|
on Africa |
| By: | Alexander Moradi |
| Abstract: | Sub-Sahara African populations are tall relative to the extremely adverse disease environment and their low incomes. Selective mortality, which removes shorter individuals leaving taller individuals in the population, was proposed as an explanation. From heights of surviving and non-surviving children in Gambia, we estimate the size of the survivorship bias and find it to be too small to account for the tall adult heights observed in sub-Saharan Africa. We propose instead a different yet widely ignored explanation: African populations attain a tall adult stature, because they can make up a significant amount of the growth shortfall after age 5. This pattern is in striking contrast to other developing countries. Moreover, mortality rates are relatively low after age 5 adding further doubts about selective mortality. |
| Keywords: | adult height, mortality, sub-Saharan Africa, catch-up growth |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-17&r=afr |
| By: | Dorosh, Paul; Wang, Hyoung-Gun; You, Liang; Schmidt, Emily |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between transport infrastructure and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa using new data obtained from geographic information systems (GIS). First, the authors analyze the impact of road connectivity on crop production and choice of technology. Second, they explore the impact of investments that reduce road travel times. Finally, they show how this type of analysis can be used to compare cost-benefit ratios for alternative road investments in terms of agricultural output per dollar invested. The authors find that agricultural production is highly correlated with proximity (as measured by travel time) to urban markets. Likewise, adoption of high-productive/high-input technology is negatively correlated with travel time to urban centers. There is therefore substantial scope for increasing agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in more remote areas. Total crop production relative to potential production is 45 percent for areas within four hours’ travel time from a city of 100,000 people. In contrast, it is just 5 percent for areas more than eight hours away. Low population densities and long travel times to urban centers sharply constrain production. Reducing transport costs and travel times to these areas would expand the feasible market size for these regions. Compared to West Africa, East Africa has lower population density, smaller local markets, lower road connectivity, and lower average crop production per unit area. Unlike in East Africa, reducing travel time does not significantly increase the adoption of high-input/high-yield technology in West Africa. This may be because West Africa already has a relatively well-connected road network. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Climate Change and Agriculture,Regional Economic Development,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5385&r=afr |
| By: | Estian Calitz (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Stan du Plessis (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Krige Siebrits (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | The history of public debt reflects the cumulative effect of fiscal decisions and real outcomes in the economy. In the South African case the published record on public debt distorts the historical perspective on the associated fiscal decisions. This note shows the impact of adjusting the South African public debt on an accrual basis to take account of two major obligations assumed in the first half of the 1990s, namely actuarial pension fund deficits and government debt of the apartheid homelands. The adjusted series is less volatile and rose less steeply between 1989 and 1996 than the official, cash based debt series. Failing to account for the evolution of these obligations exaggerates the impression of weak fiscal discipline in the early nineties and exemplary fiscal prudence in preceding decades. |
| Keywords: | South African public debt, fiscal discipline, accrual classification, pension fund deficits, sub-national debt |
| JEL: | H62 H63 G23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers118&r=afr |
| By: | Perrault, Jean-François; Savard, Luc; Estache, Antonio |
| Abstract: | The authors constructed a standard computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to explore the economic impact of increased spending on infrastructure in six African countries: Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. The basic elements of the model are drawn from EXTER, adjusted to accommodate infrastructure externalities. Seven sectors were considered: food crop agriculture, export agriculture, mining and oil, manufacturing, construction, private services, and public services. Four sets of simulations were conducted: baseline nonproductive investments, roads, electricity, and telecoms. For each set of simulations, five funding schemes were considered: reduced public expenditure; increased value-added taxes; increased import duties; funding from foreign aid; and increased income taxes. In general, the funding schemes had similar qualitative and quantitative effects on macro variables. For road and electricity investment, there were relatively large quantitative differences and some qualitative differences among funding schemes at the macro level. Sectoral analysis revealed further disparities among countries and investment types. The same type of investment with the same funding sources had varying effects depending on the economic structure of the sector in question. The authors find that few sectors are purely tradable or non-tradable, having instead variable degrees of openness to trade. If the current account needs to be balanced, funding investment through foreign aid produces the strongest sectoral effects because strong price and nominal exchange rate adjustments are needed to clear the current account balance. In addition, the capital/labor ratio of each sector plays an important role in determining its winners and losers. