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on Africa |
| By: | Gnimassou, Blaise |
| Abstract: | Contrary to popular belief, many Africans who migrate stays in Africa. In a context of low trade openness between African countries and high differences in the prices of goods and factors, intra-African immigration could theoretically play an important role. This paper aims to study the impact of intra-African immigration on labour productivity in Africa, as well as its macroeconomic and sectoral components. Empirically, I rely on a panel of 187 countries, including 53 African countries, over the period 19902019, and a gravity-based 2SLS approach to deal with endogeneity. The results show that intra-African immigration has a positive, significant, and robust impact on labour productivity in Africa. This impact is greater than the effect of immigration in a global sample, and essentially passes through the improvement in total factor productivity and capital efficiency. While immigration tends to deteriorate capital productivity in the world sample, intra-African immigration improves capital productivity in Africa. Furthermore, the results reveal that the service sector is the one that benefits from the positive effect of intra-African immigration in Africa. |
| Date: | 2024–04–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:24a28f5a-7524-4b33-96b5-918ed203dd92 |
| By: | Macharia, Kenneth Kigundu |
| Abstract: | While the service sector is increasingly playing a bigger role in the structural transformation of developing countries, the sectors level of technical efficiency remains understudied. This study analyses the level of technical efficiency in the service sector of selected sub-Saharan African countries and identifies covariates of this technical efficiency. Data are from the 2013 World Bank Enterprise survey for six countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The estimation is performed by a two-stage bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach at the country and sub-sector levels. The sub-sectors of interest are retail, wholesale, hotel and restaurant, transport, motor vehicle services and IT. The findings show substantial opportunity to enhance technical efficiency in the selected sub-Saharan Africa service firms. The nature of the opportunity varies across countries and sub-sectors. Firm size, export, firm age, research and development, training, female firm ownership and top managers experience have an influence on technical efficiency but this influence varies across countries. In general, the findings imply that there is a need to provide an enabling environment that allows the growth of service firms given that large service firms are more technically efficient compared to small firms. |
| Date: | 2024–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:d1c3a5c1-5130-4274-bca7-bb81fb50d773 |
| By: | Yimer, Addis |
| Abstract: | To capture the impact that cross-country resource endowment differences may have on the FDIgrowth relationship, this study investigates the FDIgrowth nexus in Africa by categorizing the countries as resource-rich and resource-scarce, for the period 20002017. Thus, the study is a modest attempt to answer the following main questions: a) Does FDI inflows contribute to economic growth in the host country after controlling for endogeneity? b) Does being natural resource abundant/scarce country alter the FDIgrowth nexus? Using a System GMM, both the direct and interaction effects of FDI on growth are investigated in POLICY BRIEF The FDI-Growth Nexus: A Comparative Analysis of Resource-Rich and Resource-Scarce African Economies Addis Yimer October 2023 / No.788 2 Policy Brief No.788 a comparative framework across resource-rich and resource-scarce African countries. The results show that the effects of FDI on economic growth vary depending on resource richness of countries. While FDI is found to affect growth positively and significantly in resource-scarce African economies, no significant effect of FDI on growth is identified for the resource-rich category. |
| Date: | 2024–04–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:3808f5e4-f0d6-477d-8d80-2b82e3bd366e |
| By: | Shimeles, Abebe; Gallagher, Kevin |
| Abstract: | The triple and overlapping global shocks faced by African countries have caused severe liquidity challenges in recent years. Many countries are currently experiencing low real GDP growth, higher inflation, exchange rate instability, balance of payments crisis, and a high risk of debt distress. The most critical is the increasing disruption that climate change risks pose to the macroeconomy, including worsening conditions of conflict and instability. In this regard, Africa is at a significant historic moment to resolve its development finance challenges to ensure a transition to a low-carbon economy while achieving the targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper outlines potential areas of reform in both the domestic and global arenas. It argues that the existing debt resolution mechanisms are obsolete, requiring novel and bold approaches, such as revising the role of Special Drawing Rights in relieving liquidity challenges in developing countries, mainly in Africa. In addition, the paper also notes that African governments need to seize opportunities created by the shocks to implement long-overdue structural and governance reforms to realize the continents enormous development potential. |
| Date: | 2024–05–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:b0185468-6704-4746-9909-5c512e4b2e88 |
| By: | Nguekeng, Bernard; Mignamissi, Dieudonne |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to analyse the main effects of the integration of African countries in the global value chainsa (GVCs) on their industrialization level. To this effect, we have specified an industrialization equation that considers the economic characteristics of the continent. We have then estimated that equation by the system GMM estimator method on a sample of 51 African countries with panel data spanning the period 19962018 sourced from international organization databases. The findings of the estimations are the following: (1) the participation and the position of African countries in GVC positively contribute POLICY BRIEF Global Value Chains and Industrialization in Africa Bernard Nguekeng and Dieudonne Mignamissi October 2023 / No.808 2 Policy Brief No.808 to their industrialization. The imports of intermediate goods facilitate the access to foreign machinery and technologies which stimulate local production. Furthermore, the position in value chains that are limited to assembling activities would also allow to achieve significant industrial progress; (2) the main factors influencing the indirect transmission of GVC to industrialization are the human capital and the physical capital; (3) the results are stable as shown by several robustness check tests related to different modalities of integration in GVC, to the conception of a new participation indicator in GVC, and to sub-regional specificities. Based on these results, we recommend policy actions to enhance participation, but also to improve the position in GVC, while at the same time an appropriate strategy would be designed to accumulate human capital and physical capital in the long term. |
| Date: | 2024–04–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:cb450df7-200d-4d7c-af72-0022b6dbb92b |
| By: | Niass, Dieynaba |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyse the effect of natural resources on the supply portfolio of African exports. Based on COMTRADE data on export products from 20002015, a methodological approach is applied using two standard measurement trade diversification indicators: active line counting and the standardised Herfindahl Hirschman index. These indicators are then linked to the status of resource-rich countries (and other controls) in a fixed-effects panel data model. The results of this paper suggest that the presence of oil resources (non-renewable resources) hurts diversification, essentially through the channel of degradation of institutions. Similarly, agricultural products (renewable resources) negatively affect African export diversification (count and index) through the exchange rate channel. This shows the need for Africa to strengthen the quality of institutions by fighting against corruption through transparency in the exploitation and export of natural resources, and through proper management. In addition, African countries must ensure the stability of monetary policies so that a depreciation of the exchange rate can be to their advantage. |
| Date: | 2024–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:833c768a-09a0-4fb8-aa14-c32511b6b961 |