Search

Background: The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a partnership of European and sub-Saharan African countries that aims to accelerate the development of medical interventions against poverty-related diseases (PRDs). A bibliometric analysis was conducted to 1) measure research output from European and African researchers on PRDs, 2) describe collaboration patterns, and 3) assess the citation impact of clinical research funded by EDCTP. Methodology/Principal Findings: Disease-specific research publications were identified in Thomson Reuters Web of Science using search terms in titles, abstracts and keywords. Publication data, including citation counts, were extracted for 2003–2011. Analyses including output, share of global papers, normalised citation impact (NCI), and geographical distribution are presented. Data are presented as five-year moving averages. European EDCTP member countries accounted for ~33% of global research output in PRDs and sub-Saharan African countries for ~10% (2007–2011). Both regions contributed more to the global research output in malaria (43.4% and 22.2%, respectively). The overall number of PRD papers from sub-Saharan Africa increased markedly (>47%) since 2003, particularly for HIV/AIDS (102%) and tuberculosis (TB) (81%), and principally involving Southern and East Africa. For 2007–2011, European and sub-Saharan African research collaboration on PRDs was highly cited compared with the world average (NCI in brackets): HIV/AIDS 1.62 (NCI: 1.16), TB 2.11 (NCI: 1.06), malaria 1.81 (NCI: 1.22), and neglected infectious diseases 1.34 (NCI: 0.97). The NCI of EDCTP-funded papers for 2003–2011 was exceptionally high for HIV/AIDS (3.24), TB (4.08) and HIV/TB co-infection (5.10) compared with global research benchmarks (1.14, 1.05 and 1.35, respectively). Conclusions: The volume and citation impact of papers from sub-Saharan Africa has increased since 2003, as has collaborative research between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. >90% of publications from EDCTP-funded research were published in high-impact journals and are highly cited. These findings corroborate the benefit of collaborative research on PRDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the relationship between human capital investment and economic growth in two sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya and South Africa). The paper applied a quantitative approach and secondary data were collected from the World Bank economic and education indicators from 1987 to 2016 (30 years). A cross sectional panel data arrangement gave a total of 60 observations and the fixed effect panel regression was applied using the Gretl econometrics package. The paper adds a nuance to previous methods and results by adding yearly time dummy in the model. Results show that investment in human capital is positively related to economic growth in the two sub-Saharan African countries. The paper highlights the significance results from time dummies, which shows that time is of essence in empirical analysis of this relationship and that investment in education would yield positive result on economic growth with timing considerations; this indicates that a waiting attitude is essential when investing in human capital. The paper recommends that economic policy makers should, in addition to universal primary education, commit more resources to secondary and university education to increase the stock of human capital in Africa as secondary and university education produce middle and high-level human capital. Improved policy that would fortify the colleges and universities in Africa would produce and retain quality human capital in Africa to spur economic growth. It also recommends that future research should consider the inclusion of yearly dummies when analysing the relationship between human capital investment and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on some of the systematic studies of migration in Africa. The causes and rationalization of migrations have been elaborated upon by geographers and economists in relation to agricultural, industrial-development and urbanization. The article includes works, methods and theories specific to African migrations including analytical models and techniques. It includes studies related to the causes and factors which sustain African migrations. It comprises works intended to show migration differentials, characteristics of migrants--age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational and occupational patterns. The article lists the effect of migration on the source areas and destinations. It includes issues related to depopulation, dislocation and adjustment to conditions created by migration. Some of the studies enlisted are "Migrant Urban Workers, and Rural Property Ownership: A Case Study of Migrants in Calabar, Nigeria," by E.M. Abasiekong; "Population Growth and Socio-economic Change in West Africa," edited by J.C. aldwell; and "Movement of Population from Rural to Urban Areas in Sierra Leone With Special Reference to the Colony Rural Areas," by G.R. Collings.

Whilst there is a rich body of literature linking globalization with economic disparities between rich and poor nations, there is very little situated understanding of causal links, if any, between globalization and health gaps between nations. Set against this background, this paper contributes to the empirical literature by investigating globalization as a channel of the health gap between countries in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Results from a dynamic panel data analysis show that globalization has statistically insignificant impact on the health gap between the OECD and SSA countries. Rather, economic and demographic structures, measured by the age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) and GDP per capita growth emerged as the main determinants of the health gap between SSA and OECD countries. The paper draws out some policy implications which may usefully impact programmes aimed at checking health inequities between developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Actual Online is the property of Asociacion de Historia Actual and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Information about several papers discussed at a symposium on the social and economic development in Africa is presented. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa has provided grants for research and a variety of national, regional, and transnational research programs and projects. Historian Yusuf Bangura discussed his ongoing research into ethnicity and democracy in Africa.

