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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]

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]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

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]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 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]

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]

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]

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]

The paper examines the pattern of poverty, growth and inequality in Ethiopia in the recent decade. The result shows that growth, to a large extent depends on structural factors such as initial conditions, vagaries of nature, external shocks and peace and stability both in Ethiopia and in the region. Using a rich household panel data, the paper also shows that there is a strong correlation between growth and inequality. In such set up, the effect of implementing a pro-poor growth strategy, compared to allowing the status quo to prevail, can be quite dramatic. On the basis of realistic assumptions, the paper shows that from a baseline in 2000 of a 30 per cent poverty share, over 10 years at growth of 4 per cent per capita, poverty would decline from 44 to 26 per cent for distribution neutral growth (DNG) (i.e. no change in the aggregate income distribution). In contrast, were the growth increment distributed equally across percentiles (equally distributed gains of growth, EDG), the poverty would decline by over half, to 15 per cent, a difference of almost eleven percentage points. Thus, ‘distribution matters’, even, or especially in a poor country like Ethiopia. On the basis of these results the paper outlines policies that could help to design a sustainable pro-poor growth strategy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 provides econometric evidence linking African countries’ per capita total as well as government health expenditures and per capita income to two health outcomes: infant mortality and under-five mortality. This relationship is examined using data from 47 African countries between 1999 and 2004. Health expenditures have a statistically significant negative effect on infant and under-five mortality rates. The magnitude of our elasticity estimates are in consonance to those reported in the literature. For African countries, our results imply that total health expenditures (as well as the public component) are certainly important contributors to health outcomes. In addition, we find that both infant and under-five mortality are positively and significantly associated with sub-Saharan Africa. The reverse is true for North Africa. While ethnolinguistic fractionalization and HIV prevalence positively and significantly affect the health outcomes, higher numbers of physicians and female literacy significantly reduce these health outcomes. These results have important implications for attaining the targets envisioned by the Millennium Development Goals. The data implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Antipode is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

The object of this paper is to examine the fiscal consequences of exchange rate adjustment in the context of selected African economies. The paper identifies the salient channels through which the exchange rate is expected to influence fiscal variables, describes the behaviour of these indicators in the sample countries, and formulates and estimates an empirical model that links the real exchange rate with real fiscal revenue and expenditure. It finds that currency devaluation - where launched - has, on balance, resulted in real depreciation and that the latter has increased real fiscal revenue, with imperceptible effect on real expenditures. The fiscal deficit is found to exert no statistically significant influence on the behaviour of the real exchange rate. Ce document examine les conséquences budgétaires de l'ajustement du taux de change dans un certain nombre de pays africains. Il détermine les principales voies par lesquelles le taux de change est censé influer sur les variables budgétaires, décrit le comportement de ces indicateurs dans les pays concernés, élabore et évalue un modèle empirique établissant un lien entre le taux de change réel et les recettes et dépenses budgétaires réelles. Il constate que la dévaluation, l&agrave: où elle est intervenue, s'est en définitive traduite par une véritable dépréciation, qui a entraâné un accroissement des recettes budgétaires réelles et exercé un effet imperceptible sur les dépenses réelles. En outre, sur le plan statistique, le déficit budgétaire n'exerce pas d'effet significatif sur le comportement. [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]

