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on Africa |
| By: | Alexander Pick (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "The European Union Social Protection Systems (EU-SPS) project has recently published a report on the future of social protection in six countries in East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia (OECD 2017). The report examines key demographic, economic, social and environmental trends that are likely to affect the demand for social protection between now and 2065, a timeframe aligned to the African Unions Agenda 2063?its vision for the future of the continent in which social protection has a key role to play". (...) |
| Keywords: | Social protection, East Africa, harnessing, future |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:362&r=afr |
| By: | Akpa, Emeka |
| Abstract: | This study examined the short and long-run effects of private remittances on household consumption in Ghana from 1980 to 2016, controlling for structural breaks. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique was used to investigate the relationship. Results showed that remittances positively impacted household consumption in Ghana in both the short and long-run howbeit, statistically insignificant. Hence, it was recommended, among other things that the government of Ghana collaborates with financial institutions to make remittance less expensive to encourage more remitting from the diaspora. |
| Keywords: | Remittances, Household Consumption, ARDL, Structural Breaks |
| JEL: | C32 F24 |
| Date: | 2018–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87103&r=afr |
| By: | Bold, Tessa; Filmer, Deon; Molina, Ezequiel; Svensson, Jakob |
| Abstract: | In many low income countries, teachers do not master the subject they are teaching and children learn little from attending school. Using unique data from nationally representative surveys from seven Sub-Saharan African countries, we propose a methodology to assess the effect of teacher knowledge on student learning when panel data on students are not available. We show that data on test scores of the current and the previous year's teachers allows us to estimate a lower bound on the cumulative effect of teacher knowledge on student achievement. With further restrictions on the cumulative student achievement function we can also estimate bounds on both the contemporaneous effect of teacher content knowledge and the extent of fade out of the teachers' impact in earlier grades. We use these structural estimates to answer two questions. To what extent can shortfalls in teachers' content knowledge account for the large learning gap observed across countries? How much learning is lost because of misallocation? |
| Keywords: | education production function; Human Capital |
| JEL: | I21 I25 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12956&r=afr |
| By: | Eunice Abdul, Omolara |
| Abstract: | The significance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to an economy development of a country cannot be ignored. Therefore, the growth of a business depends on the development of abilities needed to execute a smooth running of day to day business activities. Research established the fact that the flat economy growth of region relies on the extent of trade activities in the area. Given this importance of enterprise, this present study aims at developing an understanding of the influence of entrepreneurial skills on SMEs in Nigeria compare with the UK, as perceived by SME owners. The research will benefit the researcher, SME owners in Nigeria, Policymakers, and other researchers. Data collection was through an online survey questionnaire, and it was administered to a population of 38 SME owners both in Nigeria and in the UK. The research followed judgmental sampling techniques to explore their experience, beliefs, and attitudes to entrepreneurial skills because of the limited time frame. Moreover, this survey was used to validate the study conceptual framework and establish an insight on the opinion of business owners of the context. The study findings were that entrepreneurial skills have a significant influence on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria and the UK. However, the respondent in Nigeria and the UK agreed that creative thinking, Problem solving and communication skills are critical for increase sales and competitive advantage. Moreover, the respondent in Nigeria strongly agrees that high level of creative thinking with a bit of problem solving and communication skills will SMEs growth. By contrast, UK minority entrepreneurs argue that great creative thinking and a balance of problem solving and communication skills are critical to SMEs growth. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), Entrepreneurial Skills, Creative Thinking, Leadership, Problem-Solving, Teamwork, and Communication |
| JEL: | L20 L21 L25 L26 M13 M19 |
| Date: | 2018–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86751&r=afr |
| By: | Samuel Mutarindwa; Dorothea Schäfer; Andreas Stephan |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds new light on how African countries’ legal systems and institutions influence the governance and stability of their banks. We find that institutional factors, in particular the legal family of origin, political stability, contract enforcement and strength of investor protection promote central corporate governance reforms. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we also reveal that those reforms mediate the impact of institutions on banks. If countries have a corporate governance reform in place their banks show better internal governance and higher stability. |
| Keywords: | African banks, corporate governance, legal systems, institutions, bank stability |
| JEL: | G21 G28 G30 G32 G38 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1739&r=afr |