This paper investigates the outcome of the efforts to economically catch up during the so-called development era in French-speaking West Africa. An attempt is made to measure and discuss key elements of social capability over the period 1930–1980 in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal following Moses Abramovitz' interpretation of social capability. The paper distinguishes between four elements of social capability: degree of structural transformation, social and economic inclusion, the state's autonomy, and its accountability. We find that there was significant but uneven progress in social capability in both countries during the development era. Despite their differences in economic performance, both countries confronted fundamental shared challenges. Most notably, our analysis highlights how persistent lack of broad-based access to economic opportunities played a significant role in disrupting sustained economic and social progress in the two countries. This gives an opportunity to reflect on similarities and differences between the development era and the recent African growth phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism has grabbed the attention of the policy makers and politicians in Africa to bring about labour intensive jobs, economic growth and act as a catalyst for other industries. Although the tourism industry is sensitive to external conditions in terms of its performance and it is often referred to as a contributor to climate change (UNEP and WTO, 2005). With tourism growth as an almost certainty, tourism share of pollution will increase. Climate change remains a threat towards sustainability of the tourism sector globally, and has negative impacts at the destination area, which must be managed to improve the standard of living and quality of life for the host community. This paper identifies the immediate constraints to the tourism sector regarding climate change in the African continent by juxtaposing the benefits and the drawbacks poised by climate change. There is evidence on Africa.s reliance on the tourism industry. The mitigating, amicable and practical solutions on combating climate are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the connection between the history of colonial rule and postcolonial development in Africa. We focus on the fact that many African colonies were governed by indirect rule. Under indirect rule, indigenous people are divided into two groups: a privileged ruling group and an unprivileged ruled group. Our model assumes that the ruled group cannot observe how the resources appropriated from them are divided between the colonial ruler and the ruling group. In this economy, excessive exploitation by the colonial ruler creates distrust among indigenous groups and a negative effect on postcolonial economic and political development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sources cited within this issue are presented including "Building institutions in post-conflict African economies," by J. Aron, "Grass-roots justice in Tanzania," by Borgerhoof Mulder, and "The politics of bureau reform in sub-Saharan Africa," by J.C. Caulfield.

This article offers a diagnosis of the persistence of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and outlines a long-run program of assistance to promote sustained development. In particular, this paper focuses on the tropical sub-Saharan African countries with populations of at least 2 million people in 2001. Africa's development crisis is unique. Not only is Africa the poorest region in the world, but it was also the only major developing region with negative growth in income per capita during 1980-2000. Africa is suffering from a governance crisis. With highly visible examples of profoundly poor governance, for example in Zimbabwe, and widespread war and violence, as in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, the impression of a continent-wide governance crisis is understandable. Specifically, Africa's extreme poverty leads to low national saving rates, which in turn lead to low or negative economic growth rates. Low domestic saving is not offset by large inflows of private foreign capital, for example foreign direct investment, because Africa's poor infrastructure and weak human capital discourage such inflows. With very low domestic saving and low rates of market-based foreign capital inflows, there is little in Africa's current dynamics that promotes a solution against poverty.

This paper examines the relationship between individuals' experience of corruption and their anxiety using microeconomic data from the Afrobarometer surveys. The results show a statistically significant and economically meaningful relationship in probit models using both an experience of corruption index and a simple dummy variable. Having to pay a bribe to obtain documents and permits, to avoid problems with the police or to access medical care are the scenarios in which this relationship is strongest. Some evidence is presented that an individual needs to experience such corruption more than 'once or twice' for these relationships to become evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stabilization seeks to achieve internal and external equilibrium that is, to control the demand side of the economy, with the purpose of reducing size of government, inflation and quickly achieving a sustainable balance of payment position. In this paper, I investigated the impacts of HIPC initiative and debt relief on economic growth and economic stability in Africa. I also identify the determinants of economic performance using the World Bank data for the period 1990–2015 with 5-year panels. The results show that this initiative causes economic instability in Africa. The results also indicate that the long run effect of debt relief on economic growth is positive but in the short run debt relief has no significant effect on GDP per capita growth. However, in both the short run and the long run, debt relief reduces external balance on goods and services deficit and has no effect on inflation. The main determinants of economic performance in Africa are control of corruption, political stability, regulatory quality and education. In this perspective, governments of African countries should promote good governance, educate their population and revise trade agreements to provide insurance for economic growth and economic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that manufacturing is still important for structural transformation in Africa. Despite failing to industrialize in the past, there may be a new window of opportunity emerging. This is due to the convergence of what have been called "brilliant" new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and a resurgence of start-up entrepreneurship. In this light, this paper (i) shows why manufacturing is vital for African economies; (ii) critically analyzes the nature and impact-both in terms of opportunities and risks--of the new technologies associated with 4IR for Africa; (iii) describes the resurgence of tech start-up entrepreneurship in Africa, and; (iv) calls for policy support in the form of complementary investments and regulations to allow entrepreneurs to maximize opportunities and to minimize threats. The paper shows that a new narrative for African