In this paper, we analyze the role of structural transformation in view of the remarkable growth performance of Sub‐Saharan African countries since the late 1990s. Our analysis covers 41 African countries over the period 1980 to 2014 and accounts for structural transformation by employing the analytical frameworks of (1) growth decomposition and (2) growth regression. Even though the low‐productive agricultural sector continues to employ most of the African workforce, our results reveal that structural transformation has taken place and that it has contributed significantly to African growth in the period 1980‐2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa ( SSA) has long suffered from lagging productivity and excessive levels of indebtedness. Using both parametric and non-parametric techniques, this paper examines the impact of external debt on labour productivity growth and convergence across SSA economies over the period 1970-2010. The results indicate the presence of debt-overhang effects, regardless of model and sample specification. Debt reduction through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and Multilateral Debt Relief initiatives enhanced growth but was not successful in offsetting the debt-overhang effects. Moreover, excessive levels of external debt were responsible for divergence in output per worker over the early 1990s. Although this trend was reversed over the 2000s, reduction in debt through the debt relief initiatives seems to have been insufficient in helping heavily indebted countries in SSA catch up with the labour productivity levels of the best-performing economies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether political instability leads to volatile inflation using a panel of 49 African countries. The study uses novel measures of political instability, particularly the state failure index and state fragility index. In the field of political instability and inflation volatility, this is the first study to measure inflation volatility as the conditional variance of inflation estimated from GARCH (1, 1) model. Adopting the system-generalized method of moments estimator for linear dynamic panel models for the sample period 1985-2009, the study documents a positive statistically significant effect of political instability on inflation volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Studies indicated differences between transnational family life for migrant mothers and fathers and that the effects on their “left‐behind” children differ according to who migrates. Yet little is known about why these differences exist. This paper aims to fill this gap by comparing transnational and nontransnational African families with parents living in Europe to understand their different family structures. We analyse three datasets with information on migrants from five African origin countries in eight European countries. Our analyses reveal important differences between transnational and nontransnational families and between transnational mothers and fathers. Transnational mothers are more often single, have children from multiple relationships, and start family life earlier than transnational fathers and nontransnational parents. This corresponds closely to what family sociologists have found make “fragile families” among nonmigrants. Our work thus indicates that policies aiming to improve migrants' lives need to consider the disadvantages that particularly migrant women experience in maintaining their family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper studies the role played by the quality of property rights in the linkages of international capital flows into sub‐Saharan African (SSA) economies. Using panel data of 36 SSA countries over the period 1996–2015 and the ARDL procedure with the Pooled Mean Group regression method appropriate for non‐stationary panel data estimation, we account for the joint effects of property rights quality and openness to foreign capital flows on economic growth. We uncover the existence of a property rights quality threshold beyond which property rights either amplifies the spillovers effects or attenuates the negative effect of capital flows on economic growth. For instance, it takes a level of property rights of at least 60 to have a positive long‐term impact of capital flows on economic growth in natural resource‐poor African countries. The quality of property rights matters more to obtain spillover effects of capital flows on growth in natural resource‐poor countries than in their peer natural resource‐rich countries. Finally, with regard to the countries' income levels, capital flows have significant long‐term spillovers effects on economic growth in advanced African economies than in their low‐income peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial and economic crisis, which hit Africa with a lag, has caused serious setbacks to the continent's growth momentum and likely jeopardized hard-won development gains of recent years. Even though most African countries are likely to avoid recession, the sharp drop in growth rates can have serious, long-term consequences, especially for poor and vulnerable Africans. Furthermore, the speed of the continent's recovery and longer-term growth rates remain uncertain. What is, however, remarkable is that unlike in previous crises (as the energy crisis in the 1970s), this time round the response of most African governments has been to continue with the prudent macroeconomic policies of the past decade, and it is these policies that are giving these countries the fiscal space with which to cushion the impact of the global crisis and avoid an even deeper recession. The emergency rescue packages that some countries introduced are also carefully designed to maintain reform momentum in the medium term. At the same time, some countries have used the crisis as an opportunity to accelerate reforms, leaving them in a better position to take advantage of a recovery in the global economy. Thus, while the global crisis has wreaked havoc on African economies, the policy response of most governments demonstrates that the overall policy environment in Africa remains sound. This paper provides three hypotheses to explain this policy response, which stands in some contrast with African governments' responses to previous crises. First, the prudent macroeconomic stance taken by these countries is simply a reflection of their access to capital markets and thin domestic financial markets. Second, the experience of the past decade, where prudent macroeconomic policies resulted in countries being better able to respond to the crisis, created an environment where governments were reluctant to deviate too far from their macroeconomic stance, lest they be left vulnerable during the next crisis. And third, that there has been a shift in the public's attitude towards economic reforms, and African policymakers were reflecting this shift in their policy responses to the crisis. The paper concludes that if this third hypothesis is the most likely one, it bodes well for Africa's future, despite the global crisis. For it means that economic reforms in Africa will continue and will unlikely be reversed, even with a sluggish global economy, because the public's mind-set has shifted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended to highlight the general impact of the crisis on African countries in terms of economic performance and then show some variations across countries by discussing how the different transmission channels operated in them, and what their effects have been. The paper has noted that the global financial and economic crisis has affected African economies in a significant way, mostly indirectly through the harm it causes to the real sectors of the economies. In aggregate terms, the impact has been quite strong, as shown by the sharp drop in aggregate output around the region. Even though there are both direct and indirect channels for transmitting the crisis to African economies from the rest of the world, the indirect channels have been more pronounced in their effects largely on account of the structures of these economies. The integration of these economies into the global economy has been largely on account of trade in goods and also the consequence of migration, hence the effects on the real sectors and in remittance flows. There have been significant variations in the impact of the crisis across countries, and this has been influenced largely by the quality of institutions, particularly for regulation, and initial conditions prevailing in the countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth using data for 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis is conducted using panel cointegration and causality tests which take account of heterogeneity between countries which arises as a result of different country intercepts and varying regression coefficients slopes across countries. The results show that there is homogenous bi-directional causality between financial development and economic growth. This result is robust to alternative measures of financial development and implies that for these Sub-Saharan African countries, both the real and financial sectors are complementary to each other and their simultaneous development should be encouraged. