Lack of economic growth has overwhelmingly been the focus of studies of the economic history of post-colonial Africa. Ironically, this has diverted attention from explaining the process of economic growth. Explaining African economic growth as it happened, with attention to episodes of growth and changes in incentive structures, is much more demanding of the African growth evidence. There are serious validity and reliability issues with the Africa data. This stands in contrast with the widespread use of the data as functional evidence for economic analysis. The thesis sheds new light on both methodological and substantive issues through a comparative study of the national accounting methodologies in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. It is found that baseline estimates and growth estimation methodologies are different across countries, and that these to an extent determine differences in measured growth, and therefore might influence conclusions in the literature. The main sources of growth evidence are compared with the national accounts data. It is shown that these different sources do not cohere. These data quality issues are serious enough to compromise research on post-colonial African economic history unless proper care is taken. The final part of the thesis analyses the growth experiences of these four countries on the basis of the national accounts data. At face value the stylised facts about averaged growth rates match the idealised typologies of African economies based on their policy and institutional frameworks. It is shown, however, that when we examine the changes in economic growth rates during the period, and the sources of those changes, the explanations from the case studies do not cohere with the orthodox narrative. While there are clear differences in the growth performance of the countries, these differences in growth rates were determined by events over which the policy makers and the institutional framework could have only limited influence. The case studies underline the importance of looking beyond the averaged aggregate growth rates, because of, rather than despite, the issues of data quality.

This thesis has theoretical as well as empirical goals. Theoretically, it develops a working conceptual framework of an African development regime - an institutional configuration of modern power harnessed by leaders and technocrats ideologically committed to progress. Historically, 'Africa' has been an 'invention', objectified as a continent in crisis and designated the object of external developers. Africans have re-imagined their continent as a distinct geopolitical space, a lived reality of struggles in which unifying discourses of 'Pan-Africanism', 'United States of Africa' and 'African renaissance' project an alternative African geography of power. In this regime, institutional complexes of expertise - Western-trained African experts, their institutions and interactions - play a pivotal role in advancing the hegemony of dominant development ideas. In the process, it is argued, they have the potential to reconfigure power asymmetries and secure expanded policy space towards pursuing a development agenda considered more authentically 'African'. The thesis undertakes a historiographical analysis of Africa's development regime, locating the sub-hegemonic role played by the Economic Commission for Africa, the continent's premier institutional complex of expertise on economic development issues, from 1958 to 2005. Drawing on life histories of key respondents, critical light is shed on how these experts deploy their 'African-ness' alongside recognition as worldclass technocrats to create increased room for manoeuvre. The thesis also examines the African Peer Review Mechanism, a sub-hegemonic political technology advancing the globally hegemonic discourse of 'good governance' that, it is argued, holds the potential to re-order the balance of power.

This thesis investigates economic growth in Africa using three empirical papers from a number of different angles. The thesis begins by investigating the effects of different natural resources on economic growth in Africa. Three exogenous natural resources proxies (for agriculture, fuels and minerals) have been constructed to account for endogeneity issues. Empirical results show that agriculture has a strong positive effect on economic growth, while fuels and minerals affect growth negatively in all specifications even after controlling for endogeneity, quality of institutions and economic policy. The results reject the notion for generalized natural resource curse and argue that the amalgamation of natural resources components into one measure may obscure differences in their respective growth impacts. The thesis also investigates the effect of total and sectoral (primary, manufacturing and services sectors) FDI inflows on total factor productivity (TFP) at a macro level, using a new dataset for TFP developed by UNIDO-World Productivity Database and employing instrumental variables 2SLS estimation technique to control for endogeneity problem. Empirical findings show positive and statistically significant effects from total and sectoral FDI inflows on TFP growth. The findings also show that services sector has the highest potential to accelerate TFP growth (especially through communications, and trade and business sub-sectors). Finally, the thesis considers the role of economic transformation in the form of increased manufacturing share in aggregate output in accelerating growth and reducing growth volatility in Africa. It examines the key determinants of growth in the share of manufacturing output (in GDP) and its relationship with real GDP growth and (growth) volatility. Empirical results indicate that real GDP growth and domestic investment are among the key drivers of growth in the share of manufacturing output and that growth in the latter has, in turn, the potential to raise GDP growth and reduce growth volatility.

