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on Africa |
| By: | Jan Hofmeyr (Jan Hofmeyr heads the Policy and Analysis Unit of theInstitute for Justice and Reconciliation) |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/34&r=afr |
| By: | Johan venter (Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores approaches to entrepreneurship training and education based on the experiences of interventions by institutes of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia). The paper explores such approaches against the nature of labour market demands in Africa, notably abject poverty and a paucity of job opportunities for especially the youth, notwithstanding commendable economic growth figures for many countries. Achievements and pitfalls were abounding. It would seem however from the experience of the initiatives, a clear and focused approach to entrepreneurship training has the potential to deliver results. Foremost is the acknowledgement of certain targeted groups such as rural communities, women and especially the youth, all with their particular and sometimes unique needs. Thereafter the issues of Business Development Services (BDS), infusing entrepreneurship training and blended learning, and their particular pedagogical and approaches, should be carefully considered. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/22&r=afr |
| By: | Renee van Eyden (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Goodness C. Aye (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | The study evaluates the forecasting ability of models of South Africa’s real fixed business nonresidential investment spending growth over the recent 2003:1–2011:4 out-of-sample period. The forecasting models are based on the Accelerator, Neoclassical, Cash-Flow, Average Q, Stock Price and Excess Stock Return Predictors models of investment spending. The Average Q, Stock Price and Return Predictors models appear more important in forecasting the behaviour of South Africa’s business investment spending growth over the recent 2003:1–2011:4 out-of-sample period. The results from this study point to the important role of the stock market in promoting investment growth in South Africa, underscoring the need for stock market development. Also, stock market variables seem to play an increasingly important role in predicting investment spending behaviour in recent times. |
| Keywords: | business fixed investment spending, out-of-sample forecasts, mean squared forecast error, forecast encompassing |
| JEL: | C22 C53 E22 E27 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201229&r=afr |
| By: | Sekabira, Haruna; Bonabana, Jackline; Asingwire, Narathius |
| Abstract: | Market access is increasingly relying on ICTs like telephony, internet and radios that are only adopted at a slow pace and haphazardly. Despite the need for ICTs in Market Information Services (MIS), ICT adoption and usage in Africa is very low. Little is known about available ICTs for use in MIS including; technology, its potential users, and characteristics of both entities. Closing such knowledge gaps is justified. The study assessed adoption of ICT-based MIS by smallholder farmers and traders in Mayuge, specifically determining; ICT components used, factors influencing; adoption of ICT-based MIS and choice of ICT component used. Stratified random sampling was used to collect data with structured questionnaires administered to 150 farmers and 50 traders and analysed using SPSS and STATA. Majority of adopters were males. Fifty four percent of respondents had knowledge of existence of ICT groups but only 22% had membership despite 80% agreeing that ICTs benefit agriculture. Average experience in using ICTs was 3.16 years and 55% of respondents were of primary education. The radio was the most used old ICT whereas the mobile phone was most used new ICT and mostly for calls. Expensive handsets, poverty, poor power supply, lack of expertise and poor network coverage limited ICT use. Logit model results showed that farmers with knowledge of existence of ICT groups and those who thought that ICTs benefited agriculture were more likely adopters. Family size and land farmed previous season significantly influenced farmers’ adoption, whereas age, trading experience, family size and monthly expenses on ICTs influenced traders’ adoption. Family size significantly and positively influenced adoption for both small-scale farmers and traders. Households that majorly used ICTs for making profit were more likely to use the mobile phone, whereas those who stayed further from towns were less likely to use it. If government dedicates her support to public education, rural ICT-based initiatives like BROSDI, rural electrification and rural income generating initiatives, households could adopt ICTs for MIS more. Further research need to be done to determine the impact of ICTs on agricultural productivity, and welfare of smallholders in Uganda. |
| Keywords: | Smallholder farmers and traders, ICTs, market information services, logit model, Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:135879&r=afr |
