Large quantities of foreign development assistance continue to flow to many developing countries. At the same time, most of the aid-receiving countries have stagnated and become even more aid-dependent. This grim reality provokes vigorous debate on the effectiveness of aid. Despite the voluminous research on aid effectiveness, clear evidence to support the view that development aid stimulates economic growth remains scant. This thesis intends to extend the existing literature on foreign aid and economic growth. First we re-examine results from cross-country studies to provide new insights on the lack of robustness of results from this approach. We further explore and deepen the observation that cross-country results are fragile, particularly when the number of countries in the sample changes. Secondly, we study the impact of district-level aid disbursement on the growth of average night-time light density in Malawi. We use two plausibly exogenous determinants of within-country aid allocation to isolate the causal effects of aid. The results show a robust and quantitatively significant effect of aid flows in stimulating growth of light density. We find a hump-shaped growth response over three years. Finally, the thesis presents a theoretical model that explores how aid affects economic growth and welfare in an economy with subsistence constraints. The main results from this analysis are; (i) productive aid has higher long run growth and welfare effects than pure aid (ii) the rate of convergence depends crucially on how close the initial conditions are to the subsistence level (iii) while growth effects are maximised when all the aid is allocated to productive aid, we find that optimal welfare is reached when some proportion of aid is also allocated to pure transfers.

This thesis examines competing explanations of the rapid post-war economic growth of the New Industrialising Countries of East Asia (Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea). It pays particular attention to the role of the state and to the state's changing relations to other major centres of power. The general approach is then augmented by a detailed exploration using a case study of economic development in South Korea. The new wave of economic development in east Asian countries' has stimulated an vast amount of research from a wide variety of perspectives. Many studies have focused single-mindedly on the central position of the state and its guiding role in economic development, rather than taking a more holistic approach by looking at the complex and evolving interplay between the state and other social sectors. However, this present work attempts to demonstrate the utility of a perspective that places the economic success of east Asian NICs through a detailed examination of the Korean case within a broader context. This context takes account of the shifting international environment and its impact and the cultural factors which these four countries have inherited. It also explores the actions of the state in relation to the responses and strategies of other key groups of actors. In summary, the feature of the actions of state and the state autonomy have been' diversified in accordance with changes of its components. This is even more so in the case of Korea which was once under the military regime but is now civilian controlled by a government. Korea took a specific path to achieve its economic development by creating the chaebols, family-owned conglomerates. It can be said, therefore, that over the last three decades the soil was prepared for the power shift among the power blocs including the state, the chaebols and labour group. The power of the chaebols has grown from being dominated by the state in the 1960s to being more symbiotic with state power in the 1990s. The chaebols have carefully prepared the ground for this new relationship by consolidating their social networks in society. The thesis also examines the mass communication system, concentrating upon the way that shifting relationships between the major power groups impact on the mass media.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / In line with neoclassical economic growth propositions that outward-orientation fosters economic growth, since independence from Britain in 1964 the Government of Malawi has placed international trade at the centre of its economic development agenda. In spite of this theoretical affirmation of the trade-growth relationship, some empirical studies that have been done both in the country and abroad show contrary results. This prompted this study to be undertaken with the aim of assessing the impact of exports and imports on economic growth in Malawi from 1970 to 2010.This study has used a neoclassic economic growth model containing gross domestic product, exports, imports, capital and labour force as variables of analysis. After collecting annual time series data on the variables for the period 1970 to 2010 from the World Bank online statistical data base, Ordinary Least Squares regression and several econometric tests were run on the model to ensure robust and accurate results. Statistical accuracy of the findings was further cemented by use of the 5 percent level of significance. Exports were found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on the country’s economic growth, while imports had a negative and insignificant influence. Similarly, capital and labour force showed a positive effect on economic growth even though the capital’s effect was statistically insignificant. Nevertheless, the study also strongly confirmed the presence of a long-run equilibrium among the variables. The above results strongly suggest that Malawi should continue with its export-led economic growth strategies such as the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS). However, if the two economic development plans are to bear fruit this study strongly urges Malawi to consider diversifying its economy away from primary export production and instead embark on value-addition. Furthermore, the country should not only reduce the importation of consumer goods in favour of capital goods, but also improve the quality of the labour force and capital formation, if Malawi is to realise its economic development and poverty alleviation aspirations.