manufacturing is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the world that is most severely affected by HIV/AIDS. Yet, surveys of attitudes to AIDS across African countries show that voters do not attach great importance to the issue. This paper argues that the low salience of AIDS is in large part a result of the widespread poverty that exists on the continent, which means that AIDS is crowded out by other issues. Using multilevel regressions, results from four waves of survey data support the hypothesis that poverty significantly affects the salience of AIDS as a political issue at the individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper addresses the changes on one of the largest continents, Africa, in aspect of transport systems and the economy. The African Union is a chance to integrate this area from many points of view. Infrastructure, the economic grow rate and transport development were also analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land, water, sun, infrastructure, capital and know-how are needed for any agricultural development. Sub-Saharan Africa has immense natural resources, though often not immediately available altogether in the same place, but is generally short of the other inputs. That is why a public-private partnership can be an effective approach to deal the projects with modern agricultural development: public partner provides land, most of the infrastructure and finance; private partners provide the intensive farming practice, processing know-how and part of the equity. Financial analysis of lower and higher capital demanding scenarios and testing of the impact of changes in the critical drivers of costs and revenues shown that a combination of staple crops and cash crops can be found to balance national food security policy targets and financial appeal for private partners in a mutually satisfactory venture capital. The effect of environmental and infrastructural constraints was also considered, showing how likely-to-happen threats on the side of the implementation of the project may turn into challenging opportunity to climb the agribusiness value chain upward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How much do countries in Africa benefit from their neighbours' growth? This paper shows that neighbouring growth increases a country's 'foreign market access' (FMA)--boosting export demand and increasing local output. Using luminosity data to exploit within-country variation, I find that between 1992 and 2012 domestic output responded to increases in FMA with an elasticity in the range 0.3 to 0.6. By reducing trade costs, countries can increase their FMA, and so increase the spillover of neighbouring growth into domestic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth and poverty reduction now take the centre stage in most global policy discourse. This is coming at a time that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are fast gaining global relevance. Africa has witnessed the highest but non-inclusive level of growth in the last decade because the continent still grapples with high unemployment rate especially among the youths. This paper therefore examines some drivers of and constraints to growth and poverty reduction in Africa. The paper focused on Africa by using secondary data sourced from different such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Transparency International (TI), Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports and Annual Abstract of Statistics. Analytical methods employed were mainly descriptive statistics and comparative statistics. Findings showed that economic growth recorded in the continent is a 'jobless' one advancing inequality and poverty. More so, 75 percent of countries with low human development are in Africa with the continent's consistent economic growth imparting insignificantly on the livelihoods of the people. In fact, 27 out of 54 African countries were reported to have GDP of less than $USD 2000 per capita. GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa was estimated at 4.9 percent in 2013 and this increased to 5.3 percent in 2014 and further estimated to rise to 5.5 percent in 2015. The fight against inequality, poverty and unemployment is tantamount to aiming a moving target. Youth unemployment remains a component of Africa's growth owing to persistent low productivity and underemployment in the informal sector. The resultant implication of this is manifested through persistent inequality, poverty, armed conflict and unchecked migration of young people to industrialised nations in search of the non-existing livelihood opportunities. This paper therefore recommends increased and monitored investments in critical infrastructural facilities. There is a need for multilevel and multinational partnership in the fight against corruption and social conflict to attract foreign direct investment. Investment in social security programmes will also assist the poor and vulnerable people in the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse long-term trends in the development of Africa's economic infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach - The importance of infrastructure was examined in social and economic processes, followed by an exploration of the changing nature of infrastructure and its implications for delivery. The paper looked at the development of infrastructure in Africa by focusing on what was inherited at independence versus what had been achieved there since and why this was the case. Findings - The development challenges are immense because delivery of infrastructure requires much more than financial resources - it requires the capacity to deliver massive, complex projects in an efficient manner. It is clear that African states do not possess this level of capacity but this can still be delivered through innovative public-private partnerships, global cooperation, and the support of international institutions. Practical implications - Improving Africa's infrastructure is a necessary but not sufficient condition to promote economic development and attract investment back to the continent. Originality/value - The author assesses what needs to be done to ensure the massive infrastructure delivery required for the continent, which is estimated at 6 percent of output, and the innovation required for such a programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa's economy grew rapidly from 2004 to 2008, driven largely by Asian investment and trade. Much of this activity has been in primary commodities, but Asianowned manufacturing and other businesses in Africa, despite growing rapidly, have received very little attention. Using survey research and other primary and secondary data, this paper investigates the nature and impacts of Asian businesses in Zambia to interrogate whether their developmental impacts are inclusive or exclusionary. It then moves to assess the likely impact of the current global slowdown and how it will affect Sino-Zambian economic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies and evaluates the progress of economic integration in Africa. It analyzes the reasons for slow implementation of economic integration policies in the past twenty years. The piece also examines current levels of regional integration. It concludes