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on Africa |
| By: | Benjamin, Paul |
| Keywords: | labour dispute settlement, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, labour legislation, comment, South Africa R, règlement des conflits du travail, conciliation, médiation, arbitrage, législation du travail, commentaire, Afrique du Sud R, arreglo de conflicto de trabajo, conciliación, mediación, arbitraje, legislación del trabajo, comentario, República de Sudáfrica |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:480297&r=afr |
| By: | Burger, Rulof (Stellenbosch University); van der Berg, Servaas (Stellenbosch University); Von Fintel, Dieter (Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | In the late 1990s the South African Department of Education implemented two policies that were meant to reduce the large number of over-age learners in the school system: schools were no longer allowed to accept students who were more than two years older than the correct grade-age and students could not be held back more than once in each of four schooling phases. Our analysis uses school administrative data and household survey data to show that these policies coincided with a decrease in school enrolment of at least 400,000 and possibly more than 900,000 learners. These policies appear to have pushed many students into the labour market at earlier ages than was observed for previous generations, which explains much of the sudden increase in labour force participation and unemployment during this period. However, since these individuals would probably have entered the labour market sooner if not for their poor employment prospects, we argue that the resulting increase in unemployment signifies a more accurate reflection of disguised unemployment that already existed in the mid-1990s rather than a deterioration of labour market conditions. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, education, unemployment, participation |
| JEL: | J21 I25 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7450&r=afr |
| By: | Gilles Pison (Ined); Laetitia Douillot (Ined); Géraldine Duthé (Ined); Malick Kante (Ined); Cheikh Sokhna (Ined); Jean-François Trape (Ined) |
| Abstract: | Child mortality has declined in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 60 years but the decrease has not been regular: it has accelerated over some periods, as during the last decade, and slowed down in others. This is not solely attributable to HIV/AIDS. This paper examines in detail the trends observed in Senegal, an example of a country with low HIV prevalence but where trends in mortality have resembled those of the whole region. Both national and local level data are used, in particular the data on mortality and causes of deaths produced by the demographic surveillance systems (DSS) in the three rural areas of Bandafassi, Mlomp and Niakhar. Although Senegal experienced an appreciable fall in under-five mortality from the end of World War II, the country experienced a fifteen year stagnation in child mortality in the late 1980s and 1990s. This halt was due to a slowdown in vaccination efforts and a resurgence of malaria mortality linked to the spread of chloroquine resistance. The decrease in malaria and other infectious diseases thanks to renewed vaccination efforts and investment in anti-malaria programmes appears to be the main factor responsible for the return to a very rapid decline in under-five mortality observed during the 2000s. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:wpaper:195&r=afr |
| By: | Wamboye, Evelyn; Adekola, Abel |
| Abstract: | The issue of foreign aid dependency in African countries remains controversial among policy makers. So far, there is no consensus on aid effectiveness and the resulting policy prescriptions have been conflicting. The Euro zone which provides the bulk of foreign aid to developing countries, is currently implementing fiscal consolidation and some austerity programs. It is against this background that this study raises the question: What effects will such fiscal consolidation have on foreign aid flows? Therefore, the value of this study is the investigation of what really matters: The quantity or quality of foreign aid to support economic growth? We assess these issues within the framework of a country’s legal origin. The quantity effects are proxied by the quadratic term on the aid variable. Source-based proxies are used to measure the quality of aid effects. Our findings suggest that both quality and quantity of aid matters and that these effects differ based on a country’s legal origin. |
| Keywords: | Foreign aid; Economic growth; Legal origin; Least Developed Countries; Africa |
| JEL: | F35 F43 O1 O11 O19 |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47846&r=afr |
| By: | Boansi, David |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude and effect of various price and non-price factors on output of rough rice in Ghana for the period 1966-2009. Coefficients of the output response model were estimated through the ordinary least squares (OLS) and tested for stability and appropriate standard Gaussian properties. Output of rough rice was found to be positively and significantly driven by increases in harvested area, yield, own price and world price of rice with important indirect effects to producers. It however decreases with unit increases in the price of maize, urea fertilizer and with increasing state involvement in the rice market through nominal rate of assistance. Supply of local rice in Ghana could be improved through vigorous pursuance of intensification and area expansion and appropriate transmission of prices to farmers with least distortion. |
