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on Africa |
| By: | Ofori, Isaac Kwesi; Obeng, Camara Kwasi; Mwinlaaru, Peter Yeltulme |
| Abstract: | Efforts to spur growth in sub-Sahara Africa have been intensified amid structural and institutional constraints. Tax revenue, the chief source of funding for developmental purposes in SSA remains low and unstable. In fact, the SSA sub-region finds it difficult generating tax revenue up to 20 per cent of GDP. One factor that has not caught the attention of policymakers in terms of its impact on tax revenue performance is exchange rate volatility. Using macrodata spanning 1984 to 2017 for 21 countries, we provide empirical evidence from a panel autoregressive distributed lag technique to show that exchange rate volatility is directly harmful to tax revenue performance, and indirectly through trade openness. |
| Keywords: | Cointegration,Exchange Rate Volatility,GARCH,Sub-Sahara Africa,Tax Revenue |
| JEL: | E6 F14 F31 F4 F6 H2 O55 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:233984&r= |
| By: | Obeng, Camara Kwasi; Mwinlaaru, Peter Yeltulme; Ofori, Isaac Kwesi |
| Abstract: | Global value chain (GVC) participation has been identified as one of the means by which developing countries can attain inclusive growth yet little attention has been paid to it in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Motivated by the dearth of studies on SSA, we investigate the effect of GVC participation on inclusive growth for 19 SSA countries for the period 1991 to 2017, using the system GMM estimator. The results show that GVC participation drives inclusive growth through employment creation. We find that though SSA’s foreign value addition is less than its domestic value addition, the former’s impact on inclusive growth is higher than that of the latter. We recommend that policymakers support downstream industries to acquire technologies while incentivizing and attracting upstream industries into their countries. |
| Keywords: | Global Value Chain,Inclusive Growth,Domestic Value Added,Foreign Value Added,Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F19 F62 O00 O14 Q01 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:233983&r= |
| By: | Hodler, Roland; Lechner, Michael; Raschky, Paul A. |
| Abstract: | We reassess the effects of natural resources on economic development and conflict, applying a causal forest estimator and data from 3,800 Sub-Saharan African districts. We find that, on average, mining activities and higher world market prices of locally mined minerals both increase economic development and conflict. Consistent with the previous literature, mining activities have more positive effects on economic development and weaker effects on conflict in places with low ethnic diversity and high institutional quality. In contrast, the effects of changes in mineral prices vary little in ethnic diversity and institutional quality, but are non-linear and largest at relatively high prices. |
| Keywords: | Africa; Causal machine learning; conflict; economic development; mining; resource curse |
| JEL: | C21 O13 O55 Q34 R12 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15272&r= |
| By: | Eoin F. McGuirk; Nathan Nunn |
| Abstract: | We consider the effects of climate change on seasonally migrant populations that herd livestock – i.e., transhumant pastoralists – in Africa. Traditionally, transhumant pastoralists beneï¬ t from a cooperative relationship with sedentary agriculturalists whereby arable land is used for crop farming in the wet season and animal grazing in the dry season. Droughts can disrupt this arrangement by inducing pastoral groups to migrate to agricultural lands before the harvest, causing conflict to emerge. We examine this hypothesis by combining ethnographic information on the traditional locations of transhumant pastoralists and sedentary agriculturalists with high-resolution data on the location and timing of rainfall and violent conflict events in Africa from 1989–2018. We show that droughts in the territory of transhumant pastoralists lead to conflict in neighboring areas. Consistent with the hypothesis, these conflict events are concentrated in agricultural areas; they occur during the wet season and not the dry season; and they are due to rainfall’s impact on plant biomass growth. This mechanism explains a sizable proportion of conflict events in Africa, particularly civil conflicts and religious-extremist attacks. We ï¬ nd that the effects are muted in the presence of irrigation aid projects, but not in the presence of other forms of foreign aid. The effects approach zero as pastoral groups share more political power. |
| Keywords: | Transhumant pastoralism, sedentary agriculture, seasonal migration, conflict, weather |
| JEL: | N10 Q54 Z1 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:860&r= |
| By: | Camara K. Obeng (University of Cape Coast, Ghana); Peter Y. Mwinlaaru (University of Cape Coast, Ghana); Isaac K. Ofori (University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | Global value chain (GVC) participation has been identified as one of the means by which developing countries can attain inclusive growth yet little attention has been paid to it in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Motivated by the dearth of studies on SSA, we investigate the effect of GVC participation on inclusive growth for 19 SSA countries for the period 1991 to 2017, using the system GMM estimator. The results show that GVC participation drives inclusive growth through employment creation. We find that though SSA’s foreign value addition is less than its domestic value addition, the former’s impact on inclusive growth is higher than that of the latter. We recommend that policymakers support downstream industries to acquire technologies while incentivizing and attracting upstream industries into their countries. |
| Keywords: | Global Value Chain, Inclusive Growth, Domestic Value Added, Foreign Value Added, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F43 F6 O4 Q55 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/032&r= |
| By: | von Bismarck-Osten, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Over the last seven years, digital agricultural platforms offering a broad range of products and digital services to smallholder farmers have gained a dominant position on the African market. This paper examines the predictions of platform theory using case study evidence from six companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The platform companies profiled in this paper are DigiFarm, FarmCrowdy, AgroMall, Twiga Foods, Tulaa and AgroCenta. While in theory platforms limit themselves to establishing linkages between user groups, the platform companies profiled in this paper have built vertical structures of control and integration into their business model, albeit to a varying degree. These include the maintenance of a field force that advises and accompanies the farmers, logistics and, above all, the direct sale of the farmers´ produce on the platform company’s own account. Thus, very different platform models are all subsumed under the term ´ digital agricultural platforms ´. With recourse to economic theory on platforms, the paper proposes categories with greater discriminatory power. In addition, it describes how platform companies make key strategic decisions as set out in economic theory. Finally, owing to varying contexts, the paper concludes that there is no silver bullet for the establishment of a digital agricultural platforms. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2021–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubonwp:310984&r= |