This thesis comprises of six independent chapters, besides the introduction and conclusions, with the common theme of optimal public policies in dynamic general equilibrium models with different kinds of distortions. Broadly speaking, the issues considered are: tax evasion, bureaucratic corruption, costs of tax collection and endogenous probability of survival. With financial repression being modeled via obligatory reserve requirements that banks in the economy need to hold, the second chapter analyzes whether financial repression can be explained by endogenous tax evasion. In this regard the chapter develops two dynamic monetary general equilibrium endogenous growth models. When calibrated to four southern European countries, we indicate that higher degrees of tax evasion emanating from higher corruption and lower penalty rates would result in financial repression as a welfare-maximizing outcome. The third chapter develops an overlapping generations monetary endogenous growth model characterized by tax evasion, and analyzes the effect of the nature of tax evasion on the growth maximizing policies. It is concluded that a growth-maximizing government has to take the behavioral nature of tax evasion into account, since failure to do so will lead to misalignment in not only fiscal but also monetary policies. In fact, the government is found to repress the financial sector more than the optimal level if it treats tax evasion as exogenous. The fourth chapter develops a dynamic general equilibrium overlapping generations monetary endogenous growth model of a financially repressed small open economy characterized by bureaucratic corruption, and uses it to analyze optimal policy decisions of the government following an increase in the degree of corruption. We find that increases in the degree of corruption should ideally result in a fall in seigniorage, as an optimal response of the benevolent government. In addition, higher degrees of corruption should also be accompanied with lower levels of financial repression. Chapter five develops a production-economy overlapping generations model characterized by financial repression, purposeful government expenditures and costly tax collection, to analyze whether ¯nancial repression can be explained by the cost of raising taxes. It is shown that costs of tax collection cannot produce a monotonic increase in the reserve requirements, what are critical, in this regard, are the weights the consumer assigns to the public good in the utility function and the size of the government. Chapter six analyzes the same issues as in the previous chapter, but in a monetary endogenous growth model. We show that higher costs of tax collection produce a monotonic increase in reserve requirements. Moreover, the government tends to rely more on indirect taxation, compared to direct taxation as costs of tax collection increase. The seventh chapter develops a simple monetary pure-exchange two-period overlapping generations model characterized by financial repression and endogenous mortality. The probability of survival of the young agents is assumed to depend upon the share of government expenditure on health, education and infrastructure. In this setting, we analyze the welfare-maximizing policy mix between explicit and implicit taxation for a benevolent government. We show that increases in the survival probability lead to an increase in the reliance on seigniorage as a welfare maximizing outcome. However, for our results to hold, the seigniorage tax base must be large enough for the benevolent planner to use the inflation tax. Each of the chapters aims to provide the theoretical underpinnings behind the design of optimal fiscal and monetary policies under tax evasion, bureaucratic corruption, costs of tax collection and endogenous probability of survival. With each of the models based on proper micro foundations and calibrated to match features of developing economies, the six independent papers attempt to broaden our understanding on public policies in the presence of commonly observed distortions that characterize the developing world. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Economics / unrestricted

M.Comm. / The subject of the growth effects of remittances is characterised by different and conflicting perspectives. While migration optimists believe in positive growth effects of remittances, migration pessimists, on the other hand, challenge this position and claim that remittances have either a negative or statistically insignificant effect on economic growth. Those for remittances argue that remittances have a positive effect on economic growth mainly through subsequent increases in investment capital and human capital. Migration pessimists, however, stress that remittances negatively impact economic growth, mainly, because of inflationary pressures and moral hazards that result in reduced labour supply. Given such contrasting literature, this study makes an attempt to contribute to the existing literature by assessing the growth-effects of remittances in twenty-nine Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period 1980-2008. The Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond GMM one-step estimator is used in the assessment. Empirical results from the study reveal evidence supporting for statistically significant positive growth effects of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study further reveals that these positive growth effects of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa happen through the human capital channel. Even when heterogeneity of sub-regions is taken into account, there is still evidence showing positive growth effects of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa. Results, however, reveal that in West Africa, remittances have a low positive effect on economic growth.

