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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 COVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravish the world economies and snatch lives of millions of people across the world has without a doubt exacerbated the already fragile over-indebtedness of many countries globally, more especially in Africa. South Africa was used as a case study to better understand the International Financial Institutions and debtor countries nexus through the prisms of Sankarian Thought and philosophy concerning debt and loans. This was because South Africa had not borrowed money from the twin IFIs, IMF and the World Bank, for many years until recently when the pandemic struck the world. It is useful to understand why the multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and others had to be the last resort in the fight against this pandemic by the South African government. The role of these two main predators that have since flag independence of Africa been the engineers and custodians of debt neo-enslavement of African countries is the common thread in this article. As Sankara argued and was eventually assassinated for, in part, lobbying African States to form a united front in repudiating illegitimate debt, the solution to the African development challenge does not lie in acquiring more aid and loans. It lies in harnessing their own resources and optimally using them to uplift the lives of their people ethically, and that is the only way Africa would eventually be able to call its soul its own. Amongst others, the paper found that a strong case can be made by many African countries for repudiation of odious debt, however, the same cannot be argued for South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International staffing policies and practices of Chinese enterprises in Africa have given rise to a number of observations, critical comments, empirical support and rebuttals. One of the areas of research and critique has been the implications of the staffing policies and practices for knowledge and skills transfer to their African hosts. The availability of local skills and talent as constraints to change employment practices by Chinese enterprises has also received attention of researchers. We argue that the dominant international staffing models and theories are inadequate for a comprehensive understanding and critiquing of staffing practices of Chinese MNEs in Africa. Therefore, this paper adopted Zoogah, D. B., Peng, M. W., and Woldu, H. (2015a. Institutions, Resources, and Organizational Effectiveness in Africa. Academy of Management Perspectives, 29(1), 7–31) dynamic African business environment context to interrogate the utility of the dominant international staffing models and theories in order to understand and explain Chinese staffing policies and practices in Africa. The paper also used Chinese Multinational Construction Enterprises (CCMNEs) as a lens through which to examine the relevance of the African context. The paper advances a series of questions to guide future research. We argue that if pursued, the questions can help further our understanding of why the staffing policies and practices of multinational companies from emerging economies in Africa might focus on recruiting PCNs and the casualization of African workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is situated within the growing debate on how the domestic economic policies of developed countries condition that of the developing countries through the mechanism of international trade relations under the auspices of the WTO. Using the framework of the dependency theory I shall examine the economic impact of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Africa with critical attention on the agricultural sector of the former, drawing empirical evidence from the present situation in Senegal. This answered the overarching question: How does the EU CAP affect the economies of Africa in general and Senegal in particular? The empirical evidence from Senegal's experience presented in this paper revealed that CAP negatively affects the economic growth of Africa through the suffocation of its agricultural sector as a result of its distortion of the domestic price and the inability of local farmers to produce at a price that can compete equally with the heavily subsidized imported alternatives from the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Sub-Saharan African countries have adopted policies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and policies to stimulate the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). While a significant body of literature exists analyzing how these objectives can be mutually reinforcing, the negative interplay between these policies remains relatively unexplored. This paper examines whether, and in what circumstances, investment incentives could undermine SME competitiveness and, conversely, whether policies aiming to promote SMEs through encouraging FDI-SME linkages could impede FDI. This paper demonstrates that, absent a comprehensive approach to policy making, tensions invariably arise between investment incentives and SME promotion policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contends that Africa remains behind other continents with regards to human development and other related measures of socio-economic development. It questions the celebrated economic growth in African countries and posits that there has actually not been much progress in Africa and that the continent might have regressed. The narrative that 'Africa is rising' ignores the ongoing global economic meltdown which has had a negative impact on the growth of African economies. Most importantly, the majority of those countries which managed to achieve higher growth levels suffer from high levels of socio-economic and political hardship, which is reflected in endemic poverty, struggles for daily existence, economic and social inequalities as well as various cleavages. The paper concludes that further improvements on the policy environment in the African continent would go a long way towards inclusive development. It recommends that African countries should ensure that growth is sustainable and could translate into welfare improvements, and that African countries should adapt the developmental state framework that could guarantee that African countries further develop socially and economically. The lasting solution to Africa's socio-economic problems could, however, be found in a new or different