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on Africa |
| By: | Quamrul H. Ashraf; Oded Galor; Marc P. B. Klemp |
| Abstract: | The importance of the prehistoric migration of anatomically modern humans from Africa for comparative economic development has been the focus of a vibrant research agenda in the past decade. This influential literature has attracted the attention of some scholars from other disciplines, and in light of existing methodological gaps across fields, has perhaps unsurprisingly generated some significant misconceptions. This article examines the critical views expressed by some scholars from other disciplines, and establishes that they are based on fundamental misunderstandings of the statistical methodology, the conceptual framework, and the scope of the analysis that characterize this influential literature. |
| Keywords: | comparative development, interpersonal population diversity, the out of Africa hypothesis |
| JEL: | O11 N10 N30 Z10 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7453&r=all |
| By: | Teferi Mergo (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo); Alain-Desire Nimubona (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo); Horatiu Rus (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | While the salience of ethnicity as a factor in ruling coalition formation in African politics has been documented in the literature, less is known about its impact on various ethnic groups' economic outcomes. We construct a simple political economy model to illustrate a way in which investments in public goods in ethnic-based polities may depend on the quality of the ethnic groups' political representation with the federal government. We then exploit a natural experiment that took place in Ethiopia, following the institution of an ethnic federalism in the country in 1995. Using a Difference-in-Difference estimation strategy on repeated cross-sectional data constructed from Censuses and Welfare Monitoring Surveys, we confirm that better political representation improves access to public goods. In Ethiopia's ethnic-based federation, the quality of political representation varies across ethnic regions depending on whether their populations belong or not to the ruling ethnic group at the federal level. Along this line, we found that access to public goods has improved faster in the politically dominant Tigray region than in the other regions. Similarly, the hierarchy of public goods access rates' in different ethnic regions is consistent with the proximity of the political elites from different regions to the center of political power in the country. We also found that the regional disparities in terms of access to public goods are more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas. |
| JEL: | H41 P16 O10 O55 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1901&r=all |
| By: | Mwondha, Michael; Kaidu Barugahara, Tina; Nakku Mubiru, Mwajumah; Wasagali Kanaabi, Sarah; Isingoma Nalukwago, Milly |
| Abstract: | Tax collection has historically – in Africa and elsewhere – been collected almost entirely by men, partly reflecting patterns of authority and privilege in society, and partly owing to the traditionally coercive and confrontational approaches used. The situation is changing, with women entering the profession in increasing numbers, in part because of changes in the ways in which taxes are collected. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development, Finance, Gender, Work and Labour, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idq:ictduk:14288&r=all |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A; Odhiambo, Nicholas M |
| Abstract: | This research examines the relevance of inclusive development in modulating the role ofgovernance on environmental degradation. The study focuses on forty-four countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2012. The Generalised Method of Moments is employed asthe empirical strategy and CO2 emissions per capita is used to measure environmental pollution.Bundled and unbundled governance dynamics are employed, notably: political governance(consisting of political stability/no violence and ???voice and accountability???), economicgovernance (encompassing government effectiveness and regulation quality), institutionalgovernance (entailing corruption-control and the rule of law), and general governance (acomposite measure of political governance, economic governance and institutionalgovernance). The following main findings are established. First, the underlying net effect in themoderating role of inclusive development in the governance-CO2 emissions nexus is notsignificant in regressions pertaining to political governance and economic governance. Second,there are positive net effects from the relevance of inclusive development in modulating theeffects of regulation quality, economic governance and general governance on CO2 emissions.The significant and insignificant effects are elucidated. Policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions; Governance; Sustainable development; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:25226&r=all |
| By: | Roberto Bonfatti (University of Padova; University of Nottingham); Yuan Gu (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Steven (S.) Poelhekke (University of Auckland; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Africa's interior-to-coast roads are well suited to export natural resources, but not to support regional trade. Are they the optimal response to geography and comparative advantage, or the result of suboptimal political distortions? We investigate the political determinants of road paving in West Africa across the 1965-2012 period. Controlling for geography and the endogeneity of democratization, we show that autocracies tend to connect natural resource deposits to ports, while the networks expanded in a less interior-to-coast way in periods of democracy. This result suggests that Africa's interior-to-coast roads are at least in part the result of suboptimal political distortions.Africa's interior-to-coast roads are well suited to export natural resources, but not to support regional trade. Are they the optimal response to geography and comparative advantage, or the result of suboptimal political distortions? We investigate the political determinants of road paving in West Africa across the 1965-2012 period. Controlling for geography and the endogeneity of democratization, we show that autocracies tend to connect natural resource deposits to ports, while the networks expanded in a less interior-to-coast way in periods of democracy. This result suggests that Africa's interior-to-coast roads are at least in part the result of suboptimal political distortions. |
| Keywords: | political economy; democracy; infrastructure; natural resources; development |
| JEL: | P16 P26 D72 H54 O18 Q32 |
| Date: | 2019–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20190006&r=all |