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets,Emerging Markets,Investment and Investment Climate,Public Sector Expenditure Policy |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5386&r=afr |
| By: | Paolo Falco; Andrew Kerr; Neil Rankin; Justin Sandefur; Francis Teal |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question as to why we observe such large differentials in earnings in urban African labour markets after controlling for observable human capital. We first use a three year panel across Ghana and Tanzania and find common patterns for both countries assuming that movement between occupations is exogenous. Unobserved individual market ability is by far the most important factor explaining the variance of earnings. Sector differences do matter even with controls for ability and the sectoral gap between private wage employment and civil servants is about 50 per cent, once we control for unobserved time-invariant factors. Wage earners earn the same as the selfemployed in both Ghana and Tanzania. An additional important aspect of formality is enterprise size. At most half of the OLS effect of size on earnings can be explained by unobservable ability. Workers in largest firms are the high earners with wage rates which exceed those of civil servants. We then use an extension of the Ghana panel to five years to assess the extent of possible biases from the assumption of exogenous movement. We find evidence that this is important and that OLS may be understating the extent of both the size effect and the private sector wage (negative) premium. The implications of our results for understanding the nature of formal and informal employment in Africa are discussed. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-03&r=afr |
| By: | Stefan Dercon; Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero |
| Abstract: | Following the 2007 disputed Kenyan Presidential election unprecedented levels of violence erupted across the country adding to the history of troubled elections in Africa. This paper offers quantitative and qualitative evidence on the incidence, impacts and issues that triggered electoral violence. Using two surveys conducted before and after the election we find that one out of three Kenyans were affected by the violence regardless of their ethnicity and wealth. The chances of being a victim of violence were higher in areas with land conflicts and where politically-connected gangs operated. Violence, which was mainly triggered by the perception that the election had been rigged, reduced trust and social capital among communities making violence more likely to reoccur. |
| Keywords: | Voting, Electoral Violence, Rule of Law, Institutions, Africa, Kenya |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-12&r=afr |
| By: | Banerjee, Sudeshna; Foster, Vivien; Ying, Yvonne; Skilling, Heather; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | Water and sanitation utilities in Africa operate in a high-cost environment. They also have a mandate to at least partially recover their costs of operations and maintenance (O&M). As a result, water tariffs are higher than in other regions of the world. The increasing block tariff (IBT) is the most common tariff structure in Africa. Most African utilities are able to achieve O&M cost recovery at the highest block tariffs, but not at the first-block tariffs, which are designed to provide affordable water to low-volume consumers, who are often poor. At the same time, few utilities can recover even a small part of their capital costs, even in the highest tariff blocks. Unfortunately, the equity objectives of the IBT structure are not met in many countries. The subsidy to the lowest tariff-block does not benefit the poor exclusively, and the minimum consumption charge is often burdensome for the poorest customers. Many poor households cannot even afford a connection to the piped water network. This can be a significant barrier to expansion for utilities. Therefore, many countries have begun to subsidize household connections. For many households, standposts managed by utilities, donors, or private operators have emerged as an alternative to piped water. Those managed by utilities or that supply utility water are expected to use the formal utility tariffs, which are kept low to make water affordable for low-income households. The price for water that is resold through informal channels, however, is much more expensive than piped water. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Infrastructure Economics,Urban Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Systems,Energy Production and Transportation |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5384&r=afr |