by exploring key prospects and challenges for African regional economic integration in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explaining cross-country differences in growth rates requires not only an understanding of the link between growth and public policies, but also an understanding of why countries choose different public policies. This paper shows that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial systems, distorted foreign exchange markets, high government deficits, and insufficient infrastructure. Africa's high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large body of research on foreign direct investment, domestic savings, domestic investment and economic growth, little has been done to investigate the relationships among them. This paper examines the relationships among foreign direct investment, domestic savings, domestic investment, and economic growth in 16 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1981 to 2011, using various techniques. The results of VAR estimation and Granger causality tests demonstrate that there is a unidirectional causality from foreign investment to growth and domestic investment, savings to growth, and a bidirectional causality between growth and domestic investment as well as savings and domestic investment. The results of the variance decomposition analysis reveal that foreign investment exerts more influence on growth. Savings are more important in explaining domestic investment, growth is more important in explaining foreign investment, and domestic investment is more important in explaining savings. Based on the results of the impulse response analysis, there is a positive unidirectional causality from foreign investment to growth and domestic investment, savings to growth, and a positive bidirectional causality between savings and domestic investment, both in the short and long-run. Although there is feedback causality between domestic investment and growth, the impact from investment is negative in the short-run and positive in the long-run. Thus, policies that encourage foreign investment and savings are required to boost domestic investment and promote growth, and policies that raise domestic investment will lead to higher savings and growth in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an instrumental variables approach to estimate the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instrumental variables estimates show that economic growth has a significant negative contemporaneous effect on trade openness, while trade openness has a significant positive effect on economic growth. A 1 percentage point increase in the ratio of trade over GDP is associated with a short-run increase in growth of approximately 0.5% in a given year; the cumulative long-run effect on the level of GDP per capita is larger, reaching about 2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast-growing of the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries over the past decade highlight that successful economic integration can assume many forms, instead of standard patterns. In this sense, this paper provides empirical evidence of the vulnerability of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and Cape Verde, that adopted fixed exchange rate regimes. For this reason, we developed a global vector autoregressive GVAR model, a data shrinkage procedure, where large sets of variables are reduced to a small set of factors. It allows describing systems of higher dimensional complexities and simulating shocks in a cross-regional approach with the use of common factors. First, we specified and identified a weight matrix for the selected countries, used to reproduce this policy framework, conditioning the parameters to an interdependent trading structure. Next, a variety of tests were estimated, e.g., stationarity, structural break tests and exogeneity tests. We use the generalized impulse response functions to simulate shocks originating from European Monetary Union (EMU), China and the United States (US) on GDP, the CPI, the interest rate and the exchange rate of the SSA countries. Our results were also controlled by the productivity structures of the countries, characterized as agricultural-exporting, commodity-importing, commodity-exporting, and trading based types. In decreasing order of magnitude, shocks originating from Europe (-0.94%), China (-0.73%) and the US (-0.25%) led to a persistent decrease in the GDP and to depreciation of the exchange rate of the region. However, they were not significant for inflation. Shocks in interest rates suggest passive monetary policy. While our empirical evidence does not indicate distinct effects of shocks emanating from the economy-type structures, it points out that these structures are clearly vulnerable to external shocks. To reduce uncertainties and transaction costs from the EMU, SSA countries may consider gradually abandoning the fixed exchange rate regime with the Euro in the medium term and anticipate the development of new multilateral trade agreements. In the long term, it is highly indicated that these countries invest in export diversification and structural transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic investment and the role of local conditions. Local conditions determine the extent to which host countries can absorb and hence benefit from FDI. We assess conditions under which FDI is likely to be beneficial or inimical to development in Africa. We apply the fixed effects and the two-step system GMM estimation techniques for 48 African economies from 1980 to 2016. We use gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) as a percentage of GDP as a proxy for domestic investment (DI) as our dependent variable. We use the following control variables: growth rate in real GDP (RGDP); savings as a percentage of GDP; and inflation. We also control for openness, financial sector development and institutional quality. We use annual data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI), the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics, the UNCTAD database and the Freedom House database. We find that there is a negative relationship between FDI and domestic investment, suggesting that FDI has a crowding-out effect. The negative association may also imply that countries with lower domestic investment attract more FDI because there are more domestically unsatisfied opportunities for foreign investors. However, the negative relationship between FDI and domestic investment does not necessarily imply that FDI has no benefits. It could as well be that the positive benefits from FDI in Africa may be as a result of an increase in total factor productivity (TFP) which more than compensates for the decline in domestic investment. The study also finds that improved institutions and trade openness mitigate the negative effect of FDI on domestic investment while financial market development exacerbates the negative effect. Policy efforts aimed at attracting FDI should be balanced with the imperative of strengthening institutions and domestic firms. A number of scholars have shown that that even in those countries where FDI has been more productive, domestic investment is more effective than FDI in promoting growth. Investment incentives should therefore not discriminate