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long-run money-inflation relation for 36 African countries using cross-section and panel data analysis. The focus is on the recent claim by De Grauwe and Polan that the common finding in multi-country studies of a strong positive link typically reflects the presence of high-inflation countries in the sample and on Nelson's criticisms of the data and methodology employed in that study. Adjusting the De Grauwe and Polan methodology to take account of many of Nelson's criticisms, I confirm a weak long-run relation between money growth and inflation for countries when money growth and inflation are below 10%, but a strong relation when money growth and inflation move much above that number. This result is not dependent on the inclusion of high inflation countries in the cross-section and panel data samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reassesses the gains from trade for sub-Saharan Africa, and draws their implications for labour market adjustment and poverty reduction. It reviews previous studies on multilateral liberalization, focusing on the findings from Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models with relevance to African economies. The implications of these findings for poverty reduction are discussed. Our own CGE exercise supports the hypothesis that African countries cannot expect substantial gains from further multilateral liberalization. Moreover, given the sharp contraction of import-competing sectors in response to trade liberalization in many African economies, coupled with insufficient compensation through labour market adjustments in other sectors, this study suggests that the ultimate impact on poverty reduction is likely to be small or even negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper investigates the effects of Sub-Saharan African colonial heritage on economic growth in a sample of nonindustrial countries. An empirical Solow growth model is specified in a way that allows an examination of whether or not growth in Sub-Saharan Africa reflects a legacy of extractive colonialization strategies, motivated by a hostile disease environment that resulted in extractive growth-retarding institutions that persisted after independence. Parameter estimates suggest that the partial effects of extractive institutions engendered by a twentieth century colonial heritage account for approximately 30% of the growth gap between the former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa and other nonindustrial countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews the empirical literature on growth, with a view to drawing some lessons for Africa. It illustrates the diversity of the results found by different authors, and calls for a more rigorous approach, paying attention to the identification of structural parameters and to simultaneity biases. It emphasizes the part played by openness and export orientation as the main policy variables affecting growth. Then, the choice of bad policies, which seems to be the main proximate cause of slow growth in Africa, is traced to the lack of social capital and deficient political institutions. Cet article est une critique de la littérature empirique sur le développement dont le but est d’en tirer quelques leçons sur l’Afrique. L’article démontre la diversité des conclusions tirées par plusieurs auteurs et fait appel à une démarche plus rigoureuse, prenant en compte l’identification des paramètres structurels et des penchants simultanés qui existent. L’importance du marché et son orientation vers l’export sont soulignées comme étant les deux variables principales qui touchent directement la croissance. Les auteurs démontrent ensuite que le choix de mauvaises politiques, qui semble Átre la cause principale de la faible croissance africaine, est due en effet à un manque de capital social ainsi qu’aux institutions politiques défectueuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major challenges that may be confronting sub–Saharan African (SSA) economies in the 21st century is that of a changing North–South trading structure. An earlier study (Olofin, 1995), tried to show that close to the turn of the century, the SSA countries remained the only group of countries whose exports were predominantly primary products, complemented by trade in manufactured imports. In virtually every other region of the world, this pattern of trade had changed to a more competitive one. Most other nations had moved progressively away from primary exports to manufactured exports of the labour intensive type, and subsequently to more resource intensive manufactures. The single major development that has reshaped the terrain for global trade, and which will significantly influence the course of trade and international competitiveness in the 21st century, is the Uruguay Round (UR) negotiations. It produced the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the subsequent World Trade Organization (WTO) treaty. Various analyses have shown (Sorsa, 1997) that the overall impact of UR trade liberalization on SSA countries may be quite insignificant at least in the short run. This is primarily because many of the provisions of the resulting WTO treaty do not cover the bulk of African trade, especially in respect of their exports. However, there is hardly any doubt that the GATT 1994/WTO treaty and its provisions would define the stage for global competition in production and trade in the 21st century. If SSA countries are not to be marginalized in the scheme of things over the medium to longer term, they will of necessity have to respond, if not to the immediate effects of the treaty on trade and competitiveness, at least to its longer–term ramifications. The resulting patterns of trade and competitiveness are likely to have far–reaching effects on the prospects for evolving a viable strategy for sustainable growth and development in these countries. The primary objective in this paper, therefore, is first to examine some of the implications of the outcome of the Uruguay Round negotiations for the external trade of sub–Saharan African countries as a bloc. Secondly, to identify some of the major obstacles to their competitiveness; and thirdly as a consequence, to be able to arrive at some form of research agenda, that should engage the attention of researchers and policy–makers alike within the region in the near to medium term. This is crucial, if appropriate policies are to emerge towards addressing the growing concerns on African marginalization in the face of increasing globalization. Les changements dans la structure des échanges entre le Nord et le Sud sont l’un des principaux défis auxquels les économies d’Afrique subsaharienne pourraient Átre confrontées au cours du 21ème siècle. Dans une étude précédente (Olofin, 1995), nous avons tenté de montrer qu’au tournant du siècle, l’Afrique subsaharienne reste l’unique région du monde dont les exportations sont essentiellement composées de produits primaires, complétées par des importations de produits manufacturés. Les négociations de l’Uruguay Round sont le seul élément nouveau majeur qui soit à l’origine de la recomposition de la physionomie du commerce mondial et qui exercera une influence significative sur l’évolution des échanges et de la compétitivité internationale au 21ème siècle. Ces négociations ont débouché sur l’Accord général sur les tarifs et le commerce (GATT) de 1994 ainsi que sur le traité subséquent relatif à l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). Diverses analyses (Sorsa, 1997) ont montré que la libéralisation du commerce, négociée dans le cadre de l’Uruguay Round, n’aura qu’un impact global mineur sur les pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, au moins à court terme. Le présent document examine l’évolution consécutive aux principaux accords internationaux régissant le commerce et le transfert de technologie. Il analyse ensuite le manque de compétitivité des prix des exportations traditionnelles africaines et définit la nature des défis que les pays subsahariens devront relever en vue de devenir compétitifs dans une économie mondiale en constante mutation, durant le 21ème siècle et au–delà. Ces défis sont présentés sous la forme d’un guide sur le programme de recherche que la communauté des chercheurs s’intéressant au développement de l’Afrique devra nécessairement réaliser afin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the special issue of the journal is presented in which the editor discusses different articles which cover the three main objectives of the issue, namely, input subsidy programs in agriculture in Sub-Sahara region including Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi.