socio-economic development approach/model - proposed in the paper - that is informed by an African economic renaissance paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper empirically examines the growth effects of stabilisation funds and fiscal rules in oil‐rich African countries, using Nigeria as a case study. The analysis captures the ‘international standard’ of the two fiscal instruments by empirically comparing the effects of Nigerian instruments with those of non‐African oil‐exporting countries (i.e. Norway and Mexico). The results show that the fiscal instruments are effective in Nigeria and that the effectiveness is comparable to that of non‐African economies, implying that the Nigerian instruments meet ‘international standard’. The paper also discusses the development policy implications of the results, one of which is that the fiscal instruments can be used to control risky behaviours of economic agents in oil‐rich African economies. For example, since the instruments are effective in increasing growth (i.e. real GDP growth) and limiting its volatility, they can be employed to control increases in demand for and supply of risky sex caused by increases in real per capita income during oil booms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The study of the link between debt and growth has been full of debates, both in theory and empirics. However, there is a growing consensus that the relationship is sensitive to the level of debt. The purpose of this paper is to address the question of non-linearity in the long-term relationship between public debt and economic growth. Specifically, the author set out to test if there exists an established “laffer curve” type relationship, where debt contributes to economic growth up to a certain point (maximal threshold) and then starts to have a negative effect on growth afterwards. Design/methodology/approach – To carry out the tests, the author has used a methodology that delivers a superior test of inverse U-shapes (Lind and Mehlum, 2010), in addition to the traditional test based on a regression with a quadratic specification. Findings – The results in the paper present evidence of a bell-shaped relationship between economic growth and total public debt in a panel of low-income Sub-Saharan African economies. This supports the hypothesis that debt has some positive contribution to economic growth in low-income countries, albeit up to a point. Practical implications – The overall result supports the claim that public debt may start to be a drag on economic growth if it goes on increasing beyond the level where it would be sustainable. Originality/value – This paper leads the way by implementing a robust test of non-linearity (“inverse-U” test) to the analyses the debt-growth nexus and the laffer curve in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper asks how comprehensive and holistic is the World Bank's current development model, also known as the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), in Africa? By comprehensive and holistic, I am referring to whether the framework has the ability to capture the sources of all impediments to progress in different African contexts and offer corresponding solutions. I argue that the CDF is myopic and hackneyed. Not only does the World Bank employ the same neoliberal logic that informed structural adjustments, but it also continues to miss crucial non-material facets of development in the African countries it purports to serve. I make this argument by comparing the CDF/Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) model in Kenya to the under-utilised development philosophy of Wangari Maathai. This comparison intimates that an alternative to the CDF is not only possible, but also necessary. Maathai demonstrates how any holistic development approach for postcolonial Africa must grapple with both international and domestic factors that historically and currently exacerbate the chrysalis of political, economic, and social progress. A comprehensive approach must also deal with the particulars of each context while not eliding the uniform histories of exploitation and purposive underdevelopment that many African countries share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African management theories and practices have received scant scholarly attention in organization and management literature. The recognition for vast opportunities for developing, adapting and extending management concepts, theories and practices in situ has become topical. Scholars have responded thus far, as a bourgeoning body of Africa-centric management and organization knowledge is gradually building as never before. The modest strides made to date covering research approaches are currently limited. By reference to an empirical study this paper explicates a more qualitative, nuanced, relational, and socialized strategy-as-practice research approach that is better attuned to examining strategy as a social practice in context. Extant studies have advanced arguments for the need and value in African-focused management research (the why), the current paper brings the salience of research approaches to the African-focused management scholarship agenda (the how) into sharper focus. The paper specifically, articulates a social practice-inspired research approach for theorizing strategic management in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a production function to examine the channels through which remittances affect output per worker in 31 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2010. Lagged remittances increase physical capital per worker, average years of schooling and total factor productivity, but the effectiveness of remittances varies with the income level of the recipient nation. Although remittances have increased both physical capital and total factor productivity among the upper middle income nations, among the lower middle income, they have increased only the physical capital. Meanwhile a reduction in institutional risk has encouraged investment and efficiency, but its relationship to the effectiveness of remittances has been inconclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artisanal and small-scale miners are facing unprecedented challenges due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The paper adopts a practice-based approach to examine the impact of Covid-19 on gold and gemstone artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) practices in sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights the informality of