against domestic investors. Market regulations to dismantle the monopolistic tendencies of some foreign investors must be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of African Political Economy is the property of Review of Political Economy (ROAPE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the role of economic transformation in the form of increased manufacturing share in aggregate output in accelerating growth and reducing growth volatility in Africa. Using cross-section time series data from 50 African countries, the paper examines the key determinants of growth in the share of manufacturing output in aggregate output and its relationship with real GDP growth and growth volatility. Results of system GMM estimation indicate that real GDP growth and domestic investment are among the key drivers of growth in the share of manufacturing output in total output and that growth in the latter has, in turn, the potential to raise GDP growth and reduce growth volatility. It is therefore argued that African countries should pursue effective strategies, including industrial policies and institutional reforms, to promote manufacturing and other innovative activities as a means to accelerate economic growth and diversification, and enhance employment creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though a common EU-African agenda of dealing with migration goes back at least a decade with bilateral, regional and continental approaches, it has gained in visible importance in recent years. But what are the actual approaches and does the rhetoric they evoke speak to their actual practice? Unpacking 76 policy documents relating to the governance of migration from African and European institutions between 2005 and 2016, the paper finds that the rhetoric is diverting in itself (both managing and controlling mobility) but also surprisingly similar. There is however a pronounced difference between a management-orientated discourse and the restriction-orientated practice. This is likely tied to hidden agendas: for the EU moving migration controls away from Europe's borders to the African continent, whilst simultaneously strengthening the rhetorical EU-African partnership. The rhetorical mirroring in African documents may also be an attempt by African states to achieve leverage in an otherwise asymmetric relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 15 years, economists and economic historians have argued that Africa has undergone a ''reversal of fortune'' and that ethnic fragmentation is a significant cause of Africa's underdevelopment. In this article, we join these narratives by arguing that the transatlantic slave trade increased the degree of ethnic heterogeneity in Africa today. Using both correlational and causal instrumental variables analysis, we find an economically and statistically significant positive relationship between slave exports and ethnic heterogeneity. This relationship is robust to changes in the scheme for drawing ethnic boundaries and the choice of observational unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The percentage share of emerging markets and developing economies to global GDP growth amounted to 50.2% in 2010. This figure is expected to increase to 60% by 2020. Africa is the fastest growing region in the world after Asia. Yet, with the exception of petroleum and mining interests, scant attention is shown by western firms to the region, largely on account of continued negative perceptions high political volatility. The rising interest shown to Africa as a potentially attractive destination for foreign direct investments is largely due to the growing engagement of emerging Asia with countries in the region. Western firms generally have very limited knowledge and understanding about the current investment climate and the major institutional reforms that have taken place across the continent over the past decade. This impedes them from recognizing new business opportunities and to identify strategies to mitigate risks. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to recent reforms in Africa and to highlight the opportunities and challenges they offer to foreign investors as well as to African leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies the consequences of fragility in African states but with more focus on countries in the Greater Lakes region. Such countries constitute a development challenge given their enormous needs and difficulties associated with implementation of recovery and development programmes. Although there is no universally agreed definition of fragility, this study pays much attention to both national conflicts and those with a regional bearing. Given the scale and frequency of these conflicts, Africa has witnessed the destruction of institutions, infrastructures and systems which have impacted negatively on the growth of economies. The article reviews the causes and analyses the consequences of fragility and the conclusions are that the causes range from historical perspectives, social to economic. Similarly, the consequences not only include the destruction of human capital, institutions and infrastructures, but also the erosion of good governance and accountability. This article also emphasises the principles for engagement in the stabilisation, recovery and development programmes, but most important is the reorganisation of capacity constraints and political will as well as aligning interventions with local priorities and systems. The article concludes that provision of recovery and development programmes should be integrated within the local programmes for ownership and sustainability in such engagements and financing mechanisms should be aligned within the existing framework for efficiency and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocal actors within policy and practice contend that environmental variability and shocks, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, drive civil wars in Africa. Recently, a widely publicized scientific article appears to substantiate this'claim. This paper investigates the empirical foundation for the claimed relationship in detail. Using a host of different model specifications and alternative measures of drought, heat, and civil war, the paper concludes that climate variability is a poor predictor of armed conflict. Instead, African civil wars can be explained by generic structural and contextual conditions: prevalent ethno-political exclusion, poor national economy, and the collapse of the Cold War system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to and use of mobile telephony in sub-Saharan Africa has increased dramatically over the past decade. Mobile telephony has brought new possibilities to the continent. Across urban–rural and rich–poor divides, mobile phones connect individuals to individuals, information, markets, and services. These effects can be particularly dramatic in rural Africa, where in many places mobile phones have represented the first modern telecommunications infrastructure of any kind. Mobile phones have greatly reduced communication costs, thereby allowing individuals and firms to send and to obtain information quickly and cheaply on a variety of economic, social, and political topics. An emerging body of research shows that the reduction in communication