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 reviews the expanding financial turmoil that has been triggered by the Asian crisis. It examines the factors behind the crisis, its impact on African countries and the main lessons and policy implications for African countries. The onset of the Asian crisis seems to have taken everybody by surprise because the Asian countries that were hit by the crisis had been among the most successful in sustaining high rates of economic growth, keeping high saving and investment rates and improving the quality of life of their citizens. However, the emerging consensus is that the Asian crisis is a hybrid of structural and policy distortions (macro- and micro-economic) in the affected economies. The impact of the crisis on African countries was mainly transmitted through declines in export prices and volumes. The low demand for primary commodities induced by the crisis and the large depreciation of Asian currencies appear to have played major roles in depressing commodity prices. With only a few exceptions, the commodities that suffered large price declines are those for which Asia constitutes an important market (e.g. oil) and/or those mostly supplied by Asian countries (e.g. copper, timber and rubber). Africa's oil-exporting countries, which experienced large deterioration in their terms of trade, were the most affected. For the continent as a whole, export proceeds declined by 9.5 per cent between 1997 and 1998. This was the product of a 7 per cent decline in export prices and a 2.5 per cent decline in the volume of exports. The paper estimates that the crisis has caused the growth rate in the region to slide down by 1.2 percentage points, which indicates a loss of US $6.2 billion using aggregate GDP for 1997 as the base. To put this in an order of magnitude, it is about US $2 billion higher than the annual average flow of FDI to the continent in recent years. For the majority of African countries where the inflow of private capital is small and where pub... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a paper on the structure of the African economy and the nature of structural transformation in the region. How Subsaharan Africa is controlled; Details of paper.