ASM and discusses how the Ghana and Kenya governments' measures have significantly increased the vulnerabilities of the miners and mining communities. Based on a document analysis of the governments' responses to Covid-19, mining industry reports, and interviews with 29 mining stakeholders in Ghana and Kenya, the paper identifies the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on gold and gemstone ASM in both countries. We highlight the key policy challenges and suggest actions that can help mitigate the negative impacts the pandemic has had on ASM, which include the need to address informality in the ASM sub-sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of bank interest rate spread in Sub-Saharan African countries, which were categorized into macro-specific, bank-specific and institutional variables.Design/methodology/approach The authors used fixed effects estimations to analyze the data. The data were drawn from a pool of 20 Sub-Saharan African countries for a period of ten years spanning 2003–2012. The countries were categorized into low-income, lower middle-income and upper middle-income countries based on World Bank income classifications.Findings The results show that inflation has a negative and significant effect on interest rate spread, while operating costs and bank concentration have a positive and significant effect on interest rate spread. Similarly, government effectiveness, rule of law and political stability are negatively related to the interest rate spread.Practical implications The paper provides evidence that interest rate spread is determined by both bank-specific, macro-economic and institutional variables. The paper also indicates that the income status of a country is important in explaining the variations in the interest rate spread across the region. Therefore, the policy makers should design policies that take into account the variables in order to help in planning by all economic agents, including banks.Originality/value The paper uses data from Sub-Saharan Africa and introduces institutional variables in the model, which have been found to be critical in the context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideas of governance and African integration and the inter-linkages between them are consistently defining policy-making in Africa. This paper analyses the Lagos Plan of Action and makes an assessment of various sub-regional integration pursuits within Africa, which is integral to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The paper also analyses the business environment and economic governance in African sub-regions by assessing their participation in international trade and investment flows, besides discussing the trade-related institutional frameworks in Africa. Moreover, the paper analyses few indigenous best practices in the areas of infrastructural development, trade facilitation, competition regime, and, agricultural development, among others and also reflects on the pertinent concerns. It calls for a broad-based multi-stakeholder participation to help enhance Africa’s preparedness and global outreach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Africa’s developing economies remain in critical need for leadership. This paper asserts that Africa’s new growth opportunities rest with leadership that could champion organizational performance, innovativeness, and good ethics among others. A review of extant literature on leadership development programmes (LDPs) was done to examine possible initiatives that leadership developers can use to influence leadership practices in Africa. This paper proposes that in Africa, LDPs can be used to inculcate authentic leadership practices and enhance networking and acquisition of innovative skills among others. Furthermore, LDPs could target the youth considering them as an investment into tomorrow’s leadership talent pool. The paper suggests that Africa’s niche for the global highway rests in contextualization of LDPs from other regions to Africa’s unique environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an interesting and thought-provoking paper recently published by theEconomic History of Developing Regions, Johan Fourie and Leigh Gardner ask why relatively few papers from developing countries have been published in top-ranked economic history journals. They provide a number of tentative answers of which differences in academic traditions between regions seem to be an important one. In this paper, we contribute to this discussion by putting the identified puzzle in the broader context of the development of economic history in the Western world and African universities. We fear that the silence from African scholars in top-ranked economic history journals might lead economic historians in the Western world to believe that little economic history research is taking place at African universities. The paper shows that economic history research at African universities is not only strong, but remained vibrant even when African economic history was on the decline at universities elsewhere. The lack of visible output in major economic history journals is thus not a sign of weakness. Instead it is an effect of the increased methodological specialization of economic history in the Western world. There is a danger that this specialization may led to regional isolation and we thus urge economic historians in the Western world to further engage in the work by African scholars. [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]

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]

While the 4IR has the potential to impact on all industries and all nations, regardless of their location or state of development, many of the discussions of the 4IR and its impact are focused on advanced economies. What are the prospects and constraints of the 4IR to emerging economies in sub-Sahara Africa? To what extent is the 4IR relevant to sub-Sahara Africa where there is a large informal economy, limited public infrastructure, where technical skills levels are low, and advanced technology can be found in only a few sectors that are dominated by foreign multinational companies and staffed by expatriate workers? What is the relevance of policy development towards the 4IR in the region given its young population profile, and emerging skill shortages in key sectors? The paper draws on secondary literature to highlight the challenges and to identify the policy developments that have been developed in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's indigenous minorities