| By: | Abigail Barr; Marleen Dekker; Marcel Fafchamps |
| Abstract: | Previous analyses of the formation and comparison of community based organizations (CBOs) have used cross section data. So, causal inference has been compromised. We obviate this problem by using data from a quai-experiment in which villages were formed by government officials selecting and clustering households. Our findings are as follow: CBO co-memberships are more likely between geographically proximate households and less likely between early and late settlers, members of female headed households are not excluded, in poorer villages CBO co-membership networks are denser and, while wealthier households may have been instrumental in setting up CBOs, poorer households engage shortly afterwards. |
| Keywords: | Community Based Organizations; quasi-experiment; social networks |
| JEL: | D71 D31 O12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-21&r=afr |
| By: | Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero |
| Abstract: | The Kenyan Constituency Development Fund (CDF) aims to alleviate poverty by allocating resources to constituencies which MPs and residents decide how to spend. In this paper we assess whether MPs’ re-election chances were affected by their management of the CDF. For this purpose we analyse the type of projects implemented by the CDF and residents’ opinion about their MP and the CDF. We find that MPs’ re-election chances were influenced by MPs’ ethnicity and by the way MPs allocated the CDF. MPs who run the most projects on education and the least on other projects such as health or water were less likely to be re-elected. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, Accountability, Elections, Africa, Kenya |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-09&r=afr |
| By: | Keener, Sarah; Luengo, Manuel; Banerjee, Sudeshna |
| Abstract: | Standpipes that dispense water from utilities are the most common alternatives to piped water connections for poor customers in the cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. Fifty-five percent of the unconnected urban population relies on standpipes as their first water source. Other informal water providers include household resellers and a variety of water tankers and vendors, which are the first water source of 1 percent and 3 percent of the urban population, respectively. In the cities studied, the percentage of unconnected households ranges from 12 percent to 86 percent of the population. The percentage of unconnected people covered by standpipes is substantially higher for countries with higher rates of household connection, while the percentage of unconnected people covered by water tankers or water vendors is higher for countries with lower rates of household connection. Water prices in the informal market are much higher than for households with private connections or yard taps. Although standpipes are heavily subsidized by utilities, the prices charged by standpipe operators are closely related to the informal water reseller price. Standpipe management models also affect the informal price of water. For example, the shift from utilities management to delegated management models without complementary regulation or consumer information has often led to declines in service levels and increased prices. Standpipes are not the only or even the most efficient solution in peri-urban areas. Programs that promote private household connections and arrangements that improve pricing and services in the household resale market should also be considered by policy makers. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Urban Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water and Industry,Water Conservation |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5387&r=afr |
| By: | KOISSY KPEIN Sandrine |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 23 sub-Saharan African countries to highlight the link between mothers’ empowerment and gender bias in schooling decisions in monogamous households. Based on the collective model of Chiappori (1988, 1992), the analysis starts with the argument that altruistic fathers and mothers have different effects on the education of their sons and daughters as a result of differences in their preferences and/or in the children’s human capital technologies. Our empirical analysis uses traditional indicators of women’s empowerment (education, labor market participation) and more fastidious indicators provided by DHS surveys (access to mass media, decisions about the use of earnings, etc.). The results suggest that empowering mothers could lead to improving girls’ school attendance. |
| JEL: | D19 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-19&r=afr |
