|
on Africa |
|
Issue of 2005‒10‒29
five papers chosen by Suzanne McCoskey Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State |
| By: | Jean-Yves Duclos; David Sahn; Stephen D. Younger |
| Abstract: | We investigate spatial poverty comparisons in three African countries using multidimensional indicators of well-being. The work is analogous to the univariate stochastic dominance literature in that we seek poverty orderings that are robust to the choice of multidimensional poverty lines and indices. In addition, we wish to ensure that our comparisons are robust to aggregation procedures for multiple welfare variables. In contrast to earlier work, our methodology applies equally well to what can be defined as "union", "intersection", or "intermediate" approaches to dealing with multidimensional indicators of well-being. Further, unlike much of the stochastic dominance literature, we compute the sampling distributions of our poverty estimators in order to perform statistical tests of the difference in poverty measures. We apply our methods to two measures of well-being, the log of household expenditures per capita and children's height-for-age z-scores, using data from the 1988 Ghana Living Standards Survey, the 1993 Enquêtes Permanente auprès des Ménages i Madagascar, and the 1999 National Household Survey in Uganda. Bivariate poverty comparisons are at odds with univariate comparisons in several interesting ways. Most importantly, we cannot always conclude that poverty is lower in urban areas from one region compared to rural areas in another, even though univariate comparisons based on household expenditures per capita almost always lead to that conclusion. |
| Keywords: | Multidimensional Poverty, Stochastic Dominance, Ghana, Madagascar, Uganda |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0528&r=afr |
| By: | Jeffrey G. Williamson |
| Abstract: | Between 1810 and 1940, a large GDP per capita gap appeared between the industrial core and the poor periphery, the latter producing, increasingly, primary products. Over the same period, the terms of trade facing the periphery underwent a secular boom then bust, peaking in the 1870s or 1890s. These terms of trade trends appear to have been exogenous to the periphery. Additionally, the terms of trade facing the periphery exhibited relatively high volatility. Are these correlations spurious, or are they causal? This Figuerola Lecture, to be given at Carlos III University (Madrid) , argues that they are causal, that secular growth and volatility in the terms of trade had asymmetric effects on core and periphery. On the upswing, the secular rise in its terms of trade had powerful de - industrialization effects in the periphery. Over the full cycle 1810-1940, terms of trade volatility suppressed accumulation and growth in the periphery as well. |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:dilfrp:dilf0506&r=afr |
| By: | David-Pascal Dion (Department of Economics, University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We use a model of combined endogenous growth and economic geography to study the impact of regional economic integration on the member and non-member countries of a regional union. Regional integration affects growth through interregional technology diffusion symbolized by knowledge spillovers generated at home and spreading to the partner countries. Spillovers flow from the leader to the follower. Following integration, the lagging country has access to a bigger stock of knowledge that fosters an increase in its rate of growth and extends the diversity of its products. Trade in goods - or in FDI - and flows of ideas are two faces of the same coin. We show that the progressive decrease in transaction costs through the phasing out of barriers to trade together with product imitation can foster growth and convergence in the member countries. However, in order to avoid eventual trade and investment diversions, the non-member should envisage to join the integrated zone. |
| Keywords: | regional economic integration, endogenous growth, economic geography |
| JEL: | F12 F15 F43 O18 O30 O41 R11 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2004–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:20&r=afr |
| By: | Gabriel Gonzalez-Konig (School of Economics, Universidad de Guanajuato); Quentin Wodon (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The impact of remittances on inequality is uncertain a priori. However, at the margin, remittances are likely to be more inequality increasing (or less inequality decreasing) in poorer as opposed to richer areas. This is suggested with a simple theoretical model, and tested empirically using survey-based estimates of the Gini income elasticity of remittances in Honduras. The results are robust to alternative distribution weights used for measuring inequality. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Remittances, Income Distribution. |
| JEL: | J61 O15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gua:wpaper:ec200506&r=afr |
| By: | Carolyn Currie (School of Finance and Economics, University of Technology, Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Analyses of the nature of debt relying on the theory of rational expectations conclude that the burden of public debt need not fall on future generations if the present generation anticipates the higher taxes needed in the future for debt servicing. However, there have been many instances where increases in budget deficits have been followed by a decrease in the savings propensity of the private sector. Foreign exchange earnings also have to be set aside. It appears that the main problem for countries in an early stage of economic development, is that often the borrowings have not been productively employed so that a national debt crises results. Foreign lenders become increasingly reluctant to lend further amounts to a country, which has been a net capital importer. This paper puts forward a methodology of testing a new theory of economic growth that emphasises key factors determining the success or failure of policies that change underlying economic structures, and hence would lead to an intrinsic monitoring of ?over-borrowing?. |
| Keywords: | economic growth; debt burden; regulation; ownership structures |
| JEL: | L33 O11 O38 O47 P11 P52 |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uts:wpaper:144&r=afr |