Journal of Eastern African research & development最新文献

{"title":"New Framework for Multidimensional Environmental Well-being for Sustainable Development","authors":"Kwaku Adu, J. Puthenkalam, Antwi Effah Kwaben","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0136","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study seeks to develop a Multidimensional Environmental Well-Being Criteria (MEWC) using the censored achievement approach, specifically the Alkire-Foster counting methodology. Its overall objective is to use MEWC to measure the multiple environmental deprivations. It provides a comparison of empirical evidence of the existing monetary and multidimensional poverty index (MPI) measures and the proposed MEWC. The MEWC is composed of three indicators: crop productivity, level of perceived environmental knowledge, and agricultural and extension education. For empirical analysis, the authros randomly sample 376 households from 20 communities in the Abuakwa North and South municipalities in Ghana. The empirical analysis is divided in two parts: part one provides information on existing well-being parameters such as income/poverty metrics (upper and lower poverty lines) and multidimensional poverty index (MPI); and the second part analyzes the fieldwork element related to the three identified indicators of environmental wellbeing and its implications for sustainable development for the selected regions in Ghana, and how it could be applied to other municipalities/districts and other countries. The incidence and severity of environmental deprivation, robustness checks, and statistical inference are also analyzed. Results show that MEWC for the two municipalities in Ghana is 0.46 or 46%, which represents the proportion of deprivations that the multi-environmentally poor in the sampled communities experience, as a share of the multi-environmental deprivations that would be experienced if all persons were multi-environmentally poor and deprived in all the dimensions of multiple environmental poverty. From a policy perspective, MEWC could be used to track the sustainable development goals targeting the poor and to design policies and strategies that address the inter-twined environmental deprivations of the poor. The MEWC could also contribute to addressing the technical problems emanating from the multidimensionality of the concept of poverty.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86430652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forthcoming","authors":"","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0174","url":null,"abstract":"Vol. 24, No. 2Gender Equity in Land Distribution and Food Poverty: Evidence Using Cameroonian DataNdamsa Dickson Thomas and Njong Mom AloysiusImpact of Cash Transfers on Household Food Security: Evidence from Families with Orphans and Vulnerable Children in KenyaShalom Njoki and Mary WairimuPersistence and Catch-Up in Mathematics Skills in Ethiopia: Evidence from Childhood and AdolescenceMohammad Ali and Kira VillaChina’s Finance in TanzaniaEvelyn F. WamboyeDrivers of Service Exports from KenyaSocrates Kraido Majune, John Gathiaka Kamau, and Michael Ndwiga","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136136190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Democracy and Taxation: Evidence from African Countries","authors":"Decky Kipuka Kabongi, Yiagadeesen Samy","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0043","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Using a database on fiscal performance from the African Economic Outlook (AEO) for 51 African countries, this article examines the link between regime type and taxation. The existing theoretical and empirical literature on this issue has thus far yielded very contradictory results, and the relationship between regime type and taxation in the African case has not been studied as much, largely because of insufficient data. Yet, the African case is interesting for several reasons. First, many African countries have democratized in the past two decades. At the same time, tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has increased, in part due to resource-related tax revenues, and several African countries are already making significant tax effort. There has also been much emphasis in recent years about the need for African countries to mobilize more resources domestically in order to reduce their reliance on external sources. Examining the determinants of taxation and tax structure is thus an important question, which this article attempts to answer. Controlling for various socioeconomic factors, the authors find some evidence of a positive relationship between regime type and taxation, as well as some support for the idea that this relationship varies according to the type of taxes that are considered. Based on the authors’ findings, this article presents some policy recommendations that can strengthen the link between democracy and taxation in African countries.