nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2017‒07‒23
three papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
The University of Mines and Technology

  1. The Arrival of Fast Internet and Employment in Africa By Jonas Hjort; Jonas Poulsen
  2. Does Globalization Promote Good Governance in Africa? An Empirical Study Across 51 countries By Simplice Asongu
  3. Gender and bargaining: Experimental evidence from rural Uganda By Ben D’Exelle; Christine Gutekunst; Arno Riedl

  1. By: Jonas Hjort; Jonas Poulsen
    Abstract: To show how fast Internet affects employment in Africa, we exploit the gradual arrival of submarine Internet cables and maps of the terrestrial cable network. Robust difference-in-differences estimates from three datasets covering 12 countries show large positive effects on employment rates, with little job displacement across space. A decrease in workers’ likelihood of holding unskilled jobs is offset by a bigger increase in employment in higher-skill occupations. Less educated workers’ employment rate also rises. Firm level data available for some countries indicate that increased firm entry, productivity, and exporting lead to higher job-creation (and/or -saving). Average incomes and wealth rise.
    JEL: D20 J20 O10
    Date: 2017–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23582&r=afr
  2. By: Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun)
    Abstract: This study investigates the effect of globalisation on governance in 51 African countries for the period 1996-2011. Four bundled governance indicators and four globalisation (political, economic, social and general) variables are used. The empirical evidence is based on Instrumental Variable Quantile Regressions. The motivation for the estimation technique is that blanket governance-globalisation policies are not likely to succeed unless they are contingent on initial levels of governance and tailored differently across countries with low, intermediate and high levels of governance. The following findings are established. First, globalisation promotes good governance. Second, for the most part, the effect of globalisation is higher in terms of magnitude in the bottom quantiles of the political, institutional and general governance distributions. Third, the impact of globalisation is overwhelmingly higher in terms of magnitude in the top quantiles of the economic governance distribution.
    Keywords: Africa; Governance; Globalization
    JEL: F10 F30 I30 O10 O55
    Date: 2017–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/026&r=afr
  3. By: Ben D’Exelle; Christine Gutekunst; Arno Riedl
    Abstract: We study gender differences in bilateral bargaining using an artefactual field experiment in rural Uganda, through variation in gender composition of bargaining pairs and in disclosure of identities. Disagreement is common independently of disclosure condition, but less frequent among female-only pairs. When paired with a man who is informed about their identity, women tend to demand less than men in the same situation. The influence of beliefs on demands is stronger for men than for women, and this difference is larger under anonymity than when identities are disclosed. These results identify important mechanisms that induce gender inequality in resource access.
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-155&r=afr

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