Development Economics

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COVARIANT SHOCKS AND THEIR MARGINAL EFFECTS ON HOUSEHOLD COPING STRATEGIES IN UGANDA
(UNIVERSITY OF MAKERERE, 2017-11-03) Bberinya, HILARY
This study analyzed covariant shocks and their marginal effects on household coping strategies in Uganda. Household level data contained in the Uganda National Household Survey (2005/2006) by Uganda Bureau of Statistics was used. The dependent variable was coping strategies with options; used assets, used savings, reduced family expenditure, widened employment, sought help, borrowed and other strategies. The independent variables were; drought, floods/hailstorm, pest attack, bad seed quality, livestock epidemics and other shocks. Location, region, gender, age, household size, economic status and education were used as control variables. Analysis was carried out using SPSS 12 and STATA 12 that generated preliminary descriptive statistics, variable cross tabulations, chi-square and multinomial logistic results. Three models were estimated to find out the effect of covariant shocks and their marginal effects on coping strategies. Out of the total number of 7421 respondents, 4885 (65.8%) reported to have faced at least one shock. Out of six shocks, drought was the largest specific shock that affected most respondents followed by; floods, livestock epidemics and a combination of other shocks combined. Based on the results of the cross tabulation and chi-square test, the conclusion is that there were significant differences in reporting shocks by; location, region, gender, household size and economic status but no significant difference in reporting shocks according to education status. For the first choice strategy, there were significant differences in the choice of strategies between gender, location, region, household size, economic status; but no significant difference between education status. The choice of coping strategies was significantly different for various shocks. For the second choice strategy, there were significant differences in the choice of strategies based on, region, household size, economic status and location; but no significant difference between male and female. For the third choice strategy, there were no significant differences in the choice of strategies. Households were more likely to use savings in face of drought, floods/hailstorms, pest attacks, bad seed quality and other shocks. Male headed households were more likely to widen employment compared to use of savings than females. Use of savings to cope in face of shocks has policy implications in relation to the need to raise household savings.
DETERMINANTS OF PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS
(University Of Bostwana, 2020-09-04) MAHLOANE, TSEPO BENJAMIN
This study pursued an investigation of the relationship between the quality of institutions and private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The literature on determinants of economic growth establishes the importance of investment in the growth of an economy. SSA countries have been experiencing deficiency in private investment growth for several decades with consequences on the growth of these countries. This study contributes to the debate on policies to promote private investment in the region. The study focused on the influence of administrative quality, public accountability and political stability. Dynamic panel econometric methods were applied to data from 25 SSA countries for the period 1990-2016. The empirical results of the Arellano-Bond first step generalized methods of moments support the notion that improvement in public accountability and political stable environment is likely to improve private investment in SSA. One way that this study can be extended is to investigate causality between institutional quality and private investment. This could potentially provide more insight on the interaction between the two.
EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE SOURCES ON FIRM LEVEL INNOVATION IN GHANA
(UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST, 2020-04-16) FIAVE, DIVINE MAWUSI
This study analysed the effect of knowledge sources on firm level innovation in Ghana. To achieve this objective, the study applied a logit model on the 2013 Ghana Enterprise Survey and the 2014 Ghana Innovation Follow-up Survey with a total of 549 firms in all. It was found that the effects of knowledge sources are higher for process innovation than for product innovation. Specifically, internal R&D and training of workers were found to have a positive effect on both product and process innovations when internal sources of knowledge are considered in isolation. Purchase of equipment was also found to have a positive effect on both product and process innovation when considering the separate effect of external sources of knowledge. However, in the presence of both internal and external sources of knowledge, training of workers and purchase of equipment were found to have a positive and significant effect on product innovation whiles internal R&D, training of workers and purchase of equipment had a significant effect on process innovation. It was interesting to find an insignificant joint effect of internal R&D and purchase of equipment on product and process innovations. In the spirit of enhancing innovation in Ghana, this study recommends that the Ministry of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation formulate a policy that will ensure that firms devote a portion of their income for conducting internal R&D and also undertake in-house training. In addition, the Ministry of Finance should also offer tax incentives or subsidies for firms to acquire productive equipment and machinery in or outside the country.
EFFICIENCY OF BOTSWANA MEAT COMMISSION
(University of Dar es Salaam, 2012-09-22) Nkombeledzi, Geraldine
Over the years BMC has been characterised by a series of fluctuations in its throughput and also the inability to operate at full capacity. An interesting detail is that, demand for beef and beef products has risen as evidenced by a rise in domestic consumption. BEDIA (2008) reports that, the number of cattle supplied to BMC over the years has declined, while on the other hand, domestic consumption has increased and local butcheries have attracted an increasing number of cattle made available for slaughter: as a result throughput at BMC abattoirs has declined leading to excess capacity. Given that, Botswana has higher potential of meat production than it actually produces, there is therefore a need to determine BMC level of efficiency and identify possible causes of inefficiency so as to reduce existing excess capacity and improve its performance. This study employed Stochastic Frontier Analysis to assess technical efficiency of Botswana Meat Commission. The results indicate that BMC is not technically efficient. The study also used Ordered Logit to assess factors having an influence on efficiency. Factors that were found to have influence include material input, producer prices and exchange rate. In consideration of the potential that the sector possesses such as diversification of the economy and export earnings among others, strategies that can enhance BMC performance must be fully explored. Options that can be explored include; opening up of the market so that producer prices are competitively set and further processing of by products which can be outsourced so that the commission concentrates on efficient production of beef and beef products
The Impact of Global Commodity Price Shocks on Liquidity in Zimbabwe
(University of Zimbabwe, 2021-04-22) Mabuka, Stanley
The study investigated the impact of global commodity price shocks on liquidity in Zimbabwe using monthly time series data spanning from 2009M01 to 2017M12. The study employed the first order VAR model based on impulse response functions and forecast error variance decomposition. Further, a two-step regression procedure was employed to determine the shock propagation mechanism. The results obtained confirmed that global commodity price shocks impact on liquidity in Zimbabwe. Within the period under review, commodity price shocks were found to be propagated into the economy through the fiscal performance transmission mechanism.
