Uganda faces considerable challenges in revamping economic growth performance, reducing the proportional of people living below the poverty line to below 20 percent, and attaining other Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. These developments have prompted the government to prioritise poverty alleviation and the attainment of sustainable real GDP growth (i.e. at 7 percent per annum), among other policies. This dissertation argues that a proper identification of the critical sectors of growth with significant linkages to the rest of the economy can guide policy makers to affect the outcomes of external shocks (e.g. by redirecting resources to sectors with potential for higher output growth and welfare effects) .Using the 2002 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Uganda, we investigate the properties of the multipliers that can be calculated from the SAM, in particular contrasting them with the simpler input-output multipliers. Using the SAM multipliers, the computed linkages suggest that Agriculture, Food Processing, and Other Services (Trade, and Health and Education) are the key sectors of Uganda’s economy. Similarly, Manufacturing, Construction, and Transport were found to be sectors with weak linkages to the rest of the economy. Moreover, the multiplier impact on output, employment, and household income distribution is higher with in agriculture relative to other sectors. Our multiplier results confirm the need for policy makers in Uganda to target agriculture-led growth if Uganda is to substantially raise economy wide growth, and to improve household incomes for significant poverty alleviation. Policies to boost the agriculture sector include: building and maintaining feeder roads, provision of farm inputs, training farmers on better methods of production and productivity, reviving cooperatives (i.e. to enable coordinated farming activities, storage, processing, and marketing of farmers produce, and easy access to credit from lending institutions). It should be noted that Agriculture in Uganda is characterised by low productivity resulting from the use of poor inputs, undeveloped value chains, and low public and private investment in the sector. Government should significantly invest in agro-processing industries to increase value addition and exports for higher incomes. Since such investments are costly, requiring significant capital investments which majority of poor farmers cannot afford, the government should promote public-private sector partnership. It should be noted that Uganda’s exports are dominated by unprocessed primary low products which fetch low earnings from world markets. Using a country specific CGE model and selected exogenous changes and policies, our findings suggest that an increase in the world price of exports and workers remittances, and a decrease in import tariffs are growth and welfare enhancing with the positive shock to world export prices producing the largest impact on real GDP, employment (largely, low skilled labour and in agriculture), factor and household incomes. The significant role of migrant remittances in growth and poverty alleviation (i.e. by increasing household incomes, and investment in agriculture, education, and real estate among others) is worth noting. These findings suggest that Ugandan authorities could encourage Ugandans living and working abroad to invest at home by introducing a diaspora bond and sharing information on investment opportunities to encourage increased inflow of workers remittances which would boost domestic investment. Where possible, surplus labour could be exported to other regions or countries and arrangements made to have workers remittances invested in Uganda. In all the policy experiments performed, we find that the welfare of households in the northern and eastern regions of the country is lower compared to that of households based in other regions. This suggests that the government needs to design and implement specific poverty alleviation programs in these regions. The relatively high poverty in northern and eastern regions is attributed to the 19 year civil conflict and the communal land ownership which limits agriculture production for food security and improved household incomes. The government could increase the provision of social and physical infrastructure and promote sustainable agriculture by opening up irrigation schemes, supplying farmers with drought resistant crops, restocking farms, and building and maintain valley dams, and implementing land reforms which promote agriculture. Given the importance of agriculture to Uganda’s growth and poverty alleviation prospects, we argue that the government should implement the recommendations of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and the Maputo Declaration which calls for the allocation of 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture. This allocation is necessary to achieve the target of agriculture sector growth by 6 percent which is required to reduce significantly the number of Ugandans living in extreme poverty and hunger. The budgetary allocation of 4 percent coupled with inadequate supervision, and corruption and misallocation of funds meant for agriculture development programs have contributed to persistent decline in in output and increase in rural and urban poverty. Our results suggest agriculture is associated with higher employment of low skilled labour which is the largest labour force in Uganda. According to the World Bank, employment is the surest way to poverty alleviation. Thus, Uganda should pursue an agriculture led growth strategy for poverty alleviation and sustained economic growth. However, to substantially increase household incomes and contribute to poverty alleviation, policy interventions in agriculture should focus on increasing value addition through food processing and exports. Further, interventions that empower women to own assets should be enforced by government. Women are the principal users of land, and they must have stronger rights over the resources they depend upon. Our simulations have demonstrated that employment and incomes of women increase from interventions that target the agriculture sector in Uganda. Women constitute over 90 percent of the total labour force employed in agriculture and earn less or none of farm incomes, and most of them operate under chronic poverty. To gain greater knowledge of and control over their environment and build more productive sustainable systems, the government could empower women with basic education and training, increase their access to new technologies and mobilise them to participate in rural saving banks and cooperatives to boost their earnings from agriculture. Our results suggest that Services (mainly education and health) are potential candidates for growth and poverty alleviation in Uganda because they generate significant employment. However, Uganda, Services employ high skilled labour and are urban based, implying they cannot absorb the dominant low skilled labour and the youth. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda currently has about 34.5 million people of which about 65 percent are youth. About 83 percent of these youth (aged 18-30 years) have no formal employment. This calls for authorities in Uganda to reorient the current curriculum towards her development needs where the youth and graduates are trained to be job creators and not job seekers. Massive investment in vocation training where the youth are trained and equipped with skills to manage their own lives by engaging in small scale projects should be prioritised by the government. To overcome the high rate of youth and graduate unemployment in developing countries Uganda inclusive, the donor community in collaboration with African governments identified vocational training as a critical component in each country’s poverty reduction strategy.