Copyright of Revista Internacional del Trabajo is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 assesses the extent to which Sub- Saharan Africa ( SSA)'s business cycle is synchronized with that of the rest of the world ( Ro W). SSA's business cycle has not only moved in the same direction as that of the Ro W, but has also gradually drifted away from the G7 in favor of the BRIC. Trade with the BRIC has been the strongest driver of this shift. As fiscal policy stances in SSA and the BRIC are not synchronized, they have not caused output correlation. Also, financial openness, which is at an early stage in SSA, has acted as a neutral force. [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]

This paper examines the driving forces of China's contracted engineering projects in Africa. Using data on contracted engineering projects in 52 African countries over the period 1991-2010, three groups of hypotheses are tested: (1) economic motives; (2) political ties between China and Africa; and (3) host country characteristics. We find that countries get more projects if they have large market potential and are political allies of China. Our results also suggest that Forums on China- Africa Cooperation promote projects in Africa. In contrast, host country characteristics are hardly related to the amount of engineering projects received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This publication presents updates on economic and business conditions in Africa as of September 15, 2013. Miners at Harmony Gold has accepted a final wage offer which effectively ends the gold miners' strike in South Africa. The governments of Rwanda and Tanzania have stepped up their claims to the resource-rich Great Lakes region. The Chinese government has released the white paper entitled "China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation."

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

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]

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]

The article discusses the economic and political situation in Africa. According to the author, the works of the writers Jim Ferguson and Jeffrey Sachs deal about poverty and politics in Africa. Furthermore, the author refers to a paper by John Luke Gallup, Sachs and Andrew Mellinger in making a Fergusonian analysis regarding the country's millennium goal. Ferguson's "Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order," the author adds, aids in providing insights regarding the African culture in Brazil. Lastly , the author reflects on the talk by former Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso regarding the relationship of Brazil and Africa.