The diploma thesis is aimed at an issue of economic growth and development of two South African countries, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Chosen postapartheid countries are compared in the terms of factors which led to economic growth, both positive and negative. The thesis monitors development of both countries esecially in the time of gained independence. First chapter deals with an overall characteristics, including historical background. Second chapter deals with the development of both countries since 1980. Third chapter is directed on political, economic and social situation in Namibia and Zimbabwe at the beginning of 21. century. Fourth chapter compares recent situatin in these economies.

This thesis provides both theoretical and empirical evidence to identify why the effect of human capital on economic growth differs across countries. Chapter 1 provides a theoretical explanation of the weak effects of human capital on economic growth in a dynamic general equilibrium model of corruption and growth where the bureaucrats acts as the agents of government to administer public policy. Corruption in this model arises from the incentive of the bureaucrat to appropriate (steal) public resources, thereby reducing the provision of public services. The decision of the corruptible bureaucrat affects public finances and hence the capital accumulation in the economy. Education has two opposing effects, a positive productivity enhancing effect and a negative bureaucratic stealing efficiency of corrupt bureaucrats. If the latter dominates the former the net effect may result in an insignificant (or even negative) effect of human capital on growth. The second chapter explains empirically why previous studies do not find link between human capital and economic growth, again looking at the role of corruption. In this chapter, we provide cross sectional evidence on this issue by explicitly introducing the role of corruption together its interaction with human capital. The empirical analysis first revisits the Rogers (2008) study, where he uses an arbitrary level of corruption to divide the full sample of countries into subsamples of high and low corruption countries and concludes that human capital matters only in low corruption countries. However, using a range of corruption data and sample periods, our results do not confirm his findings. Our preferred specification allows the effects of human capital to be conditional on the level of corruption, which is implemented through the inclusion of both a corruption measure and its interaction with human capital. Although we generally find the expected positive sign on human capital and a negative sign on the interaction term, these often lack in significance. We repeat the analysis using instrumental variable estimation and find a similar pattern of results, and hence conclude that cross sectional evidence is uninformative for empirical analysis of the role of human capital in economic growth. In the third chapter, we employ panel data analysis to investigate the relationship between human capital and economic growth by considering an exhaustive range of institutional measures, along with corruption. These various institutional measures are used to capture different aspects of institutions on the impact of human capital on economic growth. Our growth regressions include the interaction of institution and human capital, in addition to the direct effect of institution and human capital. The coefficient on interaction term can be interpreted as showing whether human capital and institutions appear to be compliments or substitutes for their impact on growth. Our results generally show positive and significant coefficients on human capital and institutions, with a negative coefficient on the interaction term. The results suggest that, for policy purposes, the government needs to carefully identify the level of human capital to be pursued in relation to the quality of institutions.

The purpose of the thesis is to offer an examination of the economics of crime and corruption. By stressing the importance of Becker's seminal paper, we show how criminal behaviour is no longer considered the result of mental illness, but a decision largely based on a cost-benefit comparison from the possible legal and illegal actions. The puzzle that countries, with seemingly identical characteristics, display different corruption levels can be explained by considering the role of social stigma in the decision-making process. Additionally, we also examine the way that corruption is practised, by assuming that two regimes are possible, namely, collusive corruption and non-collusive corruption regimes. In the second part of the thesis, we examine the interrelationships between crime, fertility and economic growth. We link these variables of interest with the probability of avoiding apprehension, which is considered as one of the most important deterrence factors in crime decisions. In line with current literature, results show that a higher probability of avoiding apprehension increases crime rates, has a non-monotonic effect on fertility rates and an ambiguous impact on growth. The contribution of the model is that the relationship between the probability of avoiding apprehension and crime is not linear, but becomes positive after a threshold value of the parameter. In the subsequent part we provide an econometric analysis that examines these empirical regularities. We find that there exists a positive relationship between the probability of escaping apprehension, the rates of crime and fertility. The relationship is not linear but is subject to threshold effects. The finding of a positive impact of the probability of escaping arrest on both crime and fertility implies that the positive link between fertility and crime is an equilibrium outcome, rather than a causal one running from fertility to crime. In addition, we find that the probability of escaping apprehension has a negative effect on economic growth, an effect that becomes more notable when the probability exceeds a threshold value. Lastly, we consider the interrelationships among the three endogenous variables of crime, fertility and growth. In accordance with the theoretical section, we find that the probability of avoiding detection has a positive effect on both crime and fertility. In addition, these two variables negatively affect economic growth.

