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on Africa |
| By: | Brilé Anderson; Jorge Eduardo Patiño Quinchía; Rafael Prieto Curiel |
| Abstract: | The next few decades will bring an era of rapid urbanisation and unprecedented climate stress in African cities. Green spaces can boost the resilience of cities to heat waves, floods, landslides, and even coastal erosion, in addition, to enhancing sustainability by improving air quality, protecting biodiversity, and absorbing carbon. All of which can enhance well-being. Yet, data on the availability of green spaces in African urban agglomerations is scarce. This analysis fills the gap by combining new and novel data sources to estimate the availability of green spaces in 5 625 urban agglomerations with 10 000 inhabitants and above. The rest of the report then uses this novel dataset to first evaluate the dynamics between urbanisation and green spaces, and second, explore the potential of green spaces to boost the resilience and sustainability of cities in the future. The results show that as urban agglomerations become larger and more compact, green spaces disappear, exacerbating their vulnerability to climate change and deteriorating liveability. However, building taller buildings (i.e., growing vertically), offers a way for cities to grow whilst minimising loss of green space. Results show that more green space can boost sustainability by significantly lowering air pollution in African cities, which could be vital for public health in the future since outdoor air pollution is rising. The potential for green spaces to enhance resilience to climate events, like heat waves, depends on the location of green spaces throughout the city and the percentage of the population that lives close to a green space (i.e., within 300 metres). Green spaces may play a limited role in coping with heat waves in a city like Khartoum where only 3% of the population lives close to a green space, but could be a nature-based solution to heat waves in a city like Abuja, where 55% of the population can benefit from its cooling effects. Moving forward, local actors have clear evidence of the power of green spaces to build a sustainable and resilient future. Still, the report reveals that local actors need support from regional and national actors to realise the potential of green spaces. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Cities, Ecosystem-services, Green spaces, Nature-based solutions, Resilience, Sustainability |
| JEL: | Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 R14 R15 R52 |
| Date: | 2022–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:swacaa:37-en&r= |
| By: | Koffi, Siméon |
| Abstract: | Based on a panel of 144 developing countries for the period from 1960 to 2020 and using the duration model, our estimates focused on two (02) groups of countries, namely African countries, and countries outside Africa. For the latter, the results showed that democracy is a factor that strengthens their resilience insofar as it intervenes to support growth spells in the event of negative external shocks. In other words, democracy lengthens the duration of growth spells and promotes more resilient and sustainable growth. For African countries, however, the opposite effect occurs. Indeed, African countries with democratic regimes have a much shorter growth survival rate than autocratic ones. |
| Keywords: | duration model, resilience, growth spells |
| JEL: | C10 C18 C4 |
| Date: | 2022–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:113968&r= |
| By: | Budeli-Nemakonde, Mpfariseni.; Kasongo Kamwimbi, Theodore. |
| Abstract: | Social dialogue, which forms part of the regulation of labour relations in the public sector, can take a variety of forms ranging from the simple act of publishing informal recommendations, or consultation and sharing information to the most formal and binding negotiated agreements, bargaining or more developed forms of consultation. Although each country has its own cultural, historical, economic, and political setting, there is a diversity of practices in social dialogue in the public service, and the common model of social dialogue for all countries seems to be freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. It is, therefore, worth showing how different countries manage to adapt their diverse practices in social dialogue in the public service to the national situation. To this end, this report focuses on five selected African countries, namely Angola, Kenya, Tunisia, South Africa, and Ghana. These countries represent respectively the five main subregions of Africa (Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Africa) as suggested by the ILO. A thorough analysis of these countries’ social dialogue mechanisms in the public service shows that the functioning and sustainability of such mechanisms may be facilitated by permanent structures or institutions, such as national tripartite consultative committees. |
| Keywords: | social dialogue, public sector |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995174792002676&r= |
| By: | Nyasha, Sheilla; Odhiambo, Nicholas M; Musakwa, Mercy T |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the impact of stock market development on unemployment in South Africa has been empirically examined using time-series data from 1980 to 2019. The study was motivated by the high level of structural unemployment facing the country, on the one hand, and a well-developed stock market, which compares favourably with those in advanced economies, on the other hand. The study aims to add value to the finance-unemployment literature by using a range of stock market development proxies, namely stock market capitalisation, the total value of stocks traded, and the turnover ratio. Based on the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, the results of the study revealed that in South Africa, stock market development has a negative impact on unemployment. These results were found to hold, irrespective of the stock market development proxy used and whether the analysis was conducted in the long run or in the short run. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the stock market unambiguously promotes job creation in South Africa. The study, therefore, recommends that policymakers should continue with the implementation of policies aimed at promoting stock market development in order to create more jobs, while at the same time ensuring that other structural challenges facing the labour market are also addressed. |
| Keywords: | Financial development; stock market development; market-based financial development; unemployment; South Africa, ARDL |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:29229&r= |
| By: | Arthur Blouin; Sharun W. Mukand; Sharun Mukand |
| Abstract: | The difficulty in resurrecting inter-ethnic cooperation in the aftermath of violence and genocide is one of the biggest challenges facing post-conflict societies. Using experimental data from post-genocide Rwanda and Burundi, this paper shows that an unwarranted tendency to blame others for negative outcomes is a behavioural barrier that makes reconciliation difficult. We show that individuals systematically (and mistakenly) blame accidental negative shocks (noise) to the deliberate intent of individuals (bias). This “victimhood bias” wherein individuals ascribe noise to bias is much larger for (a) individuals for whom ethnic identity is salient; (b) for those who have had greater exposure to inter-ethnic violence. Further, we observe that both inter-ethnic contact and economic development are associated with a decline in this victimhood bias. Finally, those with a lower victimhood bias are more likely to behave cooperatively in inter-ethnic rela-tionships. Our results suggest that insurance agreements that limit negative shocks and reduce noise, can encourage reconciliation by mitigating feelings of victimhood. |
| Keywords: | noise, bias, victim, conflict, reconciliation, attribution |
| JEL: | D71 D74 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9854&r= |