This thesis assesses the significance of real bank credit in stimulating real output paying particular attention to the factors that prompt financial intermediation within the economy. The thesis contributes to the existing literature on finance and growth by providing fresh empirical evidence in the case of the Nigerian economy and Africa as a whole. In the context of Nigeria, credit Granger causes output, but the reverse is not true. In testing the factors that mobilise credit, I find that exports are negatively related to credit. Moreover, since credit usually fund non-oil exports, I also find that oil exports is negatively related to credit, whereas non-oil exports is positively related to credit. The latter also explains why capital inflows and imports are positively related to credit in my study. Extending the analysis to Africa as a whole, I find that causality is bi-directional. In examining the factors which mobilise credit (based on three measures of output); I find that output consistently exerts a positive influence on credit, whereas inflation and exports exert the opposite effect. However, the impact of government expenditure on credit is ambiguous. These results are re-confirmed when I use an alternative estimator for robustness. In line with the variables used in the Nigerian case, both capital inflow and imports positively influence credit while the impact of exports is negative for the whole of Africa. When examining the drivers of output in the African context, I find that credit and exports positively influence output whereas inflation exerts the opposite effect. The role of government expenditure is equally ambiguous. A further robustness test again confirms these results. The relationship between exports and credit in the literature is positive hence, it is important to investigate why the opposite holds in the Nigerian and African context. As such, I examine the efficiency of the banking system using three different measures, which includes loans, other earnings and other operating income since this may explain the counter intuitive result: export sales in Africa are largely intermediated by multi-national firms who prefer to obtain financing from credit markets that are more efficient than the African banking system. Across Africa, efficiency of the banking system is 74%, 76% and 92% when loans, other earnings and other operating income are respectively used as the output variables. This implies that 26% of credit is allocated in an unproductive way while 24% and 8% of expenditure could be better managed. When dividing the sample into medium and low-income countries, I find the respective levels of efficiency for each of the measures to be 94% and 11%; 83% and 0%; 90% and 0% for loans, other earnings and other operating income as the output variables respectively. This result supports bank loans as the best output variable, which I use further in the estimation. Further clues as to why there should be such differences in efficiency are obtained when the sample is split by regions, since there are regional variations in the use of credit. The Central African region is the least efficient. In these economies, resources are typically held and allocated by a few individuals.

This thesis explores three important factors that have been central to the pursuit of economic development in developing countries, particularly those in Africa. These are capital flows, economic integration and financial crises. Chapter 1 examines the causes and consequences of capital flight in African countries. Building on standard portfolio choice model, the study links the phenomenon of capital flight to the domestic investment climate (broadly defined) and shows that African agents move their portfolios abroad as a result of a deteriorating domestic investment climate where the risk-adjusted rate of return is unfavourable. The results presented suggest that economic risk, policy distortions and the poor profitability of African investments explain the variation in capital flight. In addition, employing a PVAR and its corresponding impulse responses, the chapter shows that capital flight shocks worsen economic performance. Chapter 2 explores the (independent) effects of crises and openness on a large sample of African countries using dynamic panel techniques. Focusing on sudden stops, currency, twin and sovereign debt crises, the chapter shows that economic crises are associated with growth collapses in Africa. In contrast, economic openness is found to be beneficial to growth. More importantly, we find that, consistent with standard Mundell-Flemming type models and sticky-price open economy models, greater openness to trade and financial flows mitigates the adverse effects of crises. In the final chapter, we examine whether capital flows such as FDI, foreign aid and migrant remittances crowd-in or crowd-out domestic investment in developing countries. Applying recently developed panel cointegration techniques which can handle cross-sectional heterogeneity, serial correlation and endogeneity, we find that FDI and remittances have a positive and significant effect on domestic investment in the long-run while aid tends to act as a substitute for investment. We also conduct panel Granger causality analysis and find that the effect of FDI on investment is both transitory as well as permanent. That is, it tends to crowd-in domestic investment both in the short-run and in the long-run. We do not find any causal links between foreign aid and investment. The results show that, while remittances do not have causal effects on investment in the short-run, there is a bidirectional (causal) relationship between the two in the long-run.