| By: | Neil Rankin; Justin Sandefur; Francis Teal |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of learning - through formal schooling and time spent in the labor market - in explaining labor market outcomes of urban workers in Ghana and Tanzania. We investigate these issues using a new data set measuring incomes of both formal sector wage workers and the self-employed in the informal sector. In both countries we find significant, convex returns to education and large earnings differentials between sectors when we pool the data and do not control for selection. In Ghana there is a particularly steep age-earnings profile. We investigate how far a Harris-Todaro model of market segmentation or a Roy model of selection can explain the patterns observed in the data. We find highly significant differences across occupations and important effects from selection in both countries. The data is consistent with a pattern by which higher ability individuals queue for the high wage formal sector jobs such that the age earnings profile is convex for the self-employed in Ghana once we control for selection. The returns to education are far higher in the large firm sector than in others and in this sector they are linear not convex. In both countries there is clear evidence of convexity in the returns to education for the self-employed and here the average returns are low. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-02&r=afr |
| By: | Pieter Serneels; Jose G. Montalvo; Gunilla Pettersson; Tomas Lievens; Jean Damascene Butera; Aklilu Kidanu |
| Abstract: | Background: Most developing countries face shortages of health workers in rural areas. This has profound consequences for health service delivery, and ultimately for health outcomes. To design policies that rectify these geographic imbalances it is vital to understand what factors determine health workers’ choice to work in rural areas. But empirical analysis of health worker preferences has remained limited due to the lack of data. Methods: Using unique contingent valuation data from a cohort survey of 412 nursing and medical students in Rwanda, this paper examines the determinants of future health workers’ willingness to work in rural areas, as measured by rural reservation wages, using regression analysis. These data are also combined with those from an identical survey in Ethiopia to enable a two-country analysis. Results: Health workers with higher intrinsic motivation - measured as the importance attached to helping the poor - as well as those who have grown up in a rural area, and Adventists who participate in a local bonding scheme are all significantly more willing to work in a rural area. The main Rwanda result for intrinsic motivation is strikingly similar to that obtained for Ethiopia and Rwanda together. Discussion: The results suggest that in addition to economic incentives, intrinsic motivation and rural origin play an important role in health workers’ decisions to work in a rural area, and that faith-based institutions matter. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-10&r=afr |
| By: | Eleonora Nillesen (Wageningen University); Philip Verwimp (University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | This paper challenges the idea that farmers revert to subsistence farming when confronted with violence from civil war. While there is an emerging macroeconomic consensus that wars are detrimental to development, we find contrasting microeconomic evidence. Using several rounds of (panel) data at the farm and community level, we find that farmers in Burundi who are confronted with civil war violence in their home communities increase export and cash crop growing activities, invest more in public goods and reveal higher levels subjective welfare evaluations. We interpret this in the light of similar recent micro-level evidence that points to post-traumatic growth effects after (civil) warfare. Our results are confirmed across specifications as well as in robustness analyses. |
| Keywords: | Civil war, investment, post-traumatic growth |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:25&r=afr |
| By: | Abigail Barr; Andrew Zeitlin |
| Abstract: | This paper tests the external validity of a simple Dictator Game as a laboratory analogue for a naturally occurring policy-relevant decision-making context. In Uganda, where teacher absenteeism is a problem, primary school teachers’ allocations to parents in a Dictator Game are positively but weakly correlated with their time allocations to teaching and, so, negatively correlated with their absenteeism. Guided by a simple theoretical model, we find that the correlation can be improved by allowing for (a) variations in behavioural reference points across teachers and schools and (b) the positive effect if some School Management Committees on teacher attendance . |
| Keywords: | Public service, Education, Experiments, Africa, external validity, Methodology |
| JEL: | C91 D64 I29 O15 O17 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-11&r=afr |
| By: | Justin Sandefur |
| Abstract: | The size of the informal sector is commonly associated with low per capita GDP and a poor business environment. Recent episodes of reform and growth in several African countries appear to contradict this pattern. From the mid 1980’s onward, Ghana underwent dramatic liberalization and achieved steady growth, yet average firm size in the manufacturing sector fell from 19 to just 9 employees between 1987 and 2003. I use a new panel of Ghanaian firms, spanning 17 years immediately post-reform, to model firm dynamics that differ markedly from well-established ‘stylized facts’ in the empirical literature from other regions. In contrast with American and European firms, entry of new firms and selection on observable characteristics, rather than within-firm growth, dominates industrial evolution in Ghana. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-05&r=afr |