| By: | Sheahan, Megan; Black, Roy; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | Despite upward trends in fertilizer application rates on maize fields over the last twenty years, there remains a perception in Kenya that fertilizer use is not expanding quickly enough and that application rates are not high enough to reverse the country’s growing national food deficit. In 2007, this manifested in the creation of a comprehensive multi-million dollar fertilizer and improved seed subsidy and training program, the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Program (NAAIAP), with the objective of raising food production and farm productivity. However, little nationwide and longer term evidence exists to determine whether higher fertilizer application rates are profitable for farmers and whether they would have an incentive to continue using it on commercial terms after graduating from the subsidy program. |
| Keywords: | Kenya, Fertilizer, Food Security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midiwp:135283&r=afr |
| By: | Salvatore Di Falco (London School of Economics and Political Science); Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | We analyse and compare the impact of different adaptation strategies on crop net revenues in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. We implement a counterfactual analysis, and estimate a multinomial endogenous switching regression model of climate change adaptation and crop net revenues. We combine data from 1,000 farm households with spatial climate data at the farm household level in Ethiopia. We find that adaptation to climate change based upon a combination of strategies -opposed to strategies adopted in isolation- increases farm net revenues. In particular, the combinations of changing crops with water or soil conservation strategies deliver the highest pay off. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, climate change, endogenous switching, Ethiopia, net revenues |
| JEL: | Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:14/2012&r=afr |
| By: | Parmar, Divya; Souares, Aurélia; de Allegri, Manuela; Savadogo, Germain; Sauerborn, Rainer |
| Abstract: | Background Although most community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes are voluntary, problem of adverse selection is hardly studied. Evidence on the impact of targeted subsidies on adverse selection is completely missing. This paper investigates adverse selection in a CBHI scheme in Burkina Faso. First, we studied the change in adverse selection over a period of 4 years. Second, we studied the effect of targeted subsidies on adverse selection. Methods The study area, covering 41 villages and 1 town, was divided into 33 clusters and CBHI was randomly offered to these clusters during 2004–06. In 2007, premium subsidies were offered to the poor households. The data was collected by a household panel survey 2004–2007 from randomly selected households in these 33 clusters (n = 6795). We applied fixed effect models. Results We found weak evidence of adverse selection before the implementation of subsidies. Adverse selection significantly increased the next year and targeted subsidies largely explained this increase. Conclusions Adverse selection is an important concern for any voluntary health insurance scheme. Targeted subsidies are often used as a tool to pursue the vision of universal coverage. At the same time targeted subsidies are also associated with increased adverse selection as found in this study. Therefore, it’s essential that targeted subsidies for poor (or other high-risk groups) must be accompanied with a sound plan to bridge the financial gap due to adverse selection so that these schemes can continue to serve these populations. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:lselon:http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46664/&r=afr |
| By: | N. Yaduma; M. Kortelainen; A. Wossink |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1223&r=afr |
| By: | Tumuhairwe Collins |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/37&r=afr |
| By: | Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Tim Schloendorn (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich); Astrid Zabel (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich); Stefanie Engel (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an important topic in the debate on policies to mitigate climate change. This is the first study to test and compare the environmental impact of different REDD+ payment schemes in the field, and provide some insights on the effectiveness of different policies with respect to the permanence of forest-based emission reductions. This study implements a stated preference experiment of time allocation in the unique setting of the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya, where charcoaling is a major source of forest degradation. The impact on time allocation is analyzed under the presumption that a hypothetical agricultural policy or an eco-charcoaling policy was introduced. We find that a policy that indexes eco-charcoal payments to charcoalers’ opportunity costs is the most effective policy in providing permanence in REDD+: it lowers the amount of labor allocated to charcoaling even at high charcoal prices. |
| Keywords: | REDD, permanence, deforestation, time allocation, Kenya |
| JEL: | I38 J22 O13 Q18 Q23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:15/2012&r=afr |