No description available.

PhD (African Studies) / Centre for African Studies / Abstract In the Horn of Africa, it is often presumed that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) provides an institutional framework for regional integration. IGAD was established in 1986 and its member states include, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. However, the organisation continues to have many set-backs in its quest for an integrated Horn of Africa. Therefore, this study probed the challenges of regional integration in the Horn of Africa. The study closely examined the regional integration efforts of IGAD and its role and aggregate performance in the sub-region’s search for alternative strategies for sustainable socio- economic development and self-reliance through regional integration. The aim of the study was to investigate mechanisms that might contribute towards the socio-economic growth of IGAD member states. This study adopted a qualitative research approach in the collection of data. The research established the following: That member states of IGAD are not trusting each other and most of them compete over who is more powerful than the other. This competition continues to worsen the already slow integration process. Terrorism in this part of the world continues to hamper progress. In most instances, this phenomenon is tackled harshly, thus leading to more terroristic activities. Participants are of the opinion that this scourge needs a counter ideological stance where people can be educated about

Dans un contexte où les procédés industriels polluants et mobilisant des ressources non renouvelables sont sans cesse remis en cause, des modifications structurelles en vue de mettre en place des modes de production durables et d’assoir la croissance sur une base pérenne, s’imposent notamment aux pays en développement dans leurs stratégies d’industrialisation.Dans ce contexte, la valorisation de la spiruline, une ressource naturelle renouvelable, à usage multiple et aux propriétés exceptionnelles s’inscrit dans cette logique.Outre ses vertus thérapeutiques et nutritionnelles, la spiruline est non seulement sans danger pour l’environnement, mais elle présente également un intérêt écologique du fait de ses propriétés photosynthétiques.Sur le plan socio-économique, la spiruline pourrait apporter une réponse significative aux problèmes du sous-développement et notamment la malnutrition et la pauvreté. En effet, sa valorisation permet de générer des revenus réguliers aux personnes qui s’y emploient et permet ainsi, l’autonomisation financière des couches vulnérables.Aujourd’hui, la valorisation de la spiruline se répand un peu partout en Afrique mais la viabilité et le succès des projets dépendent de divers défis à relever.L’objectif de notre travail est donc de montrer en quoi, comment et sous quelles conditions les stratégies de développement durable basées sur la valorisation de la spiruline peuvent être un vecteur de développement pour les pays d’Afrique Subsaharienne. / In a context of major questioning about polluting industrial processes and mobilising non-renewable resources, structural modifications in order to set up sustainable production methods and to establish the economical growth in a long-term base, are namely necessary for african countries in their development stratégies.In this way, spirulina valorisation, a renewable resource, for multiple use and with outstanding properties, belongs in this logical.Besides its therapeutic values and nutritional qualities, spirulina is not only safe for environment, but also it presents interest due to photosynthesis.In terms of socio-economics, spirulina could bring significant response to underdevelopment problems, and namely malnutrition and poverty. Indeed, its valorisation permit to generate regular incomes to the persons who work in and also, permit financial empowerment of vulnerable population groups.Nowadays, spirulina valorisation spread accross Africa but continuity and succes of spirulina projects depend on various challenges to be met.Therefore, the aim of this work is to demonstrate in what way, how and under which conditions, sustainable development strategies based on spirulina valorisation can be a vector of development for Subsahara Africa countries.