face unique constraints, particularly in terms of engaging in even the most basic business activities. They typically lack business rights, but, even where such rights have been extended, they have had scant impact on group poverty. This paper argues that the failure of business rights to meaningfully transform the livelihoods of marginalised minority groups stems from elite capture of resources, dependency on external validation, and a contradiction between a collective problem (group poverty) and an individualist solution (business rights). African states could alter conditions through active pursuit of affirmative action policies, but lack socio-economic and political incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many regions in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced growing contestations of existing livelihood practices and massive environmental change. This has been accompanied by what has sometimes been described as a 'respacing' of Africa, i.e. an increasing blurriness of the nation state and social relationships becoming more and more interconnected on the local to global scales, rendering conventional concepts of space and territory obsolete. In this introductory essay, we briefly discuss notions of this 'respacing' process, highlight its validity but also its ambiguity, and thus lay the ground for the ensuing compilation of papers on social, environmental, and spatial change in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, African countries are deepening and widening their regional trade agreements, aiming to establish a continent-wide free trade area by 2017. Using a comprehensive dataset of 148 countries for the period 1970-2010, I found robust evidence that African regional economic communities increase their members' exports and imports, albeit with varying degrees. The results reveal that African trade blocs increase members' exports by up to 175% and imports by as much as 200%. This paper documents a greater effect on exports and imports of those regional trade blocs with deeper integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence citizens' support for costly economic reforms in sub-Saharan Africa. This is relevant for several reasons, but the most obvious perhaps is that economic reform will be difficult if faced by strong resistance from citizens. In this paper, individual data from Round 4 of the Afrobarometer surveys is used to investigate how support for economic reforms is influenced by factors falling under the following broad categories: (i) Economic variables; (ii) group identity and fairness variables; (iii) Institutional and state/government variables; (iv) Demographic and control variables. An individual's trust in the president and the belief that the government manages the economy well are two of the most significant and robust factors. This is in keeping with the results found in Williamson (The Political Economy of Policy Reform, Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, ). Another robustly significant variable is satisfaction with how democracy works in the country. Variables related to ethnic identity and community membership also play a significant role in support for costly economic reforms, which is in line with the theories put forward by van de Walle (African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999. Cambridge University Press, New York, ). Females are less likely to support economic reforms, while individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to support economic reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global recessions have devastating effects on economies. The most recent crisis in 2007/2008 led to declining output, rising unemployment and falling incomes in Africa. The paper specifically aims to explore sustainable long-term strategies which could reduce the vulnerability of African economies to similar recessions in future. Its specific objectives are: (i) to critically review theoretical perspectives which explain the causes of global recessions and how to prevent them; (ii) to examine the evidence on the effectiveness of the dominant responses to such crises; and (iii) to identify feasible and sustainable long-term strategies to minimise negative impacts in future. The paper applies a qualitative research methodology, which is based on review and analysis of secondary information. It concludes that traditional or conventional, market-based approaches do not adequately explain the root causes of global recessions and that the dominant counter-cyclical Keynesian-type fiscal and monetary policies that characterised the responses of many African countries do not actually provide a lasting solution to the problem. Given the structurally, politically and socially based root causes of the crisis, it is imperative that African states should prioritise and adopt more sustainable and transformative long-term strategies. These should centre on reducing wealth and income inequality, rapid implementation of the continent's structural transformation and industrialisation agenda, promoting intra-African trade, intensification of the diversification drive - both in terms of products as well as markets - massive investments in technical and other skills needed for industry and trade development, and finally, tapping into emerging opportunities through South-South cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the recent emergence of multilateral forums for African development. By focusing on the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) led by the Japanese Government, the paper considers key issues and challenges that this new type of multilateral forum may face.Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews the existing literature in an interdisciplinary manner. To illustrate the multiplicity of issues and highlight diverse viewpoints, the study also provides an overview of a panel discussion at the fifth TICAD meeting as an exemplar by using a coding method.Findings The study suggests that a multilateral forum based on policy dialogue between a single donor and multiple recipients is likely to not only pose extremely complex tasks for the donor nation but also potentially constrain aid effectiveness in African countries unless the recipients’ ownership of their development is properly identified through sensible leadership.Originality/value Although “one donor–multiple African countries” forums are on the rise across the world, this paper calls for careful examination of the effectiveness of new type of multilateral forums for Africa. Through the evaluation of the contribution of TICAD, which is the pioneer for this kind of forum, this paper sets out essential elements to be considered by researchers and policymakers for the development of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses and compares two transformative moments of technologically mediated change in East Africa, the construction of the Uganda railway between Mombasa and Lake Victoria (1896-1903) and the introduction of fibre-optic cables that landed into the ports of Dar Es Salaam and Mombasa in 2009. The paper uses discourse analysis to examine how technologically mediated connectivity has been represented by political and economic actors during these transformative moments. In both cases we explore the origins of the expectations of connectivity and the hope and fear associated with them. Building on Massey's notion of power-geometry and Sheppard's concept of positionality, the paper focuses on power relationships in discussions of connectivity and asks how people understand the abilities of transformative technologies to modify positionalities and alter relational distance and proximity. Ultimately, by examining historical and contemporary expectations of connectivity in East Africa, this paper works towards more grounded and historicised understandings of the coming-together of technology and connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the state of research in African economic history in tropical Africa, reaching a more pessimistic conclusion than Green and Nyambara. The subject has seen a renaissance in recent years but relatively few of the publications have come from authors based at universities between the Zambezi and the Sahara (the ‘sub-region’). This discrepancy is not new, except in degree. It is partly attributable to resource constraints. But it also reflects both intellectual priorities and the way disciplines are organized. Economics departments in the sub-region have shown little interest in history, especially recently; while history departments are often wary of both quantitative methods and economic theory, reflecting a frequently strong institutional divide between humanities and social sciences. Further, while it is true that economic historians in tropical Africa have been less enamoured with mainstream theory and cliometrics than many of their colleagues elsewhere, on both sides this partly reflects insufficient awareness of others’ publications. The paper proceeds to suggest ways in which economic historians inside and outside tropical Africa can collaborate to overcome segmentation in intellectual markets, which is desirable anyway and would probably lead to more contributions to international economic history journals from scholars based in the sub-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses annual balanced panel data to examine the Granger causal link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth (measured by real GDP growth) for 23 African countries covering the period from 1970 to 2011. Using recently developed panel econometric techniques the present paper takes into account non-stationary and cross-section dependency in the dataset when analyzing the growth-FDI nexus. The empirical results indicate two-way Granger causality link between FDI and economic growth. Furthermore, we show that this causal link is not homogeneous among individual countries in our sample. More specifically, we observe unidirectional causality from FDI to GDP growth in Egypt, Gabon, and Mauritania, and from GDP growth to FDI in Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia. Our main finding remains robust to estimation between FDI as a fraction of gross capital formation and real GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether human capital development is significant in the nexus between entrepreneurship and financial deepening, while also accounting for institutional quality as control variable in thirteen selected African economies from 1995-2014. Evidence from the augmented Toda-Yamamoto technique shows that human capital does not have long run causal effect on entrepreneurship and financial deepening, which suggests low quality human capital for entrepreneurial development. The paper recommends market-based funding for human capital development to enhance quality, creativity, entrepreneurship, and hence financial deepening. Global best-practice institutional governance system would reduce 'cost to start business' and thereby encourage growth of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about women’s work were present at the advent of the modern method of national income accounting, and they have featured prominently in the most radical critiques of this method. During and after the Second World War, Phyllis Deane, a young researcher working under the supervision of Richard Stone, Austin Robinson and Arthur Lewis, grappled with the conceptual difficulties involved in measuring the ‘national’ incomes of mostly rural subsistence colonies in British central Africa. In constructing her estimates, Deane relied heavily on a multidisciplinary survey of nutrition conducted in interwar Nyasaland. Deane’s work was essentially an exercise in reductionism and bounding; she sought to extract from these data a single monetary estimate of production. Yet Deane also proved unwilling to exclude too much. She broke with her advisors’ favoured convention that activities not involved in market exchange should be excluded from the national income. Successive national income accountants around the world would reach disparate conclusions on method, particularly on the question of the ‘production boundary’—that is, the dividing line between those productive activities that would be included in the national income and those that would not. This issue became most contentious in the sphere of ‘non-monetary’ or ‘subsistence’ production performed mostly by female producers. While some statisticians included firewood collection, beer brewing and cooking, many others thought such activities beyond the bounds of ‘the economy’. Early decisions about the status of non-monetary production influenced the international standards enshrined in the United Nations System of National Accounts, first published in 1953. Beginning in the 1970s, second-wave feminists criticised the invisibility of women’s work in national income estimates. These critiques helped spur the inclusion of non-monetary activities in the accounts of many nations. Yet by the 1990s, many feminist critics—most