We study the effects of redistributive taxation on growth, inequality and welfare in a Schumpeterian economy and compare the outcomes of different policies. The model features a structure of vertical innovations based on the concept of creative destruction and contains risk-averse agents and elastic labor supply. Contrary to previous findings, we show that excessive tax rates discourage research effort, but moderate redistribution can stimulate it. We analyze the results for three different policies: equal redistribution to all agents, research subsidy and innovation bonus. While the first is better in terms of reducing inequality, the others are more efficient to promote research effort and economic growth. We show that the best policy in terms of welfare generation changes as we increase the amount of skilled individuals in the economy, and that the obtained outcomes do not support the hypothesis of convergence. / O presente estudo analisa os efeitos de redistribuição de renda sobre crescimento, desigualdade e bem-estar em uma economia Schumpeteriana e compara os resultados de diferentes políticas de redistribuição. O modelo contempla uma estrutura de inovação vertical baseada no conceito de destruição criadora e contém agentes avessos ao risco e elasticidade na oferta de trabalho. Ao contrário de estudos anteriores, mostra-se que taxação excessiva desencoraja a atividade de pesquisa, mas redistribuição de renda moderada pode incentivá-la. Analisam-se os resultados de equilíbrio para três diferentes políticas: redistribuição igual entre os agentes, subsídio à pesquisa e bônus por inovação. Enquanto a primeira é a mais eficiente para reduzir a desigualdade de renda, as outras duas são mais eficientes para promover crescimento econômico. Mostra-se que a política ótima em termos de geração de bem-estar varia dependendo da massa de indivíduos qualificados na economia, e que os resultados obtidos não sustentam a hipótese de convergência.

abstract: This work explores the underlying dynamics of democracies in the context of underdevelopment, arguing that when society has not attained a substantial degree of economic independence from the state, it undermines democratic quality and stability. Economic underdevelopment and political oppression are mutually reinforcing, and both are rooted in the structure of the agriculture sector, the distribution of land, and the rural societies that emerge around this order. These systems produce persistent power imbalances that militate toward their continuance, encourage dependency, and foster the development of neopatrimonialism and corruption in the government, thereby weakening key pillars of democracy such as accountability and representativeness. Through historical analysis of a single case study, this dissertation demonstrates that while this is partly a result of actor choices at key points in time, it is highly influenced by structural constraints embedded in earlier time periods. I find that Ghana’s historical development from the colonial era to present day closely follows this trajectory. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Political Science 2019

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / This study focuses on the impact of the community development projects on the livelihoods of the people. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the community development projects and the livelihood of the community of Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality. The study examines the operations and performance of the community development projects since they started. The objectives of the study are to assess the impact of the community development projects on the livelihood of the beneficiaries and the community in terms of income, jobs and living standards, as well as identify and recommend appropriate intervention strategies where necessary. The finding of the study revealed that the community development projects did have an impact on both job creation and income generation, although the income part of it is not satisfactory. The other findings were the skewed participation where women were dominating. The study reveals that the government and the private sector should play an active role in training the beneficiaries, encourage youth participation in order to ensure sustainability of the projects, and also expose the project members to different technologies available in agriculture to ensure mass productions which will translate into better incomes from the projects.

Conference proceedings / Refer to document

Thesis (M. Com. (Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / South Africa is among a number of countries that have adopted inflation targeting as their monetary policy framework since 1990. This policy was adopted in the year 2000 in South Africa, and there have been a growing number of concerns about the effects of inflation targeting on economic growth in South Africa. The main purpose of this study is to determine these effects of inflation targeting on economic growth in South Africa. In this paper, the author used co-integration and error correction model to empirically examine the long-run and short-run dynamics of inflation targeting effects on economic growth. A final conclusion that inflation targeting does not have significant negative effects on economic growth is drawn from two interesting results. Firstly, there is an insignificant negative relationship between inflation targeting and economic growth. Secondly, the influence that inflation targeting has on the relationship between the lag of inflation and economic growth is also insignificant. These findings have important policy implications. Therefore, the critique that the SARB achieves relatively low inflation at the expense of low economic growth is a misconception. This led to the conclusion that the SARB should maintain its monetary policy framework of inflation targeting which has helped it to reduce inflation. Keywords: Inflation targeting, inflation, economic growth, error correction model, monetary policy.