costs associated with mobile phones has tangible economic benefits, improving agricultural and labor market efficiency and producer and consumer welfare in specific circumstances and countries. This paper first examines the evolution of mobile phone coverage and adoption in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade. We then explore the main channels through which mobile phones can effect economic outcomes and appraise current evidence of its potential to improve economic development. We conclude with directions for future research and outline the necessary conditions for mobile phones to promote broader economic development in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on several papers which provide arguments on economic development in Africa. Fantu Cheru focuses on the crisis in the post-1945 economic order and its free market dogma which reveals the hollowness of the first world development models that African countries are required to emulate. Aili Mari deals on the union of development and human rights discourses during the post-Cold War into a new rights-based approach which center on economic, social and cultural rights. James Mittelman contends that Washington Consensus, which separate economic reform from social policy, has been discredited.

This paper analyses the effect of foreign aid on population growth and human capital accumulation. Consistent with empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa, the model shows that foreign aid can work against its stated goal of alleviating poverty and promoting growth. Humanitarian aid fosters population growth and adversely affects the recipients' incentive to invest in human capital. The analysis suggests that foreign aid may lock a recipient economy in a low-equilibrium trap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on manufacturing exports in four Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries. The sensitivity of merchandise exports, manufacturing exports, and the share of manufacturing exports in total merchandise exports to two measures of FDI activity is tested using panel data spanning 1975-2003. The findings suggest that FDI activity positively affects the host country's merchandise and manufacturing exports. Nevertheless, FDI activity is still short of generating any increase in the share of manufacturing exports in merchandise exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context/Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by an extraordinary diversification of living arrangements. It is a debatable question whether these features are evolving alongside the deep economic and social changes observed in the past few decades. Despite numerous studies on family changes and their effects, very few analyses consider different ethnic and geographical contexts. Data Source and Methods: The paper observe the interaction between modernization and cultural heritage in shaping living arrangements in 10 sub-Saharan countries and in 38 ethnic groups. A temporal perspective has been adopted, comparing two successive DHS carried out between 1990 and 2013. Stratifying by ethnic groups and rural/urban contexts, factor analysis and hierarchical classification analysis investigate how living arrangements combine with fertility levels and socio-economic characteristics. Findings: The results support the large heterogeneity of living arrangements and the increase of new family forms, rather than the existence of a convergence process on a single nuclear family pattern. Ethnic background is confirmed a valid interpretative key, necessary to understand the cultural substrate in which the modernization factors brought by globalization act. Conclusion: National governments should develop and implement family policies that can raise the wellbeing of the emerging family models. In particular, family policies should support households in providing care and economic, material, psychological and affective support for their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is undergoing several major transitions, including demographic, economic, technological, urban and socio-political. These transitions are all connected, and together they will shape the future of the continent. Looking to the future, Africa's overall story reveals a positive trend. Yet this trend is neither stable nor even. Things are getting better in some places, but not everywhere, not for everybody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, economic development has been slow in most of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 1981). In the middle of the 1970s when the world economy experienced inflation and recession, no where did the crises hit with greater impact than in Sub-Saharan Africa. This region shows slow overall economic growth, sluggish agricultural performance, rapid rates of population increase, and a balance of payment crises. Between 1960 and 1979, per capita income in 19 countries grew by less than 1% per annum. During the last decade 15 countries recorded a negative rate of income growth per capita (World Bank, 1981). The economic state of the oil exporting countries (Angola, Congo and Nigeria) in Sub-Saharan Africa is not any different. The average annual growth rate of GNP per capita from 1960-1979 shows Angola at -2.1%, Congo at 0.9% and Nigeria at 3.7%. Using Nigeria as a case study, this paper postulates that since over 80% of the total revenue yield in foreign exchange comes from crude petroleum export alone, it has become urgent to ensure; (a) that the techniques in oil technology are acquired by Nigerians so as to conserve the foreign exchange cost arising from foreign personnel drawings, such as salaries and perquisites; (b) that Nigerians become immersed in the techniques of oil technology in order to make maximum use of the by-products of crude oil in a conscious exploitation of the industry's potential directed towards the economic development of Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on economic growth of developing countries. In discussing the growth and trade performance of three underdeveloped areas, the authors differ in mood, but not in conclusion. They all tell that no ways of identifying incremental as wholly distinct from established comparative advantage have as yet been discovered. In Brazil, industrialization based essentially on import substitution has been a big success, and if new export flows have failed to materialize, this is wholly the fault of protection in the older industrial countries. In India, where the impact of industrialization on the economy as a whole has been smaller than in Brazil, the failure to develop new exports cannot be dismissed quite so easily since India pioneered among underdeveloped countries in exporting manufactures and, in discussions of new patterns of international trade, her potential comparative advantage in steel, for example, had been frequently and hopefully pointed out. In Africa, finally, the road to economic development via import-substituting industrialization is less appealing than it had seemed elsewhere a decade or a generation ago, both because of intrinsic characteristics of most of the African economies and because one would like to do better than some countries that have run into trouble precisely by following that road.