notably New Zealand-born political economist Marilyn Waring—sought to move beyond GDP as a measure of welfare. These feminists called instead for greater reliance on measures such as the Human Development Index and time-use surveys. These measures may have appeared new, but they required the same multidisciplinary and intensive methods as Nyasaland’s interwar nutrition survey, which had served as the substrate for the earliest calculation of a ‘colonial national’ income. Drawing upon archives in the United Kingdom, Malawi and the United States, this paper argues that feminist economists and women’s work were central to both the post-war construction and the late-twentieth century critique of national income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Given the rising expansion of Western multinational companies (MNCs) to the African contexts, the development of expatriates and local employees has become increasingly important to the human resource management of these MNCs. This paper aims to provide critical lessons on cross-cultural communication competences for Western expatriates working in the sub-Saharan Africa business environment.Design/methodology/approach This paper is a qualitative phenomenology that makes use of lived experiences of senior expatriate staff working in Ghana in the form of direct interviews.Findings Results showed that cross-cultural communication competence is very important for Western expatriates’ functioning in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings also established a plethora of cross-cultural communication skills that are essential for Western expatriates’ successful adaptation and work outcomes in Africa.Practical implications This research argues that there is the need for the appreciations of the differing cultural patterns of expatriates and local staff, and this provides the underlying assumptions of intercultural and cross-cultural communication in global business.Originality/value A critical perspective of international business that has scarcely been studied offers lessons for Western expatriates working in sub-Saharan Africa. [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]

The paper attempts to analyse the conditional β-convergence and its sources for 32 African countries over the period 1960-2008. The augmented Solow model with both gross domestic product ( GDP) per worker and per capita income is estimated using the dynamic system generalized methods of moments ( GMM) technique with the panel data. This is the first study on the sources of conditional β-convergence for African countries. According to the results of the augmented Solow model, income convergence rates are lower than those of GDP per worker. Moreover, total factor productivity convergence, human capital convergence and capital labour convergence are contributing towards the convergence of GDP per worker in Africa. This means that growth in the poorest African countries is being augmented by 'catch-up factor,' which is good news for them. However, convergence in terms of GDP per worker is not being fully translated into income per capita convergence. The demographic structure in the African continent with its record of persistent population growth has played an important role in lowering the income convergence of its countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between interest rate spread and corporate bond market development in thirteen African economies comprising of Botswana, Egypt Mauritius Nigeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Cote d'Ivorie, Ghana Namibia, Tanzania from 2004 and 2014 using fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) in an autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) framework. Subsisting literature suggests that in bank-based economies, interest rate spread could adversely affect the potency of corporate bond market development; and thus limits the financial market competitiveness. The result provides evidence that corporate bond issue, as a proxy for financial development is negatively influenced by interest rate gap in the short and long term. The result affirms the 'group interest' theorem in these African economies leading to a deterrent in competitive financial development. The ECM coefficient satisfies a priori expectation, affirms the short run dynamic relationship, which implies long run equilibrium from the annual speed of adjustment, which is about 100 percent. The paper suggests policy recommendations for the reduction in interest rate, and thus the spread to encourage the growth of corporate bond issues for a market-led financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good institutions were pivotal to the emergence of capitalism and hence the creation of wealth, prosperity and development in the world. In this paper, the authors argue that one of the reasons for the poverty and underdevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa is the weak institutional framework which exists in these countries. The laws, rules and regulations governing businesses and entrepreneurial activities are either too weak or ineffective, and could be riding roughshod over any political interest or individual. The paper presents evidence from the literature to amplify the view that strong and effective institutions are fundamental to reinvigorating economic growth and development. Finally, the authors suggest that a complete overhaul and rejuvenation of the institutional framework which exists in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa is crucial to the creation of jobs, and the alleviation of poverty and underdevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African economic history has undergone impressive revitalization in the past decade. Much of the recent work is, quite naturally, inspired by developments in economic history at large, and increasingly - indirectly or directly - using markets as the organizing principle in understanding how economies evolve over time. More specifically, recent work assumes that markets create the possibility to use resources more efficiently, which, theoretically, enables economies to grow as long as institutions adjust and enable the population to exploit the arising opportunities. That is, the current works in African economic history are to a large extent grounded in Smithian growth models, labelled after Adam Smith's work on the mechanisms of long-term growth. This paper critically discusses the explanatory value of the Smithian growth models for understanding the long-term economic