| Keywords: | Output response, nominal rate of assistance, rice supply, Ghana |
| JEL: | Q11 Q18 |
| Date: | 2013–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47861&r=afr |
| By: | Groce, Nora; Murray, Barbara; Loeb, Marie; Tramontano, Carlo; Trani, Jean Francois; Mekonen, Asfaw |
| Keywords: | begging, disabled person, disability, rights of disabled people, poverty, urban area, Ethiopia, mendicité, handicapé, incapacité, droits des personnes handicapées, pauvreté, zone urbaine, Ethiopie, mendicidad, persona con discapacidad, discapacidad, derechos de las personas con discapacidad, pobreza, zona urbana, Etiopia |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:480691&r=afr |
| By: | Björn Vollan; Sebastian Prediger; Markus Frölich |
| Abstract: | We examine the effectiveness of three democratically chosen rules that alleviate the coordination and cooperation problems inherent in collectively managed common-pool resources. In particular we investigate how rule effectiveness and rule compliance depends on the prevailing local norms and ecological values held by resource users. For this purpose, we employ a framed field experiment that is based on a rangeland model for semi-arid regions and carried out with communal farmers in Namibia and South Africa. Participants could vote for three ‘best practice’ management rules found in many places around the world that are discussed for implementation in the study area: (temporary) private property rights, rotational grazing or limitation of livestock numbers. All rules were designed in a way that facilitated cooperation or coordination of actions. The focus of this study lies on the interactions between these rules and prevalent ecological norms exhibited in the rounds prior to rule implementation. In contrast to previous lab experimental studies, we find that democratic voting of rules is not sufficient for high rule compliance and an overall enhancement in cooperation. Rules turned out to be inefficient if they were in conflict with the prevalent ecological norm. |
| Keywords: | field laboratory experiment, rule compliance, ecological norms, common-pool resource, adaptive co-management, Southern Africa |
| JEL: | C71 C92 Q24 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2013-15&r=afr |
| By: | Holden, Stein (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This study revisits the issue whether poverty and shocks are associated with high discount rates by using an incentive compatible Multiple Price List approach in a poor rural population in Africa where a substantial share of the population had been affected by drought in the recent rainy season. Randomized treatments included tests for present bias, magnitude effects and time horizon effects. While the study revealed significant present bias, magnitude and time horizon effects, average rates of time preference remained high after correcting for risk aversion. Exposure to drought increased the average rates of time preference by 42-47%. |
| Keywords: | Time preferences; poverty; climatic shocks; risk aversion; artifactual field experiment; Multiple Price List approach; Malawi |
| JEL: | C93 D91 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_008&r=afr |
| By: | Jean Paul Simon |
| Abstract: | The Information Society Unit of the JRC-IPTS has been investigating the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and its R&D in Asia for several years as an extension of the PREDICT research project. The workshop was organised as part of this on-going research to gather the most recent information on the growing role of BRICs Countries in the IT sector. |
| Keywords: | BRIC, Information and Communication Technologies, ICT industry |
| JEL: | O57 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc80745&r=afr |
| By: | Berge, Erling (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Kambewa, Daimon (University of Malawi); Munthali, Alister (Research Fellow at CSR); Wiig, Henrik (NIBR) |
| Abstract: | This paper is about land tenure relations among the matrilineal and patrilineal cultures in Malawi. Data from the National Agricultural and Livestock Census are used to characterize marriage systems and settlement and landholding patterns for local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal land holding. The differences between the two major ways of land holding represent a particular challenge for land reforms intending to unify rules for land tenure and land devolution. <p> The paper discusses the problems of formalisation and the idea of maintaining the diversity. If diversity is not respected there is a chance that some sections of society, especially communities with matrilineal land holding, might be victims of formalization. Based on analogy of the resilience of the patrilineal land holding system in Norway it is argued that a democratic system will have difficulty removing the preferential rights of linage members and it is recommended that the existing land rights are formally recognized and circumscribed by fair procedures. In a situation of diversity one goal of a well-designed land holding system should be to ease the transitions of the diverse customary tenure systems towards systems adapted to the requirements of a modern <p> large scale society rather than to a unified national system. |
| Keywords: | matrilinea; uxorilocal; patrilinea; virilocal; land tenur; inheritance; access rights; use rights; ownership rights; Malawi |
| JEL: | P48 Q15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_009&r=afr |
| By: | Mano, Yukichi; Suzuki, Aya |
