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on Africa |
| By: | Calabrese, Linda; Balchin, Neil; Mendez-Parra, Maximiliano |
| Abstract: | The East African Community has begun phasing-out imports of second-hand clothing to promote the development of the domestic garment sector. Using trade data and information obtained from the exporters, this study produces the first estimate of disaggregated imports of second-hand clothing in Tanzania. The net import of used clothing is estimated at over 540 million pieces per year, compared to a domestic production of new clothing of 20 million pieces and import of 177 million pieces of new clothing. This study assesses the short-term impact of the phase-out on the domestic garment sector. Depending on the substitutability between new and used clothing, the phase-out could prompt increased import of new clothing. It could also prompt employment losses and generate costs for the poorest consumers. In the longer term, the phase-out is unlikely to promote the development of the garment sector unless the existing constraints are properly addressed. |
| Keywords: | trade policy; import phase-out; second-hand clothing; garment; Tanzania |
| JEL: | F13 F14 L67 |
| Date: | 2017–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82175&r=afr |
| By: | Kapatamoyo, Musonda |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse17:169471&r=afr |
| By: | Benjamin Marx; Vincent Pons; Tavneet Suri |
| Abstract: | Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral institutions after the election, a decrease that was stronger in areas that experienced election-related violence, and for individuals on the losing side of the election. The mobilization backfired because the IEBC promised an electronic voting system that failed, resulting in manual voting and tallying delays. Using a simple model, we show signaling high institutional capacity via a mobilization campaign can negatively affect beliefs about the fairness of the election. |
| JEL: | O55 P16 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23946&r=afr |
| By: | Sam Olofin (Centre for Econometric and Allied Research, University of Ibadan); Olusanya Olubusoye (Centre for Econometric and Allied Research, University of Ibadan); Afees A. Salisu (Centre for Econometric and Allied Research, University of Ibadan); Alarudeen Aminu (Centre for Econometric and Allied Research, University of Ibadan.); Uwatt B. Uwatt (Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria.); Micheal A. Adebiyi (Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria.) |
| Abstract: | The first operational small-scale macro-econometric model of the Nigerian Economy was developed in 2013. Ever since, the country had witnessed significant changes owing to oil price shock which culminated into internal and external imbalances. To address these challenges among others, informed the revision of the model. Thus, in the revised model, provisions are made for unemployment and the role of expectations and uncertainty surrounding the oil and foreign exchange markets. By simulating three alternative policy scenarios using oil price, monetary policy rate and cash reserve ratio, some striking results are obtained with implications for monetary policy in Nigeria. |
| Keywords: | Macro-econometric models; Policy simulation; Nigerian economy |
| JEL: | C50 E27 E58 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cui:wpaper:0032&r=afr |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Vanessa Tchamyou (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Paul Acha-Anyi (Pretoria/South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the knowledge economy (KE) performance of lagging African countries vis-à-vis their frontier counterparts with regard to the four dimensions of the World Bank’s knowledge economy index (KEI). The empirical exercise is for the period 1996-2010. It consists of first establishing leading nations before suggesting policy initiatives that can be implemented by sampled countries depending on identified gaps that are provided with the sigma convergence estimation approach. The following are established frontier knowledge economy countries. (i) For the most part, North African countries are dominant in education. Tunisia is overwhelmingly dominant in 11 of the 15 years, followed by Libya which is a frontier country in two years while Cape Verde and Egypt lead in a single year each. (ii) With the exception of Morocco that is leading in the year 2009, Seychelles is overwhelmingly dominant in ICT. (iii) South Africa also indomitably leads in terms of innovation. (iv) While Botswana and Mauritius share dominance in institutional regime, economic incentives in terms of private domestic credit are most apparent in Angola (8 years), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 years) and Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Malawi (each leading in one year). |
| Keywords: | Knowledge economy; Benchmarks; Policy syndromes; Catch-up; Africa |
| JEL: | O10 O30 O38 O55 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/043&r=afr |
| By: | Guy Michaels; Dzhamilya Nigmatulina; Ferdinand Rauch; Tanner Regan; Neeraj Baruah; Amanda Dahlstrand-Rudin |
| Abstract: | What are the long run consequences of planning and providing basic infrastructure in neighborhoods, where people build their own homes? We study “Sites and Services” projects implemented in seven Tanzanian cities during the 1970s and 1980s, half of which provided infrastructure in previously unpopulated areas (de novo neighborhoods), while the other half upgraded squatter settlements. Using satellite images and surveys from the 2010s, we find that de novo neighborhoods developed better housing than adjacent residential areas (control areas) that were also initially unpopulated. Specifically, de novo neighborhood are more orderly and their buildings have larger footprint areas and are more likely to have multiple stories, as well as connections to electricity and water, basic sanitation and access to roads. And though de novo neighborhoods generally attracted better educated residents than control areas, the educational difference is too small to account for the large difference in residential quality that we find. While we have no natural counterfactual for the upgrading areas, descriptive evidence suggests that they are if anything worse than the control areas. |
| Keywords: | urban economics, economic development, slums, Africa |
| JEL: | R31 O18 R14 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6680&r=afr |
| By: | EZZAHID, Elhadj; NIHOU, Abdelaziz |
| Abstract: | Investment is at the heart of economic growth. It increases the available stock of capital for productive activities and allows the introduction, in the productive process, of improved technology embedded in new capital items. Monitoring accumulation and use of this capital is a big issue. Our paper aims to bring a diagnostic of the Moroccan case by responding to these two questions: is capital stock sufficient? Is it efficiently used? Our results show that Morocco recorded an overinvestment in the 1970s, an underinvestment in the period 1982-2004 and an overinvestment since mid-2000s. The estimation of the rate of return to capital in the Moroccan economy indicates that RRK was under 10% until the beginning of the 1990s. Since then, it recorded a steady increase that culminated at 18% around 2004. After this date, it began to decrease. We attribute the low level of capital-labor ratio in Morocco to the high price of investment goods compared to consumption goods especially before 2000, to the insufficiency of human capital accumulation and absorption, and to the low level of TFP. The major conclusion of this paper is that the debate about the efficiency of capital use must go hand in hand with an exploration of why capital accumulation in Morocco is insufficient. |
| Keywords: | Investment, capital, efficiency of capital use, rate of return to capital, factors’ total productivity, Morocco |
| JEL: | E22 O11 |
| Date: | 2017–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82143&r=afr |
| By: | Konan, Yao Silvère |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the determinants of international remittances received during the post electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, using data collected 5 months after the end of the conflict. The author finds that the crisis has been a means of mobilizing social capital and demonstrating altruistic and insurance behaviors beyond the bounds of kinship. Transfers are mainly sent for consumption purpose, but amounts transferred for small investments and human capital are higher. Moreover, the propensity to transfer higher amounts decreases when emigration occurred after the November 2004 violent events. Altruism resists to time. |
| Keywords: | remittances,Côte d'Ivoire,post electoral conflict,Sub-Saharan Africa,migration |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201786&r=afr |