Other Policy Briefs

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 93
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    Can a Mother"s Education Affect Child Malnutrition?
    (2007-12-01) Kumchulesi, Grace
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    Education and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria
    (2007-12-01) I. R., Irughe; P. B, Eregha; Joel, Edafe
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    The Conditional Pricing of Currency and Inflation Risks in Africa;s Equity Markets
    (AERC, 2007-12-01) Kodongo, Odongo; Ojah, Kalu
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    Political Economy of Fertilizer Subsidy Implementation Process in Nigeria
    (AERC, 2013-12-03) Kayode, Salman Kabir
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    An Estimation of the Determinants of Efficiency of Rice Farmers in Benin: A Case Study of the Departments of Mono and Couffo
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2019-07-12) Houngue, Véronique
    Rice is an important component in the quest for food security in Benin, but its production remains low and thus needs to be optimized. This study estimated technical as well as allocative efficiency and identified the sources of the inefficiency of rice farmers in Benin, with specific focus on the departments of Mono and Couffo. The study used secondary data obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. The data covers 210 rice farmers evenly spread out within the departments of Mono and Couffo. The Cobb-Douglas production frontier method was used to measure the level of technical efficiency of farmers, while allocative efficiency was examined usingthe marginal product value method. The results reveal that the technical efficiency of producers is at 78%, and that there are therefore possibilities of increasing rice production. The sources of inefficiency are age, sex, the level of education and access to finance. The results also revealed the existence of allocative inefficiency in rice cultivation. Manpower is overused whereas other production factors such as seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer are underutilized. Allocative efficiency is explained by sex, age, the area sown, the type of crop, and access to finance. These results indicate that rice farmers in the departments of Mono and Couffo would benefit from adapting the best agricultural practices such as the use of fertilizer, agro-chemical products, and irrigation.
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    Participation in NonFarm Activities in Rural Sudan: Patterns and Determinants
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2019-10-03) . Ebaidalla, Ebaidalla M.
    Despite the importance of non-farm income in the livelihood of the rural population in Sudan, information available on its size and determinants is scant. This study examined the patterns and determinants of decisions to participate in non-farm activities in rural Sudan. It also investigates whether the determinants of participation in non-farm activities vary across agriculture sub-sectors and income groups as well as among males and females. The data for this study was sourced from the Sudanese National Baseline Household Survey (NBHS) conducted by Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics in 2009. The results show that non-farm income is a crucial source of livelihood, contributing about 43% to household income in rural Sudan. The results of multinomial logit and probit estimation methods indicate that educational level, mean of transportation, lack of land and lack of access to formal credit are the most significant factors that push rural farmers to participate in non-farm activities. Surprisingly, the effect of household income was positive and significant, implying that individuals from rich households have higher opportunity to engage in non-farm activities compared to their poor counterparts. Moreover, the analysis revealed some symptoms of gender and location disparities in the effect of factors that influence participation in non-farm activities. The study concluded with some recommendations that aim to enhance the engagement in non-farm activities as an important diversification strategy to complement the role of the agriculture sector in improving rural economy in Sudan.
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    Estimating Ghana's Tax Capacity and Effort
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2019-11-03) Brafu-Insaidoo, William Gabriel; . Obeng, Camara K
    The main objective of the study is to estimate and analyze Ghana’s tax potential and effort and to determine how much more tax the country could generate based on its desired expenditure needs. To achieve this objective, a stochastic tax frontier model has been analyzed using annual secondary data, covering the period 1985 to 2014. The analyses indicate that an increase in the taxable base and institutional improvements help to increase Ghana’s optimum tax potential. The study also reveals that political institutional improvement reduces inefficiency in Ghana’s tax system. In addition, the study finds that Ghana has enough of a tax gap to be exploited to meet its rising expenditure needs.
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    Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Uganda: The Role of Innovation
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2019-11-04) Okumu, Ibrahim; Buyinza, Faizal
    Using the 2013 World Bank Enterprise Survey data for Uganda, this paper employs the quintile estimation technique to explain the relationship between innovation and firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Innovation involves the introduction of a new or significantly improved production process, product, marketing technique or organizational structure. Our results indicate that individual processing, product, marketing and organizational innovations have no impact on labour productivity as proxied by sales per worker. However, the results indicate the presence of complementarity between the four types of innovation. Specifically, the effect of innovation on sales per worker is positive when an SME engages in all four types of innovation. Even then the complementarity is weakly positive with incidences of a negative relationship when using any combination of innovations that are less than the four types of innovation. Policy-wise the results suggest that efforts to incentivize innovation should be inclusive enough to encourage all four forms of innovation.
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    Household Economic Well-Being and Child Health in The Democratic Republic of Congo
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2019-11-22) Mwisha-Kasiwa, Janvier
    Health is both a direct component of human well-being and a form of human capital that increases an individual’s capabilities and opportunities to generate income and reduces vulnerability. It is argued that these two views are complementary, and both can be used to justify increased investment in health in developing countries. Therefore, investment in child health constitutes a potential mechanism to end the intergenerational transmission of poverty. This paper examines the empirical impact of household economic well-being on child health, and the gender differences in effects using the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, or DRC) Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2014. A series of econometric tools are used; the control function approach appears to be the most appropriate strategy as it simultaneously removes structural parameters from endogeneity, the sample selection and heterogeneity of the unobservable variables. Results suggest a significant positive effect of household economic well-being on child health. However, the magnitude of the effect varies by gender of household head; children from households headed by males appear healthier compared to those from female-headed households. In the context of DR Congo, female-headed households often have a single parent, therefore, the economic well-being effect on child health in the male sub-sample can be considered to include the unobserved contribution of women. These results have implications for public interventions that enable women to participate in paid labour market activities as a means of improving household economic well-being, which in turn could improve child health.
