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on Africa |
| By: | Albert Bollard (Stanford University); David McKenzie (Development Research Group, World Bank); Melanie Morten (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Recorded remittances to Africa have grown dramatically over the past decade. Yet data limitations still mean relatively little is known about which migrants remit, how much they remit, and how their remitting behavior varies with gender, education, income levels, and duration abroad. We construct the most comprehensive remittance database on immigrants in the OECD currently available, containing microdata on over 12,000 African immigrants. Using this microdata we establish several basic facts about remitting patterns of Africans, and then explore how key characteristics of policy interest relate to remittance behavior. Africans are found to remit twice as much on average as migrants from other developing countries, while those from poorer African countries are more likely to remit than those from richer African countries. We find male migrants remit more than female migrants, particularly among those with a spouse remaining in the home country; that more educated migrants remit more than less educated migrants; and that while the amount remitted increases with income earned, the gradient is quite flat over a large range of income. Finally, we find little evidence that the amount remitted decays with time spent abroad, with reductions in the likelihood in remitting offset by increases in the amount remitted conditional on remitting. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200921&r=afr |
| By: | Obeng, George Yaw; Evers, Hans-Dieter |
| Abstract: | In spite of the intention of governments to increase the use of renewable energy in electricity supply, particularly the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) for energy poverty reduction in rural and peri-urban areas of Africa, there is relatively little information on how solar PV electrification impacts on energy poverty reduction. Therefore, there is a gap in the literature and hence the need for continuous research. Using Ghana as a reference country, the historical trend, donor cooperation and other aspects of solar PV rural electrification are discussed . The paper illustrates the intersectoral linkages of solar PV electrification and indicators on education, health, information acquisition, agriculture and micro-enterprises. It also reviews sustainability related issues including costs and market barriers, subsidies, stakeholders involvement, political and policy implications, which are critical factors for sustainable market development of solar PV and other renewables. Finally, a common framework is developed to provide a basic understanding of how solar PV electrification impacts on energy-poverty. This framework provides a structure of the interrelated concepts and principles relevant to the issues under review. |
| Keywords: | Rural electrification; solar PV electrification; energy-poverty; renewable energy; economic development; Ghana; Africa. |
| JEL: | N57 O55 N37 O13 Q42 N7 P28 Q43 |
| Date: | 2009–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17136&r=afr |
| By: | Kamgna, Severin Yves; Tinang, Nzesseu Jules; Tsombou, Kinfak Christian |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to determine the macro-prudential indicators of financial stability that can be used for supervising the banking system in the CEMAC zone. Going by a set of indicators drawn from similar works on macro-prudential supervision, and, more specifically, aggregate microeconomic variables of the banking sector, macroeconomic variables and combinations of the two, we were able to identify those that are relevant in analysing an imminent deterioration of the banking system in the subregion. At the end of this study, it was realised that claims on the private sector, foreign direct investments and the combination of exports and credits to the private sector, increase the risk of degradation of the banking system, while this risk is reduced by an increase in the exchange rate, increase in the internal resources of the banking system and inflation rate. The regulator should therefore bear this set of indicators in mind in order to facilitate a quick response to offset any potential banking crisis in the CEMAC region. |
| Keywords: | Banking System; Macro-Prudential Indicators; Weakness; Degradation; Monetary Policy; CEMAC; BEAC; Africa; |
| JEL: | C13 E58 C12 G28 G21 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17095&r=afr |
| By: | John Weeks (Professor Emeritus, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) |
| Abstract: | GLOBAL CRISIS AND POVERTY PREVENTION Most recent statistics indicate that the global financial crisis will cause a fall in export earnings in Sierra Leone of approximately fifteen percent in 2009 compared to 2008. A regression-based model estimates that this decline in exports earnings could result in a fall in national income of almost ten percent. Based on the income distribution in the 2003 household survey, a ten percent decline in national income would increase poverty by twelve percent of the population, or about 600,000 people. A fiscal stimulus of two percent of GDP could stabilise the economy at the level of 2008, preventing this disastrous increase in poverty. A stimulus package consisting of employment intensive public works programmes could be designed to return the economy to its pre-shock level with a reduction in poverty. (...) |
| Keywords: | The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on The Economy of Sierra Leone |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:18&r=afr |
| By: | Meroz, Yael; Morone, Andrea; Morone, Piergiuseppe |
| Abstract: | In this paper we aim to look into the attributes of Ghanaians’ willingness-to-pay for green products. This would help us to assess whether Ghanaians show a preference towards environmental goods. The methodology employed to address these issues is an ‘experimentally-adapted’ CV survey which involves laboratory experiment conducted among Ghanaian University students. Notwithstanding the limitations arising from the sample used in our experiment (most notably University students do not represent, economically wise, the entire Ghanaian population), we believe that our investigation provides a first answer to such question as Ghanaians consistently show that they are willing to pay an extra premium for green products. |
| Keywords: | contingent valuation; experiment; incentive-compatible; Ghana; organic products; willingness to pay. |
| JEL: | O10 Q56 C91 |
| Date: | 2009–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17107&r=afr |