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85298917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does Public Spending Trigger Agricultural Productivity Growth in Africa?","authors":"M. Hodjo, T. Dalton, Ebila Nakelse","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0065","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Enhancing agricultural productivity growth is a key step to improving competitiveness and eradicating poverty in rural areas in developing countries. While the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) recommended increased public spending in agriculture to induce productivity growth, the extent to which expenditures affect food productivity remains an empirical question. To address this concern and provide policymakers with quantitative evidence, the authors assess the effect of two government-spending measures: agriculture budget share (BS) and research share (RS) of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) on agriculture total factor productivity growth (TFPG) in Africa. They use a panel fixed-effect estimator to control for the country-specific characteristics in twenty-eight African economies from 1991 to 2012. They find marginal impact of approximately 6.77% of RS on TFPG after every seven years. However, the cumulative marginal impact of BS on TFPG is estimated at 7.21% over the seven years following budget allocation. These findings suggest that a BS of 14% and an RS of 15% are required for a country to double its TFPG in the following eight years. Therefore, an additional and continuous investment in research and development is required for significant productivity growth, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"164 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84980515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Uncovering Asymmetries in Monetary Policy Transmission in the Economic Community of West African States: Dynamic Heterogeneous Panel Analysis","authors":"J. Tucker","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0105","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gravitates toward establishing a monetary union, characterized by a common central bank and a single currency, the eco, there is need for deeper knowledge of the monetary policy transmission mechanism to ensure the effective conduct of a common monetary policy in the region. This study investigates the existence of potential asymmetries in the transmission of monetary policy impulses and the implications for monetary policy effectiveness under a unified framework. It employs the dynamic heterogeneous structural panel vector autoregressive (VAR) modeling technique developed by Pedroni (2013), which allows for heterogeneous country-specific dynamics and accommodates cross-sectional dependencies. Based on quarterly data covering the period 1994–2016, the findings reveal statistically insignificant responses of real gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation in member countries to a common monetary policy shock, though the country-specific responses exhibit some asymmetries. The panel estimates for the region also do not produce statistically significant responses to the unanticipated monetary policy shock. In addition, the results indicate that the two plausible monetary transmission channels—the bank lending channel and the exchange rate channel—are either weak or inoperable at the level of ECOWAS and that could undermine the effective conduct of a common monetary policy within the proposed monetary union. Policy should, therefore, be directed at enhancing the transmission of monetary policy impulses in the region, including through far-reaching financial sector reforms, modernization of monetary policy frameworks, and the comprehensive harmonization of institutional and operational mechanisms of monetary policy across member countries.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90442217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can National Development Banks Help Alleviate the Shortage of Patient Investment Capital in Africa? Evidence from Bank-Level Panel Data","authors":"L. Ndikumana, K. Naidoo, Rancisco Perez","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.1.0001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 National development banks remain an important part of modern financial systems in developed as well as developing countries. They play an important role in providing long-term financing and countercyclical financing during financial and economic crises. In this context, this article aims to provide empirical evidence of the role of national development banks in Africa in providing medium-term and long-term credit and their performance in managing resources, using bank-level data from selected countries and the BankFocus database (maintained by Fitch and Bureau Van Dijk). The empirical results show that while national development banks do not lend more relative to commercial banks, they outperform the latter in focusing on medium-term and long-term loans, which is consistent with their mandate. The results further confirm that national development banks incur more risk, resulting in relatively higher nonperforming loan ratios. As expected, national development banks are not more profitable than commercial banks in general, but they do perform better when they are located in countries with relatively more developed financial systems. The results are similar for public banks. The evidence suggests that strengthening the lending capacity of national development banks would significantly help alleviate the shortage of patient investment capital; i.e., medium-term and long-term credit in African economies. The article discusses policy implications and proposes some avenues for further research.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"186 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72770846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of Cash Transfers on Household Food Security: Evidence from Families with Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Kenya","authors":"Shalom Njoki, M. Wairimu","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0200","url":null,"abstract":"In response to the devastation of the 1990s and early 2000s AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya introduced the Cash Transfers for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) program. The program aimed to encourage the fostering and retaining of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) within communities and enhance their human capital development. This study uses cluster-randomized longitudinal trial data to examine the program’s household food security