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on Africa |
| By: | Ajide, Kazeem; Raheem, Ibrahim; Asongu, Simplice |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to the dollarization literature by expanding its determinants to account for different dimensions of globalization, using the widely employed KOF index of globalization. Specifically, globalization is “unbundled” into three different layers namely: economic, social and political dimensions. The study focuses on 25 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 2001-2012.Using the Tobit regression approach, the following findings are established. First, from both economic and statistical relevance, the social and political dimensions of globalization constitute the key dollarization amplifiers, while the explanatory power of the economic component is weaker on dollarization. Second, consistent with the theoretical underpinnings, macroeconomic instabilities (such as inflation and exchange rate volatilities) have the positive expected signs. Third, the positive association between the accumulation of international reserves and dollarization is also apparent. Policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Dollarization; Globalization; sub-Saharan Africa; Tobit regression |
| JEL: | C21 E41 F41 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89371&r=afr |
| By: | M.A. Boermans; Daan Willebrands |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of financial constraints on firm performance using a sample of small business owners who are client at a microfinance institution (MFI). In developing countries, a lack of access to finance is seen as a key obstacle to successful entrepreneurship and economic growth. However, empirical evidence on this is still fragmented and sparse. This study contributes to the literature by applying an alternative measure of financial constraints based on actual lending and borrowing behavior to test how borrowing affects firm productivity. We use survey data of 615 entrepreneurs from Tanzania to analyze the relationship between financial constraints and labour productivity. Using OLS regression and propensity score matching techniques the results show that financial constraints impede labour productivity and are important barriers to successful entrepreneurship. Further tests suggest that financial constraints matter regardless of the measurement method used, thereby comforting researchers in a fragmented field which applies a wide range of financial constraints variables. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, credit constraints, access to finance, firmperformance |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1802&r=afr |
| By: | Hisham Aidi |
| Abstract: | Africa is the top recipient of Chinese aid. In the early 2000s, China became Africa’s largest trading partner and a leading investor and provider of aid. China’s economic involvement in Africa has generated much commentary and anxiety, especially in the Western press. In fact, analysts have described China as a “rogue donor” that is propping up pariah states, gobbling up African land, resettling Chinese laborers across the continent, and undermining the efforts of Western aid agencies. Earlier this year, Le Monde reported that the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa –a building built by the Chinese – was bugged and targeted by Chinese hackers, who were siphoning off data from the Chinese capital towards servers in Shanghai. Political leaders have also sounded the alarm with Hillary Clinton warning that Chinese expansionism could lead to a “new colonialism” in Africa. More recently, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, declared, in a meeting with the chair of the African Union, that Chinese investment on the continent had led to rising debt, adding “when coupled with political and fiscal pressure, this endangers Africa's natural resources and its long-term economic and political stability.” |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb1825&r=afr |
| By: | Bloem, Jeffrey |
| Keywords: | International Development, International Trade, Natural Resource Economics |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274254&r=afr |
| By: | Sukati, Mphumuzi |
| Abstract: | This paper pursues a simple analysis of a static relationship between national income and income distribution, and obesity/overweight and undernutrition in African countries. From intuition, a relation between national income (GDP/Capita) and malnutrition is expected. Countries that have higher income are expected to have higher prevalence of obesity/overweight. Likewise, countries with higher income should have lower levels of undernutrition. This paper tests this hypothesis using macroeconomic data. The paper also analyses the role of income inequality, as measured by the GINI coefficient, as a potential driver of malnutrition. In this case, countries that have high levels of income inequality are expected to have coexistent high levels of both obesity and undernourishment. Results of this analysis show that there is a correlation between income and malnutrition. However, this relationship is weak, with a correlation coefficient of less than 50% for both undernourishment and overweight/obesity. However, the signs are as expected, even when running a simple regression of the variables. Higher national income has a positive relationship with obesity and negative relationship with undernourishment. From the regression, only the coefficient on undernourishment is significant at 5% confidence level. No significant relationship was found between income distribution and malnourishment, even on the extended logistic model. These finding are not realistically surprising. Higher income does not guarantee good nutrition, although poorer countries are expected to have high level of undernourishment. Also, there is a friction in the response of undernutrition to growth in GDP. Given the low-income elasticity of demand for food, higher income is not expected to be strongly linked to obesity. This could also be an explanation for the low response of malnutrition to income inequalities, although this latter relationship needs to be tested further with data sets of longer duration, in a time series approach. As such, it is important to lobby governments to mainstream food and nutrition security in other initiatives that increase national income, and to promote direct interventions that reduce the prevalence of undernourishment as part of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will ensure that high national income translates to reduction in malnutrition prevalence across countries. |
| Keywords: | Malnutrition; Obesity; Undernourishment; GDP/Capita; GINI Coefficient |
| JEL: | E00 I1 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2018–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89403&r=afr |
| By: | Pedro Lara Arruda (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "Malawi has a population of over 17 million people, 50.5 per cent of whom are poor, and 25 per cent of whom are extremely poor. Some 10 per cent of the total population are thought to be living below the extreme poverty line in households with a high dependency ratio (i.e. three or more dependents for every household member who is fit for work). This part of the population, often referred to as 'unfit-for-work poor people', is the target population of Malawis flagship Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP)". (...) |
| Keywords: | Malawi, Social, Cash Transfer, Programme |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:398&r=afr |
| By: | Pierre Joubert (Vaal University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The current research study is premised on theoretical frameworks that are embedded in different human behaviour studies, which have been conducted by researchers in the past. The different theories underlying the research will be discussed. This study aims to provide a more complete picture of the Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), Perceived Organisational Support (POS) and Job Satisfaction (JS), in the South African Police Service (SAPS) and contribute towards cultivating a more professional corps of SAPS officials. A quantitative and descriptive research method was used to investigate a sample size of 300 police officials working at police stations in the Tygerberg Cluster of SAPS. Data was collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The reliability and validity were increased by conducting a pre-test and a pilot study prior to the final study. A factor analytic procedure was followed for each of the three constructs. The results of the correlation analysis revealed a negative relationship between POS and OCB and between JS and OCB. The data, however, indicated positive correlations between JS and POS. Findings and recommendations in this study are important to government, SAPS, individual members and commanders as it provides information regarding types of activities and interventions to enhance perceived organisational support, job satisfaction and behaviours associated with organisational citizenship. |
| Keywords: | Organisational support, job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour |
| JEL: | M54 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:8209326&r=afr |