Journal of Eastern African research & development最新文献

{"title":"Neoliberalism, Urbanization and Change in Africa: the Political Economy of Heterotopias","authors":"P. Carmody, Francis Owusu","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.18.1.0061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.18.1.0061","url":null,"abstract":"In the much of the popular media, the discourse around Africa has changed. Whereas stories of the “coming anarchy” or the “hopeless continent” abounded a little over a decade ago, it was, until the recent collapse in commodity prices, increasingly seen as the final global investment frontier, with rapid uptake of cellular technology and economic growth. Although much of this growth has been propelled by natural resources, the current conjuncture offers opportunities as well as challenges for African urban areas and raises questions about the role of cities in the continent's future development as they continue to become more deeply informalised. The response of many city authorities to the deepening informalisation of their economies has been to try to connect to the global economy in new ways, through the creation of new financial service, high-tech and elite residential areas. In this paper we explore these developments through the Foucaudian lens of heterotopia. These new developments attempt to erase their associations with the cities from which they originate in favour of new connections outwards. However the creation of these new enclaves is filled with socio-spatial contradictions, which make them unlikely to achieve their ostensible objectives.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75088678","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":"Management Standard Certification and Firm Productivity: Micro-evidence from Africa","authors":"Micheline Goedhuys, P. Mohnen","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.19.1.0061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.19.1.0061","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Using micro evidence from manufacturing and services firms located in 41 African countries, this paper shows that better management practice, reflected by international management certification, helps firms to raise productivity. Larger and older firms and firms operating closer to the technological frontier are more likely to possess international management standards certification, as do firms engaged in international transactions. Certification in turn raises productivity levels further, in line with a process of continuous improvement. The findings hold for both manufacturing and services firms.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"95 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74673428","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":"Managing Africa's Natural Resources: Capacities for Development","authors":"P. Carmody","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0115","url":null,"abstract":"This book offers a rich set of insights into natural resource management and governance in Africa. One of the real strengths of the book is the diversity of voices and perspectives that it brings. The passion for the continent’s development is evident in all of the contributions and it is an important step forward in getting us to think about resources as a potential source of broad-based and shared development, rather than as necessarily a problem; or in more extreme formulations a “curse”. In this short review I can’t do justice to the depth, variety and richness of the book, so I will focus on some areas that stood out for me that might be worthy of, or provoke future debate. The chapters display a nuanced understanding of political economy, and many are prescriptive about institutions and policies. The book is sensitive to emerging new initiatives and models from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries for example. However, as chapter five shows, the long-term trend for commodity prices is still downward; the recent global commodity super-cycle not withstanding. Is the commodity super-cycle now coming to an end or will commodity prices increase again, over the medium term, as scarcity reasserts itself? What will and should be the implications of the end of the super-cycle for policy makers in Africa? Useful analytical frameworks are developed in the book to advance its agenda—the “capacity-leadership-governance” trichotomy as an axis of transformation. Capacity is interestingly defined in chapter ten as the ability to deliver on, or achieve stated goals. Other interesting concepts are also developed: such as the idea of dams as strategic stores of water in the context of climate change. The book is also packed with interesting statistics such as that $1 trillion worth of minerals and oil are extracted from the continent each year. However, the scale of misappropriation of resource rents in some countries is also shocking with less than half of total oil revenue accruing in Cameroon being transferred to the budget, for example. Three timber companies, by themselves, control 20% of Liberia’s land area. The challenge of effective natural resource management is significant in the context of such massive and entrenched power differentials and positions. Nonetheless the book also provides evidence of African states taking very proactive roles in combatting misuse of resource rents, with Nigeria indicting former US Vice-President Dick","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89373684","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":"The Relevance of Global Reform of Bank Regulation: A Perspective from Africa","authors":"L. Kasekende","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0009","url":null,"abstract":"The global financial crisis exposed fundamental weaknesses in the financial regulation, prompting ongoing efforts to strengthen the regulatory framework. The key features of the global reforms are: higher mandatory minimum capital adequacy ratios, together with improvements in the quality of capital; introduction of minimum liquidity requirements; introduction of macro-prudential tools; proposals for the resolution of globally systemically important banks. The international character of banking provides a clear rationale for global minimum regulatory standards, especially to avoid regulatory arbitrage, whereby banks locate in the jurisdictions with the least onerous regulations, spurring a race to the regulatory bottom. Hence key regulatory innovations have been drawn up at the global level and most governments around the world, including those in Africa, have incorporated them into their own national banking regulations. The aim of this paper is to assess the implications of the global regulatory reforms for bank regulation in Africa and, in particular, whether the specific reforms are likely to be helpful or counterproductive for banking system stability in Africa. The paper aims to help fill a gap in the literature on the latest global reforms to bank regulation; relatively little of which has assessed these issues from the standpoint of developing countries.