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    Management of Socio-Economic Data on Land in Mali
    (2020-04) Abdrahamane, Sanogo
    Land management in Africa presents enormous challenges, both in terms of access to this important asset for life and in terms of its governance. These unsolved difficulties are still observable in both urban and rural areas. Despite its very large area (1,241,238 km2), and its large reserves of arable land, Mali faces a massive exodus towards urban centers, more specifically Bamako the capital city. This poses the serious problem of housing, and of food security. Thus, there is a rush on the land, both in urban and peri-urban areas, and in rural areas. Mali’s development is largely dependent on the rural and the mining sector. The related problems are intimately linked to land and its management. It is aware of this situation that NEPAD wanted first to make an inventory of the required socio-economic data, then to consider the assistance which can be brought for a more adequate management. To this end, the AERC/CREA was instructed by NEPAD to make an inventory of socio-economic land data in each of the selected pilot countries, including Mali, and to provide insights for improving their management so as to facilitate their use and access by researchers, decision-makers and the public. It must be recognized that in Mali, land data management has always been difficult, as the organizations in charge of it have always been faced with an insufficiency of the required resources - human, material and financial. Also, it is worth highlighting the complexity of the data to be managed, and the many disputes they have always presented. This policy note reports the salient results and policy implications of this study. These results come from interviews with key stakeholders in land management and governance in Mali, and from a documentary review. To lead an efficient and rational management of the land sector, with a view to reducing the interminable conflicts and disputes, the Ministry of State property and Land Affairs was created, and its branches strengthened and empowered. The Ministry deals with the necessary measures to solve land speculation throughout the national territory. Planning tools designed, but not used enough, did not solve the land problem. The development of a national spatial planning scheme provided for in the newly adopted National Territorial Planning Policy (PNAT) will take charge of the distribution of activities and development roles to achieve the desired economic balance. The State property and Land Reform Secretariat was created by Decree No. 2016- 0177/PM-RM of March 25, 2016. Its fundamental mission is to work towards the creation of a state property and land database. Thus, a new unique national parcel/ plot identifier has been introduced for rational management of land throughout the territory. Each urban or rural parcel/plot will have its national cadastral identification number (NINACAD)
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    Inventory of Socio Economic Land Data (ISELDA) Project in Burkina Faso
    (2020-04) Coulibaly, Doubahan Adeline
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    Assessing User Satisfaction with the Quality of Healthcare Services in Cameroon
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2020-07-03) Njong, Aloysius Mom; Tchouapi, Rosy Pascale Meyet
    This study aims to evaluate user satisfaction with, and perceptions about the quality of the healthcare services provided in health facilities in Cameroon. The analyses make use of the 2010 Quantitative Service Delivery Survey (QSDS), jointly carried out by the World Bank and the National Institute of Statistics in Cameroon. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to test the reliability and validity of the research instruments and hence facilitate the ranking of satisfaction indicators. We use ordered probit modelling to identify the covariates of user satisfaction. Results indicate that over 85% of users are satisfied with the overall quality of healthcare services in the country. There are some concerns about such dubiously high individual-level response rates, which are inconsistent with the poor reputation of the quality of healthcare services in Cameroon. It also emerges from the study that age, educational status and waiting time are prominent covariates of satisfaction. The major policy recommendation is that an exit user satisfaction survey should be conducted to reduce the approval response biases observed in the 2010 QSDS data.
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    Bank Competition in Africa: Do Institutional Quality and CrossBorder Banking Matter?
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2020-07-03) Amidu, Mohammed
    This study analyses the implications of cross-border banking (CBB) and institutional quality (IQ) for bank competition in Africa. We apply a two-step estimation procedure using bank-level panel data for 29 African countries. In step one, the Boone indicator and the Lerner index are used to gauge bank competition in a given country in Africa. In the second step, we analyse the sources of bank competition, placing emphasis on the impact of CBB and IQ. The results suggest that competition increased in the period 2002-2005, before decreasing somewhat between 2006 and 2007 and increasing again thereafter. The results also show that cross-border banking enhances bank competition in African countries with stronger governance structures and institutional quality. Our results are robust to an array of controls, including an alternative methodology, variable specifications, and the regulatory environments that banks operate in.
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    Banks and Monetary Policy Transmission in the West African Economic and Monetary Union
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2020-07-03) Kanga, Désiré
    This paper aims at examining the role of banks in the transmission of the monetary policy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). By using a simple theoretical model, this paper shows that improving the quality of institutions and an increase in competition strengthens the transmission of monetary policy while capital requirement behaves like an additional cost to the borrowers. Applying a dynamic panel estimator to a large sample of WAEMU banks, the paper finds that bank lending is sensitive to monetary policy and capital-constrained banks reduce further their lending following a tight monetary policy compared to less capital-constrained banks. Moreover, an improvement in the quality of institutions seems to strengthen the transmission of monetary policy. Keywords: Capital regulation; Quality of institutions; Monetary policy.
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    Youth Unemployment and Political Instability in Côte D'ivoire
    (African Economic Research consortium, 2020-07-03) Germain, Kramo Kouakou
    The objective of this study is to analyze the nexus between youth unemployment and political instability in Côte d'Ivoire. To achieve this objective, we used a regional approach to conduct analysis on the relationship between political instability and youth unemployment in Côte d'Ivoire and we developed a method for calculating the political instability indicator. Analytical, descriptive, and econometric methods were used to analyze data from surveys conducted in relation to households’ living standards levels as well as surveys on employment. The results indicate that, by considering persons aged from 15 to 24 years as young people only, one might underestimate youth unemployment and the impact of policies aimed at combating youth unemployment. The statistics also revealed a very high level of youth unemployment. The econometric estimation results equally showed a positive and significant relationship between youth unemployment and political instability