Africa is losing approximately 27,000 elephants a year to a poaching epidemic driven predominantly by demand for ivory in East Asia. In response, the U.S. and China agreed to implement domestic ivory trade bans to complement the international trade ban. The U.S. executed this agreement on 6 July 2016. Chinese authorities announced, on 30 December 2016, that they would end the domestic ivory trade by 31 December 2017. This paper accepts that a large volume of ivory entering China illegally is being stockpiled for speculative purposes. It sketches several scenarios of how ivory speculators, as important interlocutors between supply and final demand, might respond to this domestic ban. We conclude that the optimal elephant conservation policy approach would be for Chinese authorities to provide more specific details about the scope of the ban and how it will deal with stockpiled ivory. Our game theoretic analysis suggests that the ban should be imposed indefinitely; this should be explicitly stipulated to avoid uncertainty and continued speculation. The introduction of any possibility of a future regulated trade will create strong incentives for speculators to bank on elephant extinction, and maximise poaching effort in the short run. [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]

Subsequent to the floating of the US dollar in 1973, liberalization of capital flows and the associated exponential growth of cross-border financial transactions during the last three decades, important volatility and uncertainty has been seen in exchange rates (Arize, 1998). Academicians, policy makers, researchers and economists have always raised eyebrows with regards to the potential impact of exchange rate volatility on trade. Taking into account the foregoing, recent volatility in world known currencies and given that African countries rely heavily on manufacturing trade for their survival, this paper analyses the impact of exchange rate volatility on manufacturing trade in a sample of 18i African countries spanning the period 1995-2012 using an import-export model and dynamic panel data econometrics. As measures of exchange rate volatility, the Z score and EGARCH as employed. In a dynamic setting, contrary to what static results suggest, random coefficient estimates reveal that both REER and its volatility are statistically significant in explaining real manufacturing imports and exports using both measures of exchange rate volatility. However, foreign income, contrary to the law of income elasticity of demand is inelastic in explaining the exports. When VaR estimation is employed, however, only when EGARCH is employed, does exchange rate volatility adversely affect real manufacturing imports and exports. The negative impact of exchange rate volatility on manufacturing exports means that the governments of the African states should look for policies to stabilize their external trade position. As the results, the African economies should seek the help of developed and emerging nations in developing their financial markets, more explicitly well-developed hedging instruments and markets. In the same vein, governments should come up with the necessary policies to promote the introduction of institutions to provide such services. The results of the study also have important insights to offer in terms of government macroeconomic policies to stabilise external trade in the African countries such as diversification of markets and payment alternatives and on a regional scene to start thinking about a regional currency pegged to a major world currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's economic participation has recently been at the centre of the debate on sustainable development. It is a widely held view that women have a strategic role in poverty reduction dynamics. The argument is that when women have equal access to education and full participation in business and economic decision-making, they are a significant driving force against poverty. Women economic empowerment increases earning power which in its turn raises household incomes while reducing fertility rates that triggers the population transition dynamics. This is eventually translated into well-being of children, reducing poverty of future generations. In fact currently World Bank Strategy to empower women among others includes the need to increase investment in women's health. Recognising this issue, SADC region has developed a number of gender based health polices which are in line with regional and international commitments. As a result one of the key indicators of development in the region is now the state of women's health. However overall health status has been an issue in SADC region, mostly due to HIV/AIDS infections and Tuberculosis. Globally SADC has the highest level of HIV prevalence and the most affected social group is women, between 15 and 24 years of age. Furthermore the review of literature indicates that much of what is known about the effects of health by gender in this region has been descriptive in nature. No previous study has empirically investigated the nature of these effects in this region. This chapter aims to fill this gap. This paper empirically investigates the link between improvements on health disaggregated by gender on productivity and hence economic growth in the SADC region between 1970 and 2010. Health improvement is measured by life expectancy and economic growth is measured by real GDP per capita at 2005 constant prices and data is taken from the WDI and PWT. Using Fixed Effect (FE) the findings presented in this analysis suggests that improvements in both female and male health can significantly improve economic growth in this region. However an increase in male health significantly raises economic growth greater than that of females. These effects are robust to changes in model specification. These findings may reflect women's higher morbidity rates in the region compared to men in this region that might affect productivity. They also may reflect inequalities in accessing education or formal paid work that is required to trigger the population transition dynamics and eventually economic growth. These results imply the need of some policy adjustment in order to align all