| By: | Kindi Fredrick Immanuel (Makerere University) |
| Abstract: | Since the late 1980s to 2006, the northern region of Uganda underwent an armed conflict between the government of Uganda and the rebel group led by Joseph Kony. The conflict displaced virtually the entire population in the region, and by 1990 people were living in Internally Displaced peoples’ camps. As the war winds up, many people have left the camps returning to their former villages. The journey back home has not been easy, however. For women in particular, many are facing a lot of challenges especially related to access, ownership and use of land. Using data that was qualitatively gathered in two IDP camps in Gulu district, northern Uganda, the paper examines these challenges. It argues however that despite the challenges, opportunities do exist that can be exploited, if there is commitment by various stakeholders, to ensure that women access, own and use land in the return process. |
| Keywords: | armed conflict, women, land rights, IDPs, reconstruction |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:26&r=afr |
| By: | Paul Conway; Sean Dougherty; Artur Radziwill |
| Abstract: | Taken together, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa – the “BIICS” – have been an important engine for world growth, and they account for a growing share of global output. However, further reforms will be needed to ensure catch-up to OECD GDP per capita levels over the long term. This paper uses the OECD’s Going for Growth framework, as well as other available evidence linking policies to economic performance, to identify key structural policy challenges in the BIICS for the years ahead. While such challenges vary from country to country, common areas for reform include strengthening policies in the areas of education, product market regulation and labour markets, as well as improving more basic market institutions. This Working Paper relates to the OECD’s Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2010 (www.oecd.org/goingforgrowth) and the Economic Surveys of China, India, South Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys)<P>Croissance de long terme et défis de politique économique dans les grandes économies émergentes<BR>Pris ensemble, l’Afrique du Sud, le Brésil, la Chine, l’Inde et l’Indonésie - les « BIICS » - ont largement contribué à la croissance mondiale et ils représentent une part croissante de la production mondiale. Cependant, de nouvelles réformes seront nécessaires pour leur permettre de rattraper, à terme, les niveaux de PIB par habitant des pays de l’OCDE. Le présent chapitre utilise le cadre d’analyse mis au point par l’OCDE pour les besoins du projet Objectif croissance, ainsi que d’autres données établissant un lien entre les politiques publiques et la performance économique, pour identifier les principaux enjeux de politique structurelle auxquels les BIICS vont être confrontés dans les années à venir. Ces enjeux diffèrent selon les pays, mais un certain nombre de réformes communes semblent nécessaires, notamment pour renforcer les politiques publiques dans les domaines de l’éducation, de la réglementation des marchés de produits et du marché du travail, ainsi que pour améliorer certaines institutions fondamentales de l’économie de marché. Ce Document de travail se rapporte aux Réformes économiques: Objectif croissance 2010 (www.oecd.org/objectifcroissance) et aux Études économiques de l'OCDE de : la Chine, l’Inde, l’Afrique du Sud, l’Indonésie, et le Brésil (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes). |
| Keywords: | education, institutions, regulation, structural policy, indicators, reforms, poverty, income, institutions, éducation, régulation, politique structurelle, indicateurs, réformes, pauvreté, revenus |
| JEL: | O4 P5 |
| Date: | 2010–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:755-en&r=afr |
| By: | Gulyani, Sumila; Talukdar, Debabrata; Jack, Darby |
| Abstract: | In this paper the authors compare indicators of development, infrastructure, and living conditions in the slums of Dakar, Nairobi, and Johannesburg using data from 2004 World Bank surveys. Contrary to the notion that most African cities face similar slum problems, find that slums in the three cities differ dramatically from each other on nearly every indicator examined. Particularly striking is the weak correlation of measures of income and human capital with infrastructure access and quality of living conditions. For example, residents of Dakar’s slums have low levels of education and high levels of poverty but fairly decent living conditions. By contrast, most of Nairobi’s slum residents have jobs and comparatively high levels of education, but living conditions are but extremely bad . And in Johannesburg, education and unemployment levels are high, but living conditions are not as bad as in Nairobi. These findings suggest that reduction in income poverty and improvements in human development do not automatically translate into improved infrastructure access or living conditions. Since not all slum residents are poor, living conditions also vary within slums depending on poverty status. Compared to their non-poor neighbors, the poorest residents of Nairobi or Dakar are less likely to use water (although connection rates are similar) or have access to basic infrastructure (such as electricity or a mobile phone). Neighborhood location is also a powerful explanatory variable for electricity and water connections, even after controlling for household characteristics and poverty. Finally, tenants are less likely than homeowners to have water and electricity connections. |