| Abstract: | The exit and takeover of firms influence the structure and economic efficiency of an industry. The existing literature suggests that firms gradually learn about their own productivity. Some stagnate and ultimately exit if they encounter unfavorable prospects; others survive and grow. This selection process implies that the probability of firm exit initially increases with firm age as learning progresses before it eventually falls as learning is completed. We use a firm-level panel of Ethiopia’s cut flower industry to confirm this theoretical implication. The empirical results also suggest that takeover improves productivity and profitability of average firms endowed with a favorable business environment. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:econdp:2013-05&r=afr |
| By: | Steve Bass; Shannon Siyao Wang; Tadele Ferede; Daniel Fikreyesus |
| Abstract: | Ethiopian society, economy and environment are so intimately interlinked that systematic attention is essential if clashes are to be resolved and synergies realised. For example, the majority of poor people are principally dependent on agriculture but, in turn, society is dependent on farmers managing land well to sustain water supplies, biodiversity and other environmental services. Such relationships are dynamic and increasingly intense: climate change, rising population, resource scarcities and price volatilities put them all under pressure. An integrated perspective that works operationally is needed – one that makes economic, social and environmental sense and that inspires stakeholders. The holistic approach that the Ethiopian Government has recently developed aims to tackle the problems inherent in growth paths that produce environmental problems, and to realise potentials from investing in Ethiopia’s natural assets. For example, the country’s agricultural products and potential for green hydroelectric power are unique attributes that could drive development in ways that are environmentally sound and provide new jobs and satisfying livelihoods... |
| Date: | 2013–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envddd:2013/7-en&r=afr |
| By: | Margherita Calderone (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)); Jean-Francois Maystadt (International Food Policy Research Institute); Liangzhi You (International Food Policy Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Weather shocks and natural disasters, it has been argued, represent a major threat to national and international security. Our paper contributes to the emerging micro-level strand of the literature on the link between local variations in weather shocks and conflict by focusing on a pixel-level analysis for North and South Sudan at different geographical and time scales between 1997 and 2009. Temperature anomalies are found to strongly affect the risk of conflict. Compared to the baseline, in the future the risk is expected to magnify in a range of 21 to 30 percent under a median scenario - taking into account uncertainties in both the climate projection and the estimate of the response of violence to temperature variations. Extreme temperature shocks are found to strongly affect the likelihood of violence as well, but the predictive power is hindered by substantial uncertainty. Our paper also sheds light on the vulnerability of areas with particular biophysical characteristics or with vulnerable populations. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:149&r=afr |
| By: | Asongu , Simplice A |
| Abstract: | Abstract Purpose – This paper assesses dynamics of the knowledge economy (KE)-finance nexus using the four variables identified under the World Bank’s knowledge economy index (KEI) and seven financial intermediary dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size. Design/methodology/approach – Principal Component Analysis is used to reduce the dimensions of KE components before dynamic panel GMM estimation techniques are employed to examine the nexuses. Findings – Four main findings are established. (1) Education improves financial depth and financial efficiency but mitigates financial size. (2) But for a thin exception (trade’s incidence on money supply), economic incentives (credit facilities and trade) are not consistently favorable to financial development. (3) ICT improves only financial size and has a negative effect on other financial dynamics. (4) Proxies for innovation (journals and FDI) have a positive effect on financial activity; journals (FDI) have (has) a negative (positive) effect on liquid liabilities and; journals and FDI both have negative incidences on money supply and banking system efficiency respectively. Practical Implications – As a policy implication, the KE-finance nexus is a complex and multidimensional relationship. Hence, blind and blanket policy formulation to achieve positive linkages may not be successful unless policy-making strategy is contingent on the prevailing ‘KE specific component’ trends and dynamics of financial development. Policy makers should improve the economic incentive dimension of KE that overwhelmingly and consistently deters financial development, owing to surplus liquidity issues. Originality/value – As far as we have reviewed, this is the first paper to examine the KE-finance nexus with the plethora of KE dimensions defined by the World Bank’s KEI and all the dynamics identified by the Financial Development and Structure Database (FDSD). |
| Keywords: | Financial development; Knowledge Economy |
| JEL: | G21 O10 O34 P00 P48 |
| Date: | 2013–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47801&r=afr |