Developing countries, such as Namibia, need to bridge the existing infrastructure gap to improve the country's comparative advantage, economic growth and competitiveness, quality of life and the welfare of its citizens. As traditional sources of finance dwindle, Pension Fund savings need to be pooled to complement traditional sources of funding, such as government budgetary allocations, borrowing and user fees. Although infrastructure's economic and financial characteristics are a match to Pension Fund liabilities, Namibia's Pension Fund investment in infrastructure lags behind world-class benchmarks. This study investigated the factors that hinder Pension Fund investment in infrastructure in Namibia. The study employed a mixed-method research method and convergent parallel data collection processes. The study obtained a representative sample to participate in the survey from a population of NAMFISA registered Pension Fund and investment managers using a combination of the stratified random and simple random sampling techniques as part of primary data collection. The financial characteristics that make infrastructure assets attractive such as; long term, low sensitivity to economic swings, a low correlation with other assets and long term and inflation hedged returns makes them suitable for Pension Fund investments. The study confirms findings of previous studies by Beeferman, (2008); Ehlers, (2014); Inderst & Della Croce, (2013); Sy, (2017) and Thierie & Moor (2016), amongst others, revealed factors such as; a lack of a project pipeline, a lack of expertise by Pension Funds in infrastructure investments, Pension Fund regulation and a lack of financial instruments and assets that match Pension Funds are barriers to Pension Fund investment in infrastructure. The lack of a project pipeline is further attributable to issues such as infrastructure projects that are not sufficiently developed or viable on their own without some form of government support, inefficiencies in public procurement and public-private partnership policies and a lack of project preparation funding. The study recommends the following initiatives by policymakers and key stakeholders towards increasing Pension Fund investment in infrastructure: firstly, government and state-owned institutions responsible for public services should implement policies that will increase the pipeline of bankable and implementable projects. The National Development Plans (NDP5), the Harambee Prosperity plans and the Vision 2030 already identify projects; however, institutionstasked with infrastructure development need to develop implementation modelsthat are viable and bankable. The development plans need to be coordinated across the various levels iii of government and state-owned enterprises for effective implementation. Secondly, it is recommended that policymakers create the necessary conditions for Public Procurement and Public Private Partnership Policies to gain confidence amongst investors. Rooting out corruption and ensuring processes are transparent and fair to all stakeholders can have the effect of creating investor confidence in the two policies. The financial institutions, especially with a developmental angle, should support the public institutions with project preparation funding and technical assistance during project planning/development. Thirdly, the government, through the regulators, NAMFISA, are advised to continue with the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the limit on assets held with unlisted investment managers to allow increased Pension Fund investment in infrastructure without compromising the performance (return) and risk exposure. The financial regulators, NAMFISA and the Bank of Namibia should encourage the growth of the local financial sector to increase the quality and quantity of financial instruments available to investors and increase the depth of the financial sector to absorb local funding capacity. Lastly, the government is recommended to explore the options of partial listing infrastructure SOEs,such as NamPower, NamWater, Road Fund Administrator (RFA), NamPort, TransNamib, among others, to facilitate Pension Fund investment into infrastructure and reduce transaction cost and risks. The study identifies the need for future research opportunities with the aim of understanding issues that affect the project pipeline in the Namibian context in greater detail.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has since Dunning in the academic literature, by international organisations and countries been viewed as an important precursor to determine the level of economic growth. FDI is suggested to have a positive effect on long-run economic growth in the host country. Previous studies show evidence that the positive effect of FDI on economic growth should not be taken for granted. The extent to which FDI promotes economic growth is largely based on complementary factors which include among others human capital, education, infrastructure, health, population and a technology gap. This essay investigates and estimates the effect of FDI and human capital on economic growth in 28 OECD countries over the period of 1996 to 2010. Three regression were conducted. Our results show over the period studied a positive effect of FDI on economic growth, the result are not statistically significant in all regressions. Population is significant in all regressions but has a mixed effect on economic growth. Human capital proxied as secondary education attainment shows a mixed effect on economic growth and is not significant in all regressions. For the remaining independent variables (see table 7), the results show that Life expectancy and Government expenditure have a significant effect on economic growth. However, Trade is not statistically significant in the regressions.