| By: | Telalagic, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that wives in developing countries use domestic labour as a tool to incentivise husbands, especially when they lack power and cannot credibly threaten divorce. In Malawi, husbands often supplement farm income with wage labour. In our model, this creates moral hazard: husbands may not make sufficient effort to bring home wages. Wives use different tools to incentivise husbands. They either threaten them with divorce or alter their domestic labour. Our theory predicts that wives who would be hurt badly by divorce resort to using domestic labour as a source of power. Others, having better "outside options", use a combination of the two or only divorce threat. We confirm this prediction using survey data from Malawi. Identification is based on the fact that Malawi’s kinship traditions exogenously determine outside options. Wives in patrilineal cultures (with low outside options) react to good consumption outcomes by significantly increasing domestic labour and reducing leisure, whereas matrilineal wives do not. The effect is particularly strong for patrilineal wives with no natal land inheritance. This suggests that land inheritance is a crucial determinant of the accessibility of divorce to women in Malawi. |
| Keywords: | Intra-household allocation, domestic production, divorce, moral hazard, matriliny, Malawi |
| JEL: | D13 D82 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1243&r=afr |
| By: | Odozi, John C, |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to synthesize the various views of gender inequality and various indicators used to measure it. It argues that women lag behind men in most indicators of socio-economic development and they constitute the majority of the poor, the unemployed and the socially disadvantaged. Productive differences as espoused by the traditional neoclassical as well as the institutions and markets advancement are not sufficient to explain gender inequality. The political economy view of power and self-interest enshrined at the household, community and government play relevant role in defining gender gaps. Growth models that are institutionally blind completely leaves out the impact that social institutions such as family, school, unions, government have in shaping inequalities. The collective self-interest and power within institutions motivate men and women to allocate the resource under their control to activities that best enable them to fulfill their obligations rather than to activities that are common |
| Keywords: | Gender; inequality; Growth; socio economic gap; Policitcal economy and Sustainable development |
| JEL: | D63 D31 B54 I32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41826&r=afr |
| By: | Masresha Andarge; Mieke van Riet (Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands); Patrick Martens (Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | The practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a common traditional practice among the Afar communities of Eastern Ethiopia. FGM, as well as other harmful traditional practices, including early marriage, face branding with sharp tools and abduction, are common among the Afar communities of Eastern Ethiopia. This has been threatening the lives of women and children and remains very prevalent. The practice of FGM, although now illegal in Ethiopia, continues and has been sustained by deep-rooted cultural values and habits. Despite world wide publicity and attention, FGM has proved to be difficult to eradicate. The problems in Dawe district are exacerbated by poor health service coverage and high maternal and child mortality rates caused by a variety of health-related factors. The region is in general underdeveloped and remote from the major towns and cities. That FGM seriously violates women’s and girl’s sexual rights as well as being harmful to the health of any woman is now well-established fact. The traditional thinking in the Afar communities, however, forces women to want and undergo the practice without questioning. This situation is not unique to Dawe in Ethiopia: even after more than 25 years of effort to reduce FGM, there is still a limited understanding of the practice, and the success and fail-factors in the approaches used. Results of interventions are variable, and to some, are disappointing considering the large efforts dedicated to erasing this practice. Studies find that in certain communities, reported FGM numbers are still as high as 80-100% of all females (WHO, 2010). The Afar Women Support Project (AWSP), implemented by the Ethiopian NGO, ‘Action for Integrated Sustainable Development Association’ (AISDA), is assessed as a relevant case study in this paper. The AWSP received funding from the Dutch SK Foundation following an initial incubation of the project design in an educational program at the Maastricht School of Management (MSM). The design phase started with comprehensive problem identification leading to detailed planned in a combination of implementation strategies encompassing ‘hard’ medical training, including the provision of basic kits for improved child delivery services for Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), and ‘soft’ measures focused on achieving attitude change through integrated community development and mass mobilization using different communication strategies appropriate to the local setting. The project was launched immediately after the signing of an operational agreement with the main stakeholders of the regional state in consultation with Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Food Security Programs Coordination Bureau (DPPFSPCB), Women, Children and Youth Affairs Bureau (WCYAB), Bureau of Health (BoH). Religious and clan leaders were involved as important stakeholders whose support and participation proved vital. A specific component was targeted at youth and schools where the future momentum for lasting change will come from. The project implementation approach was based on stakeholder participation throughout and undergirded by application of a rigorous project methodology – ‘Project Cycle Management.’ This paper critically examines the activities and results of the AWSP drawing conclusions from the wide-ranging project activities and distilling lessons for the future. Also, some recent relevant literature on FGM is traversed given the increasing attention to attitude and behavior change as key factors in overcoming health and education related problems in overcoming poverty. In this regard, it is argued that the AWSP’s activities and results provide an important contribution to the field, particularly concerning appropriate strategies to overcome deeply engrained, but harmful cultural norms and traditions. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/20&r=afr |
| By: | Auriol, Emmanuelle; Demonsant, Jean-Luc |
| Abstract: | This paper examines determinants of schooling in traditional hierarchical societies with an established history of outmigration. In the village, a ruling caste controls local political and religious institutions. For children who do not belong to the ruling caste, migration is a strategy to increase social mobility, a process that is enhanced by formal schooling. Since formally educated migrants tend not to return to the home community, the ruling caste seeks to develop family loyalty by choosing religious education instead. The theory hence predicts that the social status of the family has a significant impact on the parental educational choices of future migrant children. Children from the ruling caste who are encouraged by their parents to migrate have a lower probability of being sent to formal school than children from the low caste. The theoretical predictions are tested on data from the Matam region in Senegal, a region where roughly one of every two children has ever attended school. |
| JEL: | I21 O12 O15 O17 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:toulou:http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr/3236/&r=afr |
| By: | Élisé Wendlassida Miningou (Department of Economics, Université de Sherbrooke); Valérie Vierstraete (Department of Economics, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Abstract: | Primary education plays a central role in the Burkinabe school system. Several projects have been launched that contribute to expanding the resources available for basic education in Burkina Faso. However, education systems in the different administrative regions of Burkina Faso may not all be equally capable of employing the resources they receive to generate significant results. This study uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to assess the efficiency with which basic education is provided throughout the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso. Overall, our results reveal that resources are not used optimally for the provision of basic education in the provinces of Burkina Faso. Moreover, in most of the provinces studied, returns to scale in basic education are decreasing. In order to explain inefficiency scores, we also use the Simar and Wilson (2007) procedure. We find that households' living situation can explain efficiency in primary education provision. |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Primary education, Burkina Faso, Bootstrap procedures |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:12-12&r=afr |
| By: | Philip Verwimp |
| Abstract: | Civil wars often force people to leave their homes. Displaced populations run higher risk in terms of disease, hunger and death, something that is well-documented. They leave their land, cattle and other assets behind for an uncertain existence in a refugee camp or depend on relatives or friends. But what happens when they return back home? This paper investigates the food security and poverty of formerly displaced persons and their household. Using the 2006 Core Welfare Indicator Survey for Burundi we compare their food intake and their level of expenses with that of their non-displaced neighbours. We test whether it is the duration of displacement that matters for current welfare or the time lapsed since returning. We use log-linear and ordered probit models as well as propensity score matching. We find that the individuals and households who returned home just before the time of the survey are worse off compared to those who returned several years earlier. It takes 8 to 10 years after return before the level of welfare of the displaced converges to that of the non-displaced. The duration of displacement seems not to matter. On average, the formerly displaced have 20% lower expenses per adult equivalent compared to the non-displaced, 15% lower food expenses but only 6 % lower calorie intake, showing that the formerly displaced consume relatively more high calorie products. The formerly displaced also report more children with a smaller size at birth. Despite international, government and NGO assistance, the welfare of recent returnees is lagging seriously behind in comparison with the local non-displaced populations. |
| Keywords: | Forced Displacement; Food Security; Nutrition; Poverty; Burundi |
| Date: | 2012–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/129111&r=afr |