The economic development gap been Africa and the rest of the world has widened in the past four decades with no reversal of this trend in sight. Africa has responded to its underdevelopment with the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) which seeks to deal with the continent's relative lack of economic progress as a collective by addressing the sources of its poor economic expansion. This paper examines whether NEPAD does indeed address the causes of Africa's underdevelopment and questions the probability of its success. It argues that although NEPAD recognizes and incorporates recent developments in new growth theory, the actual realisation of the vision is going to be awkward because problem areas have been glossed over in the plan. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Africa’s substantial market share in perennial crops may indicate that the promotion of these crops could make a major contribution to Africa’s growth. Alternatively, given Africa’s poor economic performance, it may indicate that dependence upon perennials is highly problematic. This paper finds support for both these propositions. It argues that whether perennial crops are an opportunity or a problem depends upon policy. Historically, dependence upon perennial exports has exposed economies to price shocks that have been badly managed. However, such a pattern is not inevitable. Improved macroeconomic management could harness the potential of price booms and reduce the deflationary contraction from price declines. Dependence upon perennials has also exposed societies to an increased risk of large–scale violent civil conflict. Again this is not inevitable: improved global and national governance of the revenues from perennials could potentially remove this risk. As demonstrated by Uganda during the 1990s, the expansion of revenue from perennials can make a major contribution to poverty reduction. In that case revenue expansion was achieved through a simple policy reform: reduced taxation stimulated production. While there is scope for this elsewhere in Africa, substantial volume expansion might be difficult. Perennials are becoming more intensive in knowledge, inputs and quality control, partly due to rising health standards imposed by importers. African producers need a policy environment that facilitates this shift to quasi–industrial techniques. Otherwise they are likely to lose market share to higher–income non–African producers. La part substantielle qui est celle de l’Afrique sur le marché des cultures pérennes semble indiquer que la promotion de ces cultures pourrait représenter une contribution majeure à la croissance de l’Afrique. D’un autre côté, étant donné les pauvres performances économiques du continent, ceci peut aussi vouloir dire que la dépendance vis–à–vis des cultures pérennes est très problématique. Le présent article étaye tour à tour les deux hypothèses. Selon l’auteur, la réponse à la question de savoir si les cultures pérennes sont une opportunité ou un problème dépend des politiques adoptées. Par le passé, la dépendance vis–à–vis des exportations pérennes exposait les économies à des turbulences au niveau des prix qui ont été mal gérées. Cependant, ce scénario n’est pas inévitable. Une meilleure gestion macroéconomique peut tirer parti des hausses des prix et réduire la contraction déflationniste lorsque les chutes sont en chute. La dépendance vis–à–vis des exportations pérennes a également exposé des sociétés à un risque accru de conflit civil violent à grande échelle. Ceci n’est pas non plus inévitable: une meilleure gouvernance mondiale et nationale des revenus des cultures pérennes pourraient supprimer ce risque. Comme l’a montré l’Ouganda dans les années 1990, l’expansion des revenus tirés des cultures pérennes peut contribuer de manière significative à la lutte contre la pauvreté. En l’occurrence, l’expansion des revenus résultait d’une simple réforme des politiques: la réduction des impôts a stimulé la production. Si une telle expérience peut Átre renouvelée ailleurs en Afrique, il pourrait cependant s’avérer difficile d’accroître de manière substantielle les volumes. Les cultures pérennes exigent de plus en plus de connaissances, d’intrants et de contrôle de qualité, en raison notamment des normes sanitaires de plus en plus rigoureuses imposées par les importateurs. Les producteurs africains ont besoin d’un environnement politique qui facilite l’évolution vers des techniques quasi–industrielles. Dans le cas contraire, il est probable qu’ils perdront des parts de marché au profit de producteurs non africains à revenus supérieurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the line of reasoning followed by several authors, notably Easterly and Levine according to which ethno-linguistic fragmentation, because it leads to poor policies, is the main factor explaining the ‘tragedy’ of low African growth. A first set of criticism concerns the model itself and stresses that current empirical work is unable to convincingly identify the channels through which ethnic fragmentation affects growth: (i) polarization may be more relevant than fragmentation, (ii) the various tests of the effect of ethnicity on the quality of policy are far from being conclusive. A second set of remarks concerns the relevance of these studies to Africa: the African sub-sample is often quite limited, and the relationship is unstable (according to Chow tests). It actually appears that ethnicity has a more important effect on growth in Africa than elsewhere. This still needs to be explained and is not as such an explanation for lower African growth. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at examining the debt threshold effects on economic growth in Africa. Non-dynamic and dynamic panel threshold regression approaches are used. The findings indicate that the estimated debt threshold is sensitive to the estimation technique used and to growth control variables included in the estimation. Existence of nonlinearities in the debt-growth nexus cannot be denied. The findings show that while low debt is neutral or growth-enhancing, high debt is consistently detrimental to growth for all the cases considered. This study shows that caution is needed when suggesting a debt threshold since this can be sensitive to modelling choice and to growth control variables. Nonlinearities in the debt-growth nexus are established but further analysis is needed to suggest a policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that the answer to the question of whether the impact of corruption on development is homogenous, is no. Our optimism rest on how development may be conceptualised. When equated to a narrow measure in economic-wise which fundamentally ignores critical issues, then there is a possibility the outlook could be positive. But when conceptualised using a broad-based approach such as sustainable development, then the outlook could be negative. We assess a panel of 22 economies in Sub-Sahara Africa with the most recent dataset (1996-2013) from the World Bank and other reputable agencies. Our finding is quite robust. It holds in pooled OLS, Fixed effects and GMM within IV settings; and it also holds for different measures of institutions and different measures of development using growth per capita GDP and genuine wealth per capita, respectively. Taking stock of major policy blue-prints of selected countries in the region on the fight against corruption, we are able to point out that institutions play important role in insulating citizens against the devastation caused by corruption. Overall, through this comparison, we are able to signal that both incidental and systematic corruption poses a long-term threat to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on literature about the failure of economic growth in Africa. Topics discussed include his argument on the wrong emphasis of cross-sectional literature on income and growth and his suggestion in the book "Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong," on the need for a change in emphasis on the study of economics at the macro level in Africa.