatility causes greater instability in FDI inflows to these countries. The results are robust across different measures and model specifications. In addition, we conclude that the use of the pegged exchange rate as an incentive to attract FDI inflow, in the presence of increasing real exchange rate instability, creates greater price instability, as a result, FDI inflows are largely influenced by the real exchange rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Despite some progress in the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa’s participation in the global economy remains generally limited and poorly diversified. Among the various reasons behind the lack of competitiveness of Sub-Saharan Africa exports, this paper analyzes whether changes in market access conditions affect export diversification. The findings of this paper indicate that market access conditions remain important and that the presence of trade relationships depends not only on favorable market access conditions but also on how these compare relative to foreign competitors. These results imply that freer trade within Sub-Saharan African countries could provide significant incentive to intra-regional trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay on the issues faced by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is presented. It examines the causes of economic regression with its reduced gross domestic product (GDP), and discusses arguments presented in literature on DRC. The author questions the failure of accumulation processes in producing capital consolidation, a ruling class that is economically powerful, and sustained national investment patterns, and diagnosis of growth stifled by market restrictions and free enterprise.

Sub-Saharan African countries face significant health challenges, with several countries still far from reaching the health-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The implication of this on economic growth and individual welfare is daunting. An important channel through which population health affects economic performance is labour supply and productivity. The objective of the study was to investigate a macro level relationship between population health status and labour force participation in sub-Saharan Africa. The study used panel data covering 46 countries from 1990 to 2011. A dynamic panel data model was estimated using the generalized method of moments. The results show that population health status (measured by life expectancy at birth) relates positively with labour force participation. The relationship was significant for total and female labour force participation. The findings call for improved population health status following the importance of labour force participation at the macro levels. Improved labour force contributes to the economic performance of a country at the macro level. Effective policy efforts should be directed towards providing facilities that will improve population health hence providing enough healthy time to participate in the labour force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents empirical evidence on how telecommunications infrastructure is related to economic growth in a panel dataset covering 44 African countries for the period from 1990 to 2010. A dynamic panel data approach model is employed, which suggests that telecommunications contribute in a major way to the economic development of the continent, after controlling for a number of other factors. Furthermore, the findings also show that investment in telecommunications is subject to increasing returns, demonstrating that an increase in telecommunications investment produces further growth. Therefore, telecommunications investment and services should be encouraged in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 1980s, many countries in Africa established national stock exchanges with a view to foster financial development and economic growth. This paper provides a survey and synthesis of the extant literature on the efficiency of African equity markets (AEMs). It explores the path of development of stock markets in Africa with an emphasis on their efficiency, trends in performance, and developmental challenges. We find that much of the research into the efficiency of AEMs has focused on weak-form efficiency and the results, though mixed, lean towards rejection of the weak-form efficiency. We also find that the empirical literature has ignored the role of behavioral biases in the analyses of market efficiency, and has treated efficiency as static over different stages of market development. Finally, considering the traditionally small size of most AEMs, increased harmonization and integration of the various national exchanges may improve the informational efficiency and depth of AEMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses panel data techniques to investigate the locational determinants of US outward foreign direct investment (FDI) into 23 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for 1996-2010. The findings revealed that US outward FDI into SSA is influenced by the availability of crude oil and natural gas, infrastructure development, market size and completion rates in primary education. Conversely, labor force (of those aged 15+) and inflation deter US FDI, while political instability, corruption, and the exchange rate have an insignificant negative relationship with US FDI. These findings suggest that US investors investing in SSA are significantly influenced by resource and market seeking factors but not by efficiency seeking factors. The study therefore suggests that credible policies for attracting US investors into SSA countries should be relentlessly pursued through education, training and skills acquisition, inflation targets, trade openness (especially in the natural resource sector), corruption control and political stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the economic recovery and reconstruction in Somalia. Topics include the importance of economic development on the country in response to social and political challenges, the impact of the development of the Federal Government on the recovery of the country, and challenges and threats faced by the country could affect its progress.

The article offers information on the Safer Corridor Initiative launched by the British and Somali governments which aims to provide solution on the challenges faced by financial services industry after Barclays Bank shuts down four Somali Money Service Businesses' (MSBs) accounts. Topics include the condition of the initiative in 2015, the challenges its faced since its launched in 2013, and the adaptation of the process by the money transfer sector.