INNOVATION AND GROWTH OF FIRMS IN EAST AFRICA
(Makerere University, 2018-08-22) NALUWOOZA, PATRICIA
Empirical evidence has shown that innovation is a major determinant of firm growth in developed and developing countries. However, little is known about the impact of innovation on firm growth in LICs like those in the East African region. This study attempts to fill this gap in the literature using a modified Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) structure model to analyze data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey of 2754 firms in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The study examines the role of product and process innovation in explaining firm growth. Furthermore, it investigates how innovation interacts with firm-level resources to explain firm growth in East Africa. Proxies for firm growth used are sales, employment and productivity growth. We hypothesize that product and process innovation positively and independently affect firm growth and also exhibit complementarity effects. In addition, we hypothesize that innovation moderates the effect of firm-level resources on firm growth. The set hypotheses are tested using a Two Stage Least Squares estimation strategy. Overall, the results suggest that product and process innovation positively and significantly affect the three proxies of firm growth. The results also reveal evidence of complementarity effects of product and process innovation on sales, employment and productivity growth. In addition, results show that product and process innovation positively moderate the effect of firm-level resources on firm growth.
MIGRATION-EDUCATION LINKAGES: THE CASE OF GHANA
(University of Ghana , Legon, 2011-06-22) AMUAKWA-MENSAH, FRANKLIN
Education and migration are very essential in development outcomes since education improves the capability of the individual. Despite studies on migration in Ghana, the link between migration and education in the Ghanaian economy is unclear. This study therefore presents an empirical examination of the linkages between migration and education in Ghana. While GLSS 4 and GLSS 5 datasets were used for the descriptive analysis, the GLSS 5 dataset was used for the econometric estimations. Heckman‟s two stage method was used in examining the impact of education on migration; however the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation was used to find the impact of migrant remittances on education expenditure. The relationship between migration and education was also examined by using the chi-square test. The empirical results revealed that a greater proportion of internal migration in Ghana is rural-rural and urban-rural. Also, an individual‟s educational attainment positively affects his/her decision to migrate. Further, it was seen that other socio-economic variables significantly affect an individual‟s migration decision. Though education affects the migration decision in both urban and rural areas, its significance varies for the different stages of educational attainment. Moreover, it was found that migrant remittances positively affect educational expenditure. Based on the findings of the study it is recommended that the education system should be improved in the entire country by providing qualified teachers and studying materials, and the rural areas should be upgraded close to the standard of the urban area in order to reduce inequality in educational infrastructure. Also, a smooth functioning credit market should be created in the country to provide financial support to households which do not receive remittances to finance their educational expenditure.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIGHER EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION FOR BOTSWANA
(University Of Bostwana, 2021-01-19) Charowe, Karabo
The study investigates the role of higher education in economic growth for Botswana between 1981 and 2016 using the application of Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Model and Toda & Yamamoto (1995) Causality approach in Vector Autoregressive (VAR) framework. The analysis showed no evidence of long run relationship between economic growth and higher education. The results imply that higher education do not play any role in bringing economic growth to equilibrium. The empirical results of causality test indicate that there is no direction of causality between economic growth and higher education which suggests that for the case of Botswana when considering revenues without mineral proceeds economic growth is independent from higher education
TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ZIMBABWE: THE CASE OF HARARE PROVINCE
(University of Zimbabwe, 2017-05-22) ZVENDIYA, RONALD
In light of the efforts by government to lift the Zimbabwean system of primary education, the study assesses technical efficiency of primary schools using Data Envelopment Analysis. Precisely, the study examines the technical efficiency of 27 primary schools based on obtainable inputs data on number of classrooms, teaching staff, enrollment, average class size and number of toilets and output data on performance in primary leaving examinations. The efficiency scores are then regressed against input variables and locational dummy to determine their effect on efficiency. Furthermore, the study also examines total factor productivity change in these primary schools based on the Malmquist Index using panel data for 5 years from 2011 to 2015. The results from the Data Envelopment Analysis suggest that a great number of the primary schools are not efficient because they have efficiency scores less than 1. Additionally, results from the efficiency scores suggest that primary schools could improve performance by 14.3% using the same resources. Moreover, mean annual total factor productivity growth decreased by 2.9%. Analysis of Tobit regression shows a negative significant relationship between average class size and efficiency thus congested classes are associated with inefficiency. Primary schools situated in low density areas are found to perform better than their high density counterparts. The study recommends that government policy should be geared towards reducing the average class size. The increasing levels of enrollment should be dealt with by increasing the number of classes and the number of teachers. The assessment system in primary schools should be restructured to ensure improvement in the low pass rates by implementing a competency based assessment framework which is more valid to skills improvement.

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