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on Africa |
| By: | Mtshweni, Harry; Costa, King (Global Centre for Academic Research) |
| Abstract: | The downstream petroleum sector plays a critical role in the economic development of emerging economies by providing energy, employment, and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, various external factors, including regulatory frameworks, market volatility, and technological advancements, significantly impact the operational efficiency of SMEs in this sector. This paper explores how these external challenges affect SMEs, particularly those owned by Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs), in the petroleum industries of emerging markets. Focusing on the South African context, the paper examines global and African perspectives on operational efficiency, with case studies from Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. It highlights the importance of infrastructure development, local capacity building, and regulatory reforms in enhancing operational efficiency. Additionally, technological advancements such as automation and data analytics are explored as potential tools for improving SMEs’ performance. The paper concludes by offering practical recommendations for overcoming these challenges, including streamlining regulatory processes, promoting technological adoption, and fostering inclusive business models. By addressing these external factors, SMEs in the downstream petroleum sector can improve their competitiveness, contribute to economic transformation, and meet the growing energy demands of emerging economies. |
| Date: | 2024–09–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:rp3k4 |
| By: | Hung Tran |
| Abstract: | The Global South features prominently in the context of geopolitical rivalry and efforts by developing countries to change the current international economic and financial architecture. While there are questions about whether some countries—such as China or Russia—should be considered parts of the Global South (GS), it is obvious that Africa is at the center of the group. Different aspects of Africa—its potential, its reality, and its efforts to realize its potential—embody the challenges and the prospects of the GS in general. More specifically, the difficulties Africa faces, how it will deal with them, its progress or lack of progress, and the changes it would like to see in the current international economic and financial system to help it overcome the obstacles to development, help make clear what the GS is all about. Africa’s desirable action plan constitutes a comprehensive agenda GS countries can rally around. On the other hand, the various fault lines inherent in Africa typify the lack of cohesiveness that has kept the GS from speaking with one voice, able to pull its weight in international fora. Instead, Africa, and similarly the GS, have been viewed by major powers as arenas of competition for influence. As such, how Africa deals with these problems will offer benchmarks to judge how the GS has progressed. In other words, Africa embodies the agenda of the GS; its progress drives that of the GS. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb32-24 |
| By: | Klaaren, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | This chapter investigates how legal ethics have been institutionalized in South Africa. The account given spans from the post-apartheid heyday of the 1990s to 2018 through to the present day. 2018 was the year in which the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 was finally brought into more or less full effect (even if not institutionally implemented) – aiming to put the governance and institutions of South Africa’s legal profession onto a new legal foundation. This chapter’s focus is thus on institutionalization of legal ethics as part of and subsequent to the transition from apartheid to South Africa’s current constitutional democracy. Legal ethics develops as a regulatory field and a research topic in different ways in different regimes. In South Africa, key actors in the post-apartheid development include the law deans (not directly subject to the profession) and the leaders of the profession in practice, in particular those from the sub-field of attorneys. Since the transition to constitutional democracy, a dialectical process has played out between legal education and the organized legal profession over the prominence and place of legal ethics. Tied up with a slow pace of institutionalization, neither sub-field has demonstrated much change on the ground and this double movement shows little sign of abating. |
| Date: | 2024–09–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:afp2s |
| By: | Yahya Fikri (LARSMAG - ENCG TANGER - UNIVERSITE ABDELMALEK ESSAADI - LABORATOIRE DE RECHERCHE EN STRATEGIE MANAGEMENT ET GOUVERNANCE ENCG TANGER - UNIVERSITE ABDELMALEK ESSAADI); Mohamed Rhalma (LARSMAG - ENCG TANGER - UNIVERSITE ABDELMALEK ESSAADI - LABORATOIRE DE RECHERCHE EN STRATEGIE MANAGEMENT ET GOUVERNANCE ENCG TANGER - UNIVERSITE ABDELMALEK ESSAADI) |
| Abstract: | Since gaining independence, Morocco has made a commitment to achieving goals aimed at achieving a high rate of economic growth in order to raise the standard of living for its people. As such, this ongoing commitment is based on a strategy that aims to lower the poverty rate and provide a dignified life for those who are vulnerable. However, it is crucial to comprehend the factors that contribute to poverty in order to implement an effective strategy for combating it. In this regard, this article aims to analyze poverty in Morocco through an economic study of the effects of economic growth, education, inflation, and unemployment on the evolution of poverty in Morocco. This study examined the intricate connections between economic growth, inflation, unemployment, and poverty in the Moroccan environment using the ARDL method. Poverty and education are related, both immediately and over time. Initially, the dependent variable and the independent variables do not have a long-term relationship. On the other hand, economic expansion has a statistically significant short-term effect on reducing poverty. however, after making changes to the analysis model, the dependent and independent variables have a significant long-term association. These findings can concentrate efforts on the areas that are most crucial for lowering poverty and improving the standard of living for vulnerable people by identifying the factors that have a substantial impact on poverty. This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the factors influencing poverty in Morocco by using an economic approach. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, Morocco, ARDL Approach, Economic Growth, Education, Inflation. |
| Date: | 2024–08–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04701446 |
| By: | Cecilia POGGI; Sveva Vitellozzi; Lucia Ferrone; Frank Otchere |
| Abstract: | We explore the association between domestic labor and psychological distress among women and men in Ghana. A growing body of literature has recently focused on the relationship between time use and mental health, uncovering a negative association between women’s mental health and domestic labor. This work contributes to the literature by i) focusing on the number of activities, rather than the amount of time, ii) including both women and men, while most studies focus only on women. We use the second and third waves of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS). We find that a higher number of domestic activities is associated with a higher psychological distress. For women the effect is driven mainly by care activities, while for men by both domestic and care activities. We posit that the relevant mechanism is the effort required to switch from one activity to another, and from one role to another. |
| Keywords: | Ghana |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2024–09–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avg:wpaper:en17394 |