| Keywords: | Housing&Human Habitats,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Urban Slums Upgrading,Urban Services to the Poor,Town Water Supply and Sanitation |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5388&r=afr |
| By: | Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the factors that shaped Kenyan’s voting intentions in the 2007 presidential election. Using data from a public opinion survey conducted two weeks before the election we are able to evaluate the relative importance of what shaped voting behavior comprehensively, taking into account factors such as ethnicity, access to public services, incidence of poverty and wealth differences across ethnic groups and across generations. We find strong evidence that ethnic identity was the main factor determining voting intentions and to a lesser extent grievances, economic well-being, and access to public and private goods. However, the relative importance of these factors depends on whether Kenyan voters identify themselves first and foremost in terms of their ethnicity, occupation or nationality. Those who identify themselves in terms of their ethnicity were influenced the most by access to public services. This evidence supports theories that suggest ethnic identity is a proxy used by voters to assess which candidate will give them greater access to public goods. |
| Keywords: | Voting behavior, ethnic identity, Kenya |
| JEL: | D72 D01 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-06&r=afr |
| By: | Otieno, David J.; Ruto, Eric; Hubbard, L.J. |
| Abstract: | Management of food-borne illnesses is important in ensuring food safety to consumers in both domestic and export markets. In livestock trade, various measures are prescribed under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With regard to food safety, the SPS agreement recommends establishment of Disease Free Zones (DFZs)in order to manage the spread of trans-boundary cattle diseases. DFZs have been successfully implemented in major beef exporting countries such as Australia, Botswana, Brazil and Namibia. In Kenya however, the DFZs are still in a pilot stage and it is important to understand farmersâ preferences on the type of DFZ that would be readily acceptable to them. A choice experiment survey was conducted in Kenya using a D-optimal design to determine the main attributes that farmers prefer in a DFZ. A total of 343 farmers were interviewed and the data analysed using random parameter logit models. Results showed that farmers would be willing to participate in a DFZ where they are provided with adequate training on pasture development, record keeping and disease monitoring skills; cattle are properly labelled for ease of identification; market information and sales contract opportunities are guaranteed; and some monetary compensation is provided in case cattle die due to severe disease outbreaks. Preferences for the DFZ attributes are heterogeneous across different cattle production systems in Kenya. These findings have important implications for policy on the design of DFZ programmes in Kenya and other countries that face cattle disease challenges. |
| Keywords: | Farmer preferences, Disease Free Zone, choice experiment, Random Parameter Logit, Kenya, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2010–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc10:91951&r=afr |
| By: | Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah; Francis Teal; Moses Awoonor-Williams |
| Abstract: | Poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While education, particularly at the post secondary level, is associated with far higher earnings there is no evidence that the increase in earnings that occurred over the period from1998 to 2005 is due to increased returns to education or increased levels of education. In contrast there is very strong evidence, for all levels of education, that the probability of having a public sector job approximately halved over the period from 1991 while the probability of having a job in a small firm increased very substantially. In 1991/92 a male worker with secondary education had a 7 per cent probability of being employed in a small firm, by 2005/06 this had increased to 20 per cent which was higher than the probability of being employed by the public sector. Employment in small firms, which is the low paying occupation within the urban sector, increased from 2.7 to 6.7 percent of the population, an increase from 225,000 to 886,000 employees. Jobs in total have been increasing in line with the population but the proportion of relatively low paying ones increased markedly from 1998/99 to 2005/06. The rises in income that occurred over this period were due almost entirely to increases in earnings rates, for given levels of education, across all job types particularly among the unskilled. Why unskilled earnings rates rose so rapidly is unclear. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-01&r=afr |
| By: | Morten Bøås (Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies); Ingunn Bjørkhaug (Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies) |
