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on Africa |
| By: | Patrick Plane (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne, FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the domestic transport and logistics costs of importing a 20-foot container into Africa. We run regressions on a panel of 50 African countries for the period 2006–2014 using the RE-2SLS estimator. Distance from port of arrival to the point of delivery is an important explanatory factor of cost. Time-varying variables yield additional and valuable information. Reducing processing times and adjusting the ratio of the purchasing power parity conversion factor to the market exchange rate would contribute to save on the cost to import. |
| Date: | 2021–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03224307&r= |
| By: | Stender, Frederik; Vogel, Tim |
| Abstract: | In several African regions, economic integration has successfully reduced tariff protection by freezing the opportunity to raise applied tariffs against fellow integration partners above those promised. In this paper, we examine whether the regional tariff commitments on the continent have come at the expense of adverse side-effects on the prevalence of other - nontariff - trade barriers. More specifically, regional tariff commitments have not only amplified applied tariff overhangs - the difference between Most Favoured Nation (MFN) bound tariffs and effectively applied tariffs - for African members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but have also sharply reduced their tariff policy space within Africa, thus leaving regulatory policies such as sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT) as two of the few legitimate options to level the playing field with market competitors. Comparing the effects of applied tariff overhangs towards all vis-à-vis African trading partners on SPS and TBT notifications of 35 African WTO members between 2001 and 2017, we find no overall relationship between tariff overhangs and import regulation in our preferred model setting. By contrast, larger tariff overhangs specific to intra-African trade relations have a significant share in increasing the probability of SPS measures and TBT. Our findings have important implications for future Pan-African integration under the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in that success in fostering continental economic integration does not exclusively depend on the realisation of tariff liberalisation, but at the same time on a mindful coordination with non-tariff provisions. |
| Keywords: | Economic integration,import regulation,non-tariff measures,tariff liberalisation,tariff overhang,trade policy substitution |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:diedps:132021&r= |
| By: | Jean-Marc Gravellini (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International); Florian Léon (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Date: | 2021–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03228515&r= |
| By: | Isaac K. Ofori (University of Insubria, Varese, Italy); Camara K. Obeng (University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana); Peter Y. Mwinlaaru (University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana) |
| 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: | E5 H2 H7 F6 O4 Q55 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:21/031&r= |
| By: | Marine JOUVIN |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes new estimates of the prevalence of child labor in Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa farms that are certi?ed free of child labor. We rely on list experiments to avoid issues of social desirability bias associated with measuring sensitive issues, that we implement on a sample of 4 458 Ivorian cocoa farmers. We ?nd that 24% of them were helped by a child under 16 for harvesting and breaking the cocoa pods during the past 12 months, 21% for preparing their farm, and 25% employed and paid a child to perform any task on their cocoa farm. These results are twice as high as those declared by farmers when directly questioning them on their child labour use. Last, we show that the prevalence of child labor is higher for farms that are more remote, in line with limited school opportunities for children, lower adult labor supply, and weaker law enforcement capacity related to the reliance on children for farm activities. While child labor has been given considerable attention over recent years by most actors of the cocoa value chain, this paper shows that further progress can still be accomplished, particularly amongst the most remote farming communities. |
| Keywords: | List experiment, social desirability bias, child labor, certi?cation schemes |
| JEL: | C83 J23 J43 J81 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:bdxewp:2021-08&r= |
| By: | Roxana Elena Manea |
| Abstract: | Existing investigations of the impact of school feeding programmes on educational outcomes have provided mixed evidence of success. In this chapter, I investigate a potential explanation for this lack of consensus in the literature. I argue that the prevailing food security situation at the time and place of the programme's evaluation plays a major role. I study the case of rural Malawi. I use an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching to estimate the impact of school feeding on primary school enrolment and retention rates. I focus on villages with overlapping characteristics. I estimate that school feeding has increased enrolments by 7 percentage points on average, but the impact on retention rates has been relatively limited. However, when I distinguish between food-secure and food-insecure areas, not only do I find a larger impact on enrolments in food-insecure areas, but I also uncover a significant increase of around 2 percentage points in the retention rate of students in these same areas. Across the board, impacts are not significant in food-secure areas. I conclude that school feeding programmes bear an impact on education as long as they also intervene to relax a binding food constraint. |
| Keywords: | School feeding programmes;Education; Food security; Malawi |
| Date: | 2021–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:ciesrp:cies_rp_63_v2&r= |