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on Africa |
| By: | Olivier J. Walther (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Long seen as artificial barriers inherited from decolonisation, West African borders now lie at the heart of policies designed to encourage regional trade and combat political instability. This rediscovery of the peripheries of the nation state has fostered a proliferation of institutional initiatives that aim to cultivate co-operation between countries, regions and municipalities while ensuring the protection and promoting the interests and rights of the people living in border regions. Despite these regional initiatives, the effective functioning of cross-border co-operation still remains largely unknown across West Africa. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap, with an analysis of both the social structure and the geography of West African governance networks. On the basis of this structural and geographic analysis, policy recommendations are formulated aimed at implementing policies that are more place-based, more attentive to relations between the actors at play in co-operation, and more specifically adapted to the constraints and opportunities of the West African region. |
| Keywords: | cross-border co-operation, governance, networks, regional integration, West Africa |
| JEL: | O18 O19 O43 O55 R58 |
| Date: | 2017–06–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:swacaa:6-en&r=afr |
| By: | Effiong, Ekpeno; Esu, Godwin; Chuku, Chuku |
| Abstract: | As African countries await the birth of her monetary union, the link between economic policies and the real economy will continue to dominate policy debate. This paper investigates whether financial development influences the effectiveness of monetary policy on output and inflation in Africa. We apply standard panel data techniques to annual data from 1990--2015 for a panel of 39 African countries, and find a weak relationship between financial development and monetary policy effectiveness in Africa. The results show no statistical evidence of the relationship for output growth, whereas a negative relationship exist in the case of inflation, but only at their contemporaneous levels. Thus, there is need to strengthen the monetary transmission mechanism in African countries through deliberate efforts to deepen financial sector development. |
| Keywords: | Financial Development; Monetary Policy; Africa. |
| JEL: | C33 E52 G21 O55 |
| Date: | 2017–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79732&r=afr |
| By: | Tranchant, Jean-Pierre; Mueller, Catherine |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits unique quantitative data from Ghana to investigate gendered experiences of inter-personal domestic and non-domestic violence in urban and rural areas. Urban areas are characterised by lower levels of domestic violence against women but higher levels of non-domestic violence against men than rural areas. We conduct Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analyses to identify the sources of these differences. Urban areas reduce violence through higher welfare, education and employment outcomes, and lower alcohol consumption and polygamy prevalence than in rural areas. But more people living alone and wider insecurity in urban environments have the opposite effect on domestic and non-domestic violence. |
| Keywords: | inter-personal violence, domestic violence, violence against women, violence against men, urban, rural, Ghana |
| JEL: | O10 O18 R00 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79533&r=afr |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Nwachukwu, Jacinta; Tchamyou, Vanessa |
| Abstract: | This review summarises a survey of about 70 empirical studies on proposed African monetary unions published during the past fifteen years. Four main strands are outlined in four tables. They include the: (i) West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), (ii) East African Monetary Union (EAMU), (iii) Southern African Monetary Union (SAMU) and (iv) African Monetary Union (AMU). A number of concerns are apparent from the feasibility and/or desirability of potential monetary unions. They are variations in: empirical strategies, selection of variables, considered periodicities and sampled countries. The Hegelian dialectics are used to establish selective expansion as the predominant mode of monetary integration. Some studies make the case for strong institutions and pegs as alternatives to currency unions. The employment of cluster analysis, distinguishing shocks from responses in the examination of business cycle synchronisation and the disaggregation of panels into sub-samples provide more subtle policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Currency Area; Policy Coordination; Africa |
| JEL: | F15 F36 F42 O55 P52 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79637&r=afr |
| By: | Sheabo Dessalegn, S. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | This thesis analyzes the effect of social capital on maternal health care use in rural Ethiopia. Reports show that in Ethiopia, despite the huge investment in health infrastructure and the deployment of health professionals to provide maternal health services free of charge, utilization remains low. Here we argue that one of the potential factors behind underutilization or inequality in use of the services is social capital. Social capital is important especially in the rural context, where access to modern means of information is low. Accordingly, this study analyzed the effect of social capital on maternal health care use, employing a broad definition of social capital. The findings show that the use of maternal health services cannot be fully explained using an individual perspective. They show that, among others, social capital is an important determinant for knowing the benefits of maternal health care and translating it into use. Also the findings show that different dimensions of social capital have different effects on maternal health care use. Thus free provision of the services may not ensure use if the potential users have poor knowledge about the services. In a nutshell, this study suggests that social capital is helpful in reducing maternal deaths. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the current networking of mothers. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:bb0ec225-4ec3-4028-90d6-1177499505f0&r=afr |