impact, using three measures of the accessibility dimension of food security: per adult equivalent food consumption, household food group shares, and the household dietary diversity score (HDDS). After performing difference-in-differences analysis, we find that the transfers had a positive and highly significant impact on HDDS but a statistically insignificant impact on per adult equivalent food consumption. The results are robust to alternative propensity-score-matched specifications. We further observe hidden food source substitution as transfers provided households with greater freedom of food choices from their own purchases and less reliance on food gifts or aid, thereby improving dietary diversity while aggregate food consumption remained largely unchanged. Our findings provide fresh insights to relevant stakeholders such as government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved with social action, particularly for OVCs, and food security researchers.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75239436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gender Equity in Land Distribution and Food Poverty: Evidence Using Cameroonian Data","authors":"N. D. Thomas, N. M. Aloysius","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0177","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the food poverty impacts of gender equity in the distribution of land for productive activities using the most recent Cameroon household consumption survey data conducted in 2014. It employs the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition to investigate the existence of a gender-land inequality gap and the factual and counterfactual regression analyses and Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke class of poverty measures to tease out the food poverty impacts of gender equity options in land distribution. The article’s major contribution to literature is in disintegrating the food poverty impacts of two salient policy packages—the policy package which gives each woman without land at least one hectare of land to exploit for productive activities relative to that which gives women the same rights to own land as their male counterparts. The results indicated that policy efforts to ensure a female head without land has at least a piece of land for productive purposes (referred to as equity-within) are more potent in alleviating food poverty compared to those that promote gender equality in the distribution (referred to as equity-between) of land for productive purposes. These results have implications for policy measures to enhance women’s roles as agricultural producers, especially with respect to ownership of land for productive use.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88220403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Persistence and Catch-Up in Mathematics Skills in Ethiopia: Evidence from Childhood and Adolescence","authors":"Mohammad Ali, Kira M Villa","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0228","url":null,"abstract":"A large body of evidence documents the stages of childhood where remedial investments can lead to catch-up growth following a period of early stunted linear growth. However, much less work examines the extent that cognitive catch-up is possible for children who realize low cognitive outcomes. This article examines patterns of persistence and catch-up in mathematics skills for a sample of Ethiopian children during childhood, middle childhood, early adolescence, and later adolescence. The authors also examine how investment patterns across childhood stages influence this skill production. Employing both descriptive and instrumental variables analysis, we find that persistence in skill levels increases with age. The authors also find that remedial investments later in childhood and adolescence can be effective in reducing skill disparities. However, closing the achievement gap further requires investment in both early and later childhood.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88931816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drivers of Service Exports from Kenya","authors":"S. Majune, John Gathiaka Kamau, Michael Ndwiga","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.24.2.0284","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the drivers of traditional (transport, travel, and government services), modern (financial and insurance, and communication), and composite (total, traditional, and modern) service exports in Kenya. Eight autoregressive and distributed lag (ARDL) models, for each above-mentioned service, are estimated using time series data ranging from 1975 to 2017. Results reveal that total service exports are determined by world demand, goods exports, Real Exchange Rate, human capital, institutions, financial development, and infrastructure. The authors make five major insights at the disaggregated level. First, exports of goods improve exports of all services in the long-run. Second, world demand, which signals external shocks, has a positive effect on traditional services. As for modern services, the effect is positive in the short-run but not in the long-run. Third, the J-curve effect is evident in travel, transport, insurance and financial, and communication services. Fourth, institutions are a short-run phenomenon. Fifth, human capital, financial development, and infrastructure improve most services in the long-run but the effect is negative in the short-run. For purposes of policy, we recommend the promotion of merchandise exports as it improves exports of all services. Other policy instruments vary across services. Therefore, policies should be formulated per service.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"119 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82674717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}