Rafael La Porta and Andrei Shleifer. Abstract. We examine the productivity of informal firms (those that are not registered with the government) in 24 African countries using field work and World Bank firm level data. We find that productivity jumps sharply if we compare small formal firms to informal firms, and rises rapidly with the size of formal firms. Critically, informal firms appear to be qualitatively different than formal firms: they are smaller in size, produce to order, are run by managers with low human capital, do not have access to external finance, do not advertise their products,…
Author: CASADE
By Bertram I. Spector (ed.). The introductory chapter by Spector succinctly sets out the purpose and direction of the book. Simply put, the aim of the book is to provide policymakers with more reliable insight into which strategies are effective and which are not. The book takes as its starting point that corruption is the misuse of public authority for personal gain (Klitgaard, Maclean-Abaroa, and Parris 2000). It is a definition which the contributors adopt as a whole. The focus is on the public rather than the private sector. Spector argues that as corruption manifests in diverse ways it requires…
Alexander Beresford. When teaching undergraduate students about colonial legacies and the basics of underdevelopment and dependency, I project a map of colonial railways onto the screen and ask my students to comment on what it tells us.1 On the one hand, perhaps, this image of railways encapsulates ideas of modernity, progress, or even colonial benevolence. On the other hand, of course, when we force students to scratch below the surface, the image of rail networks linking mines to ports (and rarely cities to cities) reflects the manner in which the economies of Africa’s newly formed states were structured primarily toward…
Vlatka Bilas*, Sanja Franc. Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb Zagreb, Croatia ABSTRACT. Globalization is characterized by many accomplishments of the world economy: from regional trade agreements proliferation to the acceptance of international standards. One way of integrating Africa into globalization trends is through regional integrations. However, Africa’s dependence upon its colonial leaders has not reflected well on the process of regional integration. Regionalism in Africa was led by public sector organizations and it was done without the public support and the support of private sector. Information-communication technology represents another limiting factor to Africa’s integration into the globalization…
The welfare of internally displaced people of northern Nigeria continues to worry the international community. The almost perennial struggle between the Nigerian Military and the militant group, Boko Haram, has left many homeless in their homeland. In this brilliant assessment of the situation in Bama, Borno State, Vincent Foucher, Jean-Have, and Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group provide analysis and guidance. Children are dying in Bama, a town in Borno state, north-east Nigeria, suffering from lack of food, clean water and medical care. They are the most tragic manifestation of the humanitarian fallout of the Boko Haram insurgency and…
Tuesday Reitano, Mark Shaw. The international community has reiterated its commitment to supporting the government to rebuild the fractured state of Mali. Despite formidable investments in sponsoring the electoral process, reinforcing the security sector and convening the ongoing peace process, the complex and interwoven challenges of chronic poverty, insurgencies, criminal economies, widespread corruption and impunity and extremist groups have created fissures in the state that are an increasing challenge to resolve. Within this environment, the requirements of international assistance have arguably failed to provide the right incentives to create the foundation for genuine democratic governance, investing in state institutions, promoting…
The latest Africa’s Pulse shows economic slowdown in Sub Saharan Africa, with growth dipping in 2015 to 3.7% from 4.6% in 2014. Fiscal deficits across the region are now larger than they were at the onset of the global financial crisis. Domestic demand generated by consumption, investment, and government spending will boost economic growth to 4.8% in 2017. As difficult global conditions combined with domestic challenges buffet many African countries, Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth will continue to slow in 2015 to 3.7 percent from 4.6 percent in 2014, according to new World Bank projections. The end of the commodity price…
By Peter Maass. Reviewd by Steven Mufson. We tend to take for granted the comforts of modern life. Few of us think of underpaid migrant workers when we buy inexpensive imported clothes from China, or of disfigured Appalachian mountain tops when we turn on our coal-powered kitchen lights, or of fouled oil-rich frontiers when we hop in our cars. In his new book, “Crude World,” journalist Peter Maass takes readers on a vivid tour of troubled oil frontiers, voyaging to places like Nigeria’s polluted delta, Equatorial Guinea’s dusty capital, Ecuador’s scarred rain forest and Russia’s corporate boardrooms, where corruption…
Kate Bayliss. South Africa is suffering an electricity crisis. Blackouts have been widespread and the impact disastrous. Electricity supply is predicted to constrain growth for at least the next five years. How could this have occurred when until recently South Africa had a surplus of cheap electricity? This One Pager explores the causes. The origins of the crisis stem from an ambitious electricity restructuring and privatisation programme started in the early 1990s. The process has been protracted, reforms have been difficult to implement and the private sector has failed to respond. Meanwhile, public investment has stalled; this is the main…
Illicit financial flows (IFFs), defined as “money illegally earned, transferred or used”, are increasingly understood as a threat to sustainable development and one of the greatest contemporary global development challenges. They undercut economic growth and legitimate trade, depriving governments of financial resources they might otherwise invest in public goods such as health, education or infrastructure. As they present a significant threat to security, stability and development in many regions of the world, IFFs have increasingly featured on the agenda of leading political initiatives like the G8 and G20. IFFs carry a high price, as they are increasingly concomitant with the…