MCom (Economics) / Department of Economics / The need to realise steady economic growth, measured in this research by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has ignited a plethora of studies about the contributors of economic growth and their optimal levels. Government expenditure is one contributor to economic growth. From a theoretical standpoint, optimal government size is depicted by an inverted U-curve known as the Armey curve which is hypothesised between the relationship of government size and economic growth. Empirical literature provides evidence that optimal government size is between 20-30 percent a share of GDP. However, little has been done to investigate the optimal level of isolated components of government spending that maximizes economic growth. One component of government spending that has gained limelight over the past decade is that of social assistance. Defined as public expenditure spent as cash and food transfers to the poor, this research uses social assistance expenditure to assess its optimal level that maximizes growth. This is important because some policymakers are concerned about the ballooning budgets directed at social assistance, and argue that the scarce resources need to be transferred to other social services sectors such as health and education. Basing on the panel-data accessed from the World Bank, this research uses the quadratic equation model to determine the optimal level of social assistance for African and Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries covering the period 2009-15. The finding is that the optimal level of social assistance spending for African and OECD countries is 3.2 percent of GDP and 29.4 percent of GDP respectively. The study also finds that both African and OECD countries operate below the optimal levels and it is suggested that they need to increase social assistance spending in order to realize positive contributions to economic growth. / NRF

L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une analyse multidimensionnelle de la pauvreté au Sénégal, et de montrer l'intérêt d'intégrer l'approche par les capabilités dans l'analyse de la pauvreté. Cette thèse vise à faire valoir que l'approche par les capabilités est un cadre adéquat et pertinent pour l'identification des pauvres et présente un grand intérêt pour l'élaboration de meilleures politiques publiques de lutte contre la pauvreté en rapport avec les OMD.Pour mener à bien ce travail, la thèse s'organise en deux temps. Dans un premier, il est question de traiter du concept de pauvreté en confrontant l'approche monétaire traditionnelle et l'approche par les capabilités, et de montrer l'intérêt de l'économie du bonheur dans l'analyse de la pauvreté et du bien-être. Dans un second temps, il s'agit d'éclairer les options méthodologiques pour traiter empiriquement la mesure de la pauvreté et d'apporter les arguments en faveur de l'approche par les capabilités.Les traits essentiels de cette thèse s'organisent autour de trois apports principaux. Le premier est d'ordre théorique. Il propose une analyse de la pauvreté au Sénégal en termes de capabilités. Le second est d'ordre empirique et fournit une mesure multidimensionnelle basée sur la théorie des ensembles flous à partir de l'enquête de suivi de la pauvreté au Sénégal (ESPS 2). Le troisième est méthodologique et propose une démarche originale qui consiste à construire un noyau dur de la pauvreté utilitariste (en confrontant les pauvretés monétaire et subjective), puis d'analyser l'évolution de ce noyau dur selon la distribution des degrés de pauvreté des capabilités. / The aim of this thesis is to propose a multidimensional analysis of poverty in Senegal, and to show the importance of integrating the capability approach in the analysis of poverty. This thesis aims at showing that the capability approach is an adequate and appropriate framework for identifying the poor and proves to be of real interest in setting up better public policies in order to fight against poverty relating to the MDGs.This study is divided in two parts. The first part deals with the concept of poverty confronting the traditional monetary approach with the capability approach, and shows the interest of the economics of happiness in the analysis of poverty and well being. In a second phase, the objective is to illuminate methodological options in order to treat the extent of poverty empirically and bring the arguments in favor of the capability approach.The essential features of this thesis revolve around three main contributions. The first one is theoretical. It offers an analysis of poverty in Senegal in terms of capabilities. The second is empirical and provides a multidimensional measure based on the theory of fuzzy sets from the monitoring survey of poverty in Senegal (MSPS 2). The third one is methodological and proposes an original approach consisting of building a core of utilitarian poverty (by comparing the monetary and subjective poverty) and then analyzing the evolution of the core according to the distribution of the degrees of poverty capabilities.