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411. Liberia: Resurrecting the Justice System

Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Reform of the justice system needs to be a top priority for Liberia's new government and donors alike. After fourteen years of civil war, the system is in shambles. Impunity prevails, and in this atmosphere, the government cannot adequately address economic governance, transformation of the military and reconstruction of war- scarred physical infrastructure – all primary areas for reform and reconstitution in 2006. Courts that do not prosecute those who siphon resources from government coffers impede progress in all other areas. Within the next six months, stronger and impartial mechanisms are required in both the statutory and customary law systems, and community-based justice programs should be created.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Africa and Liberia

412. Financial Reform and the Mobilization of Domestic Savings: The Experience of Morocco

Author:
Mina Baliamoune-Lutz
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Using a vector error-correction model, I explore the short-run dynamics and long-run linkages between financial reform and the mobilization of domestic saving in Morocco. In the short run, financial depth (volume of intermediation) is shown to have a positive influence on private saving, while increases in real interest rates have a negative impact. The effectiveness of financial intermediation does not seem to have a direct effect on saving but has a significant influence on the volume of intermediation. In the long run, savings have a stable relationship with financial reform but the influence of interest rates remains negative, implying that the income effect dominates in the long run as well.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
Africa and Morocco

413. Institutional Analysis of Financial Market Fragmentation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Risk-Cost Configuration Approach

Author:
Machiko Nissanke and Ernest Aryeetey
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The paper examines the source of financial market fragmentation in sub-Saharan Africa in the framework of institutional economics. Based on fieldwork data from Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania, it analyses financial risk management, the transaction costs for loan screening and monitoring, and contract enforcement. It shows how, faced with various institutional constraints, the range of clientele selected by formal and informal lenders becomes both narrow and at the extreme market-ends. It evaluates the prevailing state of managing risks for market structure, and binding institutional constraints for market transformation and deepening in sub-Saharan Africa.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:
Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and Malawi

414. Institutions and Economic Performance in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Mauritius

Author:
Julius Kiiza
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper examines the relationship between institution building and economic performance in Mauritius, Botswana and Uganda. The rationale for comparing these cases is simple. While the three have been super-economic stars in their own right, they have achieved substantially different outcomes. Mauritius has achieved Asia-type rapid growth, backed by the structural transformation of the economy from colonial commodity production (sugar) to postcolonial higher value-added industrial and information outcomes. Botswana has delivered rapid and sustained growth with no structural economic transformation. Uganda has attained rapid growth for a shorter postcolonial period (since 1992) and with no structural transformation. This paper contends that these cross-national differences largely arise from the presence of developmental nationalism plus Weberian bureaucracies in Mauritius and Botswana, and their absence in Uganda.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, Mauritius, and Botswana

415. Evaluating Targeting Efficiency of Government Programmes: International Comparisons

Author:
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper suggests how the targeting efficiency of government programmes may be better assessed. Using the 'pro-poor policy' (PPP) index developed by authors, the study investigates the pro-poorness of not only government programmes geared to the poorest segment of the population, but also basic service delivery in education, health and infrastructure. This paper also shows that the targeting efficiency for a particular socioeconomic group should be judged on the basis of a 'total-group PPP index', to capture the impact of operating a programme within the group. Using micro-unit data from household surveys, the paper presents a comparative analysis for Thailand, Russia, Vietnam and 15 African countries.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Government, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, Vietnam, and Thailand

416. Finance and Poverty in Ethiopia: A Household Level Analysis

Author:
Alemayehu Geda, Daniel Zerfu, and Abebe Shimeles
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In this paper, using the rich household panel data of urban and rural Ethiopia that covers the period from 1994 to 2000, we attempted to establish the link between finance and poverty in Ethiopia. Our results show that access to finance is an important factor in consumption smoothing and hence poverty reduction. We also found evidence for a poverty trap due to liquidity constraints that limits the ability of the rural households from consumption smoothing. The empirical findings from this study could inform finance policies aimed at addressing issues of poverty reduction.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

417. Gender and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Evidence

Author:
Stephen Klasen, David Lawson, Sudharshan Canagarajah, and Mark Blackden
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The study suggests that gender inequality acts as a significant constraint to growth in sub-Saharan Africa, and that removing gender-based barriers to growth will make a substantial contribution to realizing Africa's economic potential. In particular we highlight gender gaps in education, related high fertility levels, gender gaps in formal sector employment, and gender gaps in access to assets and inputs in agricultural production as particular barriers reducing the ability of women to contribute to economic growth. By identifying some of the key factors that determine the ways in which men and women contribute to, and benefit (or lose) from, growth in Africa, we argue that looking at such issues through a gender lens is an essential step in identifying how policy can be shaped in a way that is explicitly gender-inclusive and beneficial to growth and the poor. We also argue that in some dimensions and channels of the gender-growth nexus, the evidence is only suggestive and needs further detailed research and analysis. Investigations of the linkage between gender inequality and growth should therefore be a priority for development economics research in coming years.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Africa

418. Tax Policy Reforms in Nigeria

Author:
Ayodele Odusola
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Nigeria is governed by a federal system, hence its fiscal operations also adhere to the same principle, a fact which has serious implications on how the tax system is managed. The country's tax system is lopsided, and dominated by oil revenue. It is also characterized by unnecessarily complex, distortionary and largely inequitable taxation laws that have limited application in the informal sector that dominates the economy. The primary objective of this paper is to prepare a case study on tax policy reforms in Nigeria, with the specific objectives of examining the main tax reforms in the country; highlighting tax revenue profile and composition; analysing possible distributional impacts on the poor; discussing major problems that could prevent effective tax implementation in the country; and offering suggestions for reforms.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

419. Nigeria: Want in the Midst of Plenty

Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and perhaps also its most poorly understood. It has endured six successful and numerous failed military coups, a civil war that cost well over a million lives, three inconclusive transitions to democracy and recurrent factional violence. Despite more than $400 billion in oil revenue since the early 1970s, the economy under performs, and the great majority of citizens have benefited little. More effective institution building is imperative.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

420. Stadium Architecture and regional economic development: International experience and the plans of Durban

Author:
Wolfgang Maennig
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Abstract:
For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily. The positive economic effects that the country is hoping for stand in contrast to almost all statistical ex-post studies. This contribution emphasises that these results, usually from research under-taken in the USA, can only be generalised to a limited degree. The density of sports venues in developed countries is so high, that the marginal effects of new stadia are necessarily limited. We also emphasise that stadium design around the world was not hitherto adequately targeted towards positive economic effects. The example of Durban and its plans for a new “iconic” stadium is used to illustrate fundamental principles of stadium design and their embedding in a re-urbanisation process that have to be undertaken in order to consciously achieve positive regional economic effects.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Sports, Architecture, World Cup, Regional Economy, and Soccer
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and Global Focus