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85692661","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":"Do African Countries Get Health from Health Aid?","authors":"K. Gyimah-Brempong","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0083","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses panel data and a dynamic panel data (DPD) estimator to investigate the effects of health aid on health outcomes and health expenditures in African countries. Health aid is found to have a positive and significant effect on health outcomes in African countries. Moreover, health aid is more effective at improving health outcomes for countries that increase domestic health expenditure and for those with better governance. The results also show that health aid marginally increases domestic health expenditure in African countries, suggesting that the effect of health aid on health outcomes may be larger than the direct effect.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72707097","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":"Export Diversification And Economic Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"L. Hodey, A. Oduro, B. Senadza","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0067","url":null,"abstract":"Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been associated with low and volatile growth performance over the years. Export diversification has been identified in the literature as growth-inducing. This study provides evidence on the relationship between export diversification and economic growth using panel data of forty-two (42) SSA countries. Employing the system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique and three different measures of diversification, we find that export diversification has a positive and significant effect on economic growth in SSA. Our results are robust to the measures of export diversification. The results do not however support a hump-shaped (non-linear) relationship between export diversification and economic growth in SSA. The findings have relevant implications for policy.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81189484","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":"The Distribution of Firm Size in Africa's Manufacturing Sector and Its Implication for Industrial Policy","authors":"Janvier D. Nkurunziza","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.2.0045","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the distribution of Kenyan firms into four size categories: micro, small, medium and large size. Four questions are investigated. First, do small firms grow faster than large ones or is firm growth independent of size as stipulated by Gibrat's “Law of Proportionate Effect” Second, what is the steady state size of firms? Third, how long does it take to reach the steady state size? Fourth, does the use of bank credit affect a firm's growth and the process of firm size convergence? On the basis of ergodic probability distributions, we derive information on firms' steady state growth and convergence. Using data on Kenya's manufacturing sector, empirical results suggest that firm growth is associated with overall economic performance. Before the early 1990s, firms had a high growth potential. In equilibrium, 70 percent of surviving firms converged to large size. In contrast, growth and convergence in the 1990s reflected the economic crisis that hit the Kenyan economy: the steady state distribution of firm size was concentrated in the first two quartiles, with suggestive evidence that smaller firms recorded the highest rates of failure. Also, the use of credit increased the growth of surviving firms but appears to have contributed to precipitating firm failure. These results suggest that support policies such as special credit schemes are not a panacea for a firm's survival and growth.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87996201","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":"Capital Flight from Africa: Causes, Effects and Policy Issues","authors":"S. Onyeiwu","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0125","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84119600","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":"Ownership of the Place of Residence in Ghana: A Gender Analysis","authors":"A. Oduro","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0017","url":null,"abstract":"Using data from a survey that collected individual-level asset data in 2010 logistic regressions are employed to identify the correlates of homeownership and whether these are the same for women and men. We find that the factors associated with the likelihood of being a homeowner are not identical for women and men. In Ghana, reported owners of an asset do not always have the rights associated with being an owner, e.g. the right to sell, bequeath or use the asset as collateral. The second part of this paper investigates the correlates of the right to sell and the right to use the place of residence as collateral among owners of the place of residence. Male owners of places of residence are more likely than female owners to have the full range of ownership rights. In addition, the correlates of ownership rights are not identical for women and men.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79565789","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":"Education, Internal Remittances and Safety Nets in Africa: Some Evidence","authors":"K. Gyimah-Brempong, Yaw Nyarko","doi":"10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrideve.17.1.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses LSS data from Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana to investigate the effects of education on social safety nets proxied by internal migrant remittances in Africa. We find that education has positive and statistically significant effect on the probability of sending as well as of the amount of remittance. The estimates are robust to model specification, data organization, and estimation method. The results suggest that one mechanism through which education provides a social safety net in Africa is the migration and remittances channel. Our results suggest that investment in education may not only accelerate economic growth in Africa, it may also provide a social safety net for the population.","PeriodicalId":81652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African research & development","volume":"65 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77934399","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}