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

As Africa's role on the global stage is rising, so does the need to understand the shadow of history on the continent's economy and polity. We discuss recent works that shed light on Africa's colonial and precolonial legacies. The emerging corpus is remarkably interdisciplinary. Archives, ethnographic materials, georeferenced censuses, surveys, and satellite imagery are some of the sources often combined to test influential conjectures put forward in African historiography. Exploiting within-country variation and employing credible, albeit mostly local, identification techniques, this recent literature has uncovered strong evidence of historical continuity as well as instances of rupture in the evolution of the African economy. The exposition proceeds in reverse chronological order. Starting from the colonial period, which has been linked to almost all of Africa's postindependence maladies, we first review works that uncover the lasting legacies of colonial investments in infrastructure and human capital and quantify the role of various extractive institutions, such as indirect rule and oppression associated with concessionary agreements. Second, we discuss the long-lasting impact of the "Scramble for Africa," which led to ethnic partitioning and the creation of artificial modern states. Third, we cover studies on the multifaceted legacy of the slave trades. Fourth, we analyze the contemporary role of various precolonial, ethnic-specific, institutional, and social traits such as political centralization. We conclude by offering some thoughts on what we view as open questions. (JEL F54, N17, N37, N47, O10, O43) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Although ubiquitous, very little is generalizable about the informal economy. This is especially the case within Africa wherein the informal economy also intersects with the indigenous economy. The diversity of papers in the special issue (AJOM, Volume 4 Issue 3) on the informal economy reflects the variety of issues and challenges faced by those in the informal economy. This dialogue however focuses not on those challenges, but on the conceptualization of the informal economy by the special issue papers. We discuss how the utopian and dystopian characterizations of the informal economy by the papers determines different processes and outcomes for those within the informal economy. We conclude by questioning whether the challenging research and policy issues confronting the informal economy arise because it is itself a misnomer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deeper continental integration is considered critical for Africa's future growth, development and transformation. This paper reports on the results of a comprehensive review of the scholarly literature on Africa's continental integration dating back to the 1960s. We wanted to focus on publications drawing on the organization and management literature, but found these to be limited in number and scope. The review covered a range of topics relevant for continental integration including peace and security, decolonization, diplomacy and politics, cultural exchanges, social and economic development, environmental protection, and sustainable development. Although about half of the studies reviewed were atheoretical, the rest covered a range of theories from different disciplines. Most of the studies used documentary analysis and literature reviews; few used survey methods or quantitative data collection and analysis. Review results were grouped into five key areas for continental integration: organizational, economic, political, peace and security, and human rights. The paper concludes by identifying gaps and opportunities for research. Theory development in particular would help to improve understanding of the complexities of continental integration, and guide evidence-based policy and practice for deeper, more effective and sustained continental integration to improve the lives of Africans at home and in the diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the U.S. government's foreign policy on Africa. Topics discussed include President Donald Trump's personal views and lack of interest in Africa, the continued funding of the U.S. for Africa's economic development, trade and political programs, and Trump's America First direction which includes cutting international aid and security spending.

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

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