SADC gender policies particularly in education, employment and improvements in health in order to capitalize on the benefits of improvements on female health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries have relied on foreign direct investment as a primary means to acquire technologies. However, there has been inadequate empirical research on the nexus between foreign direct investment and the transfer of environmentally sound technology (EST), specifically focused on African countries. In this paper I explore whether inward foreign direct investment in Angola's energy sector has indeed transferred ESTs. My study encompasses illustrative case studies specifically related to energy firms, and the data were drawn from literature and in-depth individual interviews. The results indicate that Angola has used its national policy framework and institutions to promote inward foreign direct investment, and has harnessed appropriate international regimes to acquire ESTs. Countries may therefore invoke sovereignty principles enshrined in constitutional provisions, or may utilise international regimes to attract ESTs through foreign direct investment. I recommend that further studies be conducted to explore this subject area, drawing examples from other African countries and differing economic sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) assumes the absence of asymmetric information in trading activities in a typical stock market. The EMH has been tested extensively in the developed market economy with mixed results, but very little contribution has been made on the subject matter in developing market economy because of the presence of asymmetric information, institutional constraints and poor data collection method. Validating the hypotheses for the African economy has remained of great interest to researchers and investors given the repeated emphasis on the African economy as the next frontier of economic growth. Issues surrounding the EMH in developing economy rest on the possibility of exploiting the stock market to make quick returns. The validity of this statement remains to be tested empirically for the developing market economy. This paper investigates the EMH for a major developing African economy-Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa and the second financial hob in Africa, next only to South Africa. The study seeks to test the efficiency of the Nigerian stock market, using a wavelet unit root test with different lags and other traditional random walk testing procedure. The use of the wavelet unit root test entails the decomposition of the variance of the time series stochastic process into the variance in its high and low-frequency series. The study made use of monthly average stock price index of the Nigeria Stock Market over the sample period 1985 to 2015 to carry out the test. The result obtained from the wavelet-based unit root tests showed clear and conclusive evidence that the Nigerian Stock Market follows the random walk behavior during the period of the study and that the Nigerian Stock Market is efficient. In other words, stock prices fully reflect all the available information existing in the market and investors, armed with the trading rules, cannot exploit the market to earn extraordinary returns. This has vital implications for speculators, investors and rentseekers hoping to capitalize on the unstructured nature of a typical developing market economy to make quick wins. Since the Nigerian Stock Market is efficient, investors should desist from futile attempts to forecast long-run share prices with the hope of making a quick, sustained win in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of studies have attempted to discern the causes of low productivity and slow growth in developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The effects of global economic integration, corruption, geography, financial aid and human capital indicators such as education have been widely explored. Despite the significant contribution of common mental disorders (CMDs) to poverty and to the burden of disease, mainstream growth analyses have not yet integrated the body of scholarship that identifies the linkages between CMDs and growth. There are potential benefits of prioritising CMDs in development strategies but there are several challenges. Among the greatest challenges is patchy mental health record. Poor data hinders the conceptualisation and the analyses of the effect of common mental disorders on economic growth and development. This paper explores the theoretical and empirical macro-growth effects of CMDs in sub-Saharan Africa. Preliminary theorizing and evidence suggest that improvement in CMDs is likely to be a stimulus to growth in SSA. We explore further the performance of a non-psychometric instrument known as the K-6 as a cost-effective instrument with which to measure community mental health in household surveys across populations that have various levels of infrastructure and literacy. The K-6 instrument which is a semi-structured questionnaire includes six non-specific psychometric items measuring negative affective states or psychological distress. We also collect socioeconomic data during the survey which enabled us to study the determinants of common mental health conditions among urban and rural households in Ghana. Urban and rural communities were analysed separately because they may demonstrate different determinants of CMDs. We report the outcome of the simple non-psychometric survey as well as the results from logistic regressions showing the factors that affect common mental disorders among the survey respondents. The results show that both urban and rural groups experienced diminished mental health during the food and fuel price hikes of 2008 and 2009, and from the global financial crises over the same period, compared with those who reported no mental distress. The coefficients from the logistic regression estimated by the maximum likelihood show spatial variations in mental health indicators by age, education, and per capita income. For this study, gender did not appear to be a good predictor of any of the specific psychological distress measures assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]