development in Africa. The latter is best described as recurrent growth episodes, and we argue that while Smithian models can account for initial periods of growth, they fail to explain why the growth was not sustained. We use the boom and busts of cocoa production in Ghana in the twentieth century as a case in point. We show that the decline in cocoa production was not caused by state policies distorting the functions of the markets, as the Smithian growth models suggest. Instead, the decline in production was an outcome of changes in the ecological and institutional conditions that caused the initial growth. The irony is that it was the initial growth in cocoa production that altered the conditions, making further growth in production impossible. We capture these changes - for the first time ever - by combining the concepts of forest rents and involutionary growth in an African case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between advances in educational attainment on the one hand, and structural change in employment on the other, in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for selected periods.Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a decomposition of changes in education intensity, which is complemented by an analysis of rates of return to education. For all countries the analysis is based on labour market microdata from nationally representative household surveys, and on economic data from national accounts.Findings It is demonstrated that if countries want to exploit structural change, levels of education need to rise. Low levels of education explain why the increase in educational attainment in Tanzania was barely sufficient to keep up with structural change in this country, and Mozambique would have been in the same situation if structural change would have occurred. In Ghana and Namibia, levels of educational attainment are much higher, and the paper demonstrates how education was used differently to accommodate structural change in these countries. Rates of return to education in all four countries appear consistent with patterns of education intensity.Research limitations/implications The analysis demonstrates that labour market monitoring should not be limited to (broad) sectoral aggregates. The analysis of more detailed breakdowns of employment is needed to gain insights into economies and labour markets of countries, including with regard to the role of education.Originality/value The paper is original in that an identical methodology is used in four African countries to decompose changes in education intensity, to relate these changes to employment patterns and to calculate rates of return to education. Although such work has been undertaken in individual countries, it is rarely done in a comparative way. [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]

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]

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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]

This introduction distills the key findings and messages from the papers published in this issue, which consist of eight case studies on the causes and effects of capital flight from Africa. The case studies contribute to the literature by providing evidence that enables us to assess the validity and generalizability of the findings from cross-sectional and panel data studies. The evidence from the case studies confirms important empirical regularities on the causes of capital flight. In particular, the results confirm that external borrowing fuels capital flight, and that trade misinvoicing is an important channel of capital flight, especially in the case of natural resource-rich countries. The studies also underscore the important role of good institutions in alleviating the risks of capital flight, while political instability is found to be a driver of capital flight. The evidence from case studies provides valuable insights for the design of strategies aimed at curbing and preventing capital flight from Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Although insecure work may be found everywhere, the general lack of secure work in emerging economies is a particularly striking feature of the contemporary condition, undermining the continued viability of the labour movement in such countries. Yet, this topic is rarely tackled directly in African studies or business history journals. The two key questions addressed in this paper are, first, to what extent does the labour movement’s past define their present and future, and second, what are the challenges and opportunities affecting their ability to mobilise workers, influence government and effectively tackle employment security? This article details how in Mozambique, unions’ ability to mobilise has been affected by: the post-colonial, post-conflict and post-socialist historical context; the resulting legacies of regional and racial discrimination; international imperatives for liberalisation and privatisation; challenging relationships with the country’s African neighbours; and high levels of informal sector work. In order to remain viable, key imperatives include: effectively influencing national government, engaging internationally and working with organisations representing informal sector workers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The oil peak and the 2007/2008 economic recession are the most recent major global events to destabilise the economies of African countries and to afflict the life-chances and social (re) production of the subaltern classes. This paper critically analyses Ghana's oil and gas industry to illustrate these issues. The paper argues that it is only through the transformation of their economies from commodities-frontiers to industrialised economies that African states can minimise the negative impacts of the inherent, cyclical crises of the global capitalist economy on their economies and people. Taking a long, historical perspective of the exploitative insertion of Africa into the global capitalist economy as a commodities-frontier, the paper foregrounds the possibilities, constraints, and contradictions of oil-driven industrialisation of oil-rich African countries such as Ghana. It concludes that, while the Ghanaian state is capable, adept, and ruthless in inflicting the violence of primitive accumulation on its people, it paradoxically protects and enables global capital accumulation by implementing policies that defeat its own industrialisation vision of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]