| Abstract: | This report questions mainstream approaches to the reintegration of youthful ex-combatants. In Liberia, the disarmament and demobilisation was implemented quite effectively, but several questions can be asked about the components of reintegration and rehabilitation in the DDR-process. Most ex-combatants are currently unemployed or underemployed as the programmes initiated first and foremost prepared them for jobs that did not exist. The programmes also worked from the assumption that wartime experiences, networks and command structures had to be broken down as they were seen as counterproductive to peace and reconciliation. Drawing on previous research in Liberia the hypothesis is that reintegration can better be achieved through peaceful remobilisation that allows the ex-combatants to make use of the skills, experiences and networks gained through the war. This is illustrated by the recent experience of a nightwatch patrol in Voinjama in Lofa County that was based on rank and command structure from the war which responded to local community demands and filled a security vacuum. This is an alternative path to reintegration that needs further analysis, and the article argued that this should be based on the premises of a genuine understanding of the background of Liberia’s young ex-combatants and the nature and form of their involvement in violent conflict. Many people were involved in the war, but most only fought for certain periods. The motivations for joining varied, but the collected data from our various studies shows that security considerations were among the most important factors. Most combatants were ordinary people who joined for the sake of protection for themselves, their families and their communities. DDR in Liberia, as elsewhere, is, however, built on the assumption that there is something particularly dangerous and marginalised about the group of people who constituted the rank-and-file of the factions involved in the war. This is, as we have seen, not necessarily the case. DDR is very much a reaction to the notion that these people are unattached to society, set apart in their own world, and therefore needs particular attention. The article will therefore suggests that DDR approaches are in dire need of a rethinking that links them more directly to programmes aimed at social cohesion and societal security. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:28&r=afr |
| By: | UCW |
| Abstract: | La présente étude, qui s’inscrit dans le cadre du Programme UCW au Sénégal, a pour but de fournir, d’une part, une vue d’ensemble du phénomène (son ampleur, ses caractéristiques, ses répercussions sur la santé et sur l’éducation des enfants) et, d’autre part, un panorama des efforts entrepris au niveau national pour le maîtriser. Notre travail répond à quatre grands objectifs du projet UCW dans le pays (i) approfondir la compréhension du phénomène du travail des enfants et par là, appuyer la mise en oeuvre de politiques et de programmes adéquats ; (ii) promouvoir le débat politique sur le travail des enfants en tant que facteur de vulnérabilité sociale; (iii) analyser l’interdépendance des relations entre abandon scolaire précoce, travail des enfants et performances futures sur le marché du travail et (iv) participer à l’établissement d’une capacité nationale de recherche, de collecte et d’analyse des données relatives au travail des enfants et à l’emploi des jeunes. |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucw:counst:14&r=afr |
| By: | Chiara Cazzuffi; Alexander Moradi |
| Abstract: | Using a complete panel of Ghanaian cocoa producers’ societies in the 1930s, we investigate whether group interaction problems threatened i) capital accumulation, ii) cocoa sales and iii) cooperative survival as membership size increased. We find evidence of group interaction problems. The net effect, however, is positive indicating gains from economies of scale as cooperatives expanded their membership. |
| Keywords: | cooperatives, firm survival, collective action problems, Ghana |
| JEL: | J54 N57 Q13 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-18&r=afr |
| By: | Danila Serra; Pieter Serneels; Abigail Barr |
| Abstract: | Economists have traditionally assumed that individual behavior is motivated exclusively by extrinsic incentives. Social psychologists, in contrast, stress that intrinsic motivations are also important. In recent work, economic theorists have started to build psychological factors, like intrinsic motivations, into their models. Besley and Ghatak (2005) propose that individuals are differently motivated in that they have different “missions,” and their self-selection into sectors or organizations with matching missions enhances organizational efficiency. We test Besley and Ghatak’s model using data from a unique cohort study. We generate two proxies for intrinsic motivations: a survey-based measure of the health professionals philanthropic motivations and an experimental measure of their pro-social motivations. We find that both proxies predict health professionals’ decision to work in the non-profit sector. We also find that philanthropic health workers employed in the non-profit sector earn lower wages than their colleagues. |
| JEL: | C93 I11 J24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-04&r=afr |