Africa is one of the richest continents on the planet in terms of natural resources, but has the highest poverty rate, fastest growing population and includes many of the world ́s most corrupt countries. There is an ongoing discussion if the quality of institutions affects economic growth, and the applicability of economic institutional theory to the African continent. North and Thomas (1973) argues that indicators such as education innovation, capital accumulation, etc. are not causes of growth itself but rather the growth itself. Instead they suggest that economic institutions are the fundamental reason behind economic growth, since they allow new ideas, and firms and stakeholders to exist in the market. Our research question therefore examines if the quality of institutions can explain the rate of economic growth in Africa? In this study we used a panel data analysis based on 12 variables including, GDP per capita growth, Rule of Law, Control of corruption, Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Education, Population, Foreign Direct Investment, Gross Capital Formation as well as initial GDP, between year 2003-2017, to examine the relationship between economic performance and institutional quality in 50 African countries. Our results showed that six out of our six institutional variables had a positive significant effect on economic growth. This supports the theory that institutional quality impacts economic growth.

The successful economic growth and the rapid changing of urban development had changed Singapore from a developing to a developed country. The living environment of Singapore has been changed with in the last 25 years. My thesis mainly describes foods and food markets in Singapore. Due to better educational background, higher consumption power and small family planning, the eating habit of Singaporeans has changed. A lot of young Singaporeans today, don't buy their daily marketing needs from the traditional wet market for they prefer to do their weekly marketing in the comfortable, clean, convenient and air conditioned modern supermarket. With the advance electronic cooking equipment in kitchen, they save time in cooking to buy prepared or instant cooked food from supermarkets, instead of raw foodstuff from the traditional wet markets. These rapid changes of the Singaporeans' life style and eating habit created an opportunity. For me to look into the area that directly or indirectly involved with my professional work as a practicing graphic designer and a design educator. The area I am looking into is 'the value of food packaging'. I realized that the contrast of the traditional foodstuffs selling in traditional wet market and the imported foodstuffs displayed within the modern supermarket, the difference has signaled a strong message. If the traditional foodstuffs still does not improve their dull and unhygienic image to catch up with the rapid changing urban living environment. They will disappear from our dining table sooner or later. My thesis has to reach 2 aims. Firstly, to awake the design students (tomorrow's designer). To be more sensitive towards the local traditional food markets. Discover the values of the local ethnic foodstuffs and going to find out why these delicious and remarkable local foodstuffs been rejected outside of the modern supermarket. To create a new image through packaging design to replace with the original dull and unhygienic image. Secondly, the contents and the criterias of the modern packaging design I proposed within this thesis, could be applicable in the practicing design field, food manufactory and most importantly, in the design institutions / Master of Design (Hons)

Despite receiving large quantities of aid, many developing countries, especially the Least Developed Countries, have remained stagnant and became more aid-dependent. This grim reality provokes vigorous debate on the effectiveness of aid. This study re-examines the effectiveness of aid, focusing on the ongoing debate on the interactive effect of aid and policy conditionality on sustainable economic growth. A theoretical model of the aid-growth nexus was developed to explain why policy conditionality attached to aid may not always promote sustainable economic growth. Noticeable methodological weaknesses in the aid fungibility and aid-growth models have led to the construction of two macroeconometric models to tackle and reduce these weaknesses. The Lao People's Democratic Republic's economy for the 1978-2001 period has been used for a case study.It is argued that the quality of policy conditionality and the recipient country's ability to complete specified policy conditions are the main factors determining the effectiveness of aid. Completing the policy prescriptions contributes to a stable aid inflow. The aid-growth nexus model developed in this study shows that stable and moderate aid inflow boosts economic growth even when aid is fungible. However, failure to complete the policy conditionality owing to inadequate policy design and problems of policy mismanagement caused by lack of state and institutional capability in the recipient country triggers an unstable aid inflow. The model shows that unstable aid flows reduce capital accumulation and economic growth in the recipient country. These empirical findings reveal that policy conditionality propagated through the "adjustment programmes" has mitigated the side effects of aid fungibility and "Dutch disease" in the case of the Lao PDR. Preliminary success in implementing the policy conditions in the pre-1997 period led to a stable aid inflow and contributed to higher economic growth. This favourable circumstance, however, was impaired by unstable aid flow in the post-1997 period. The lack of state and institutional capacity in the Lao PDR and the inadequate policy design to deal with external shocks triggered the instability of aid inflow, which in turn exacerbated the negative effects of the Asian financial crisis on the Lao PDR's economy.

One of the main underlying sources of economic growth is productivity. An economy can grow by either accumulation of its inputs, namely labour and capital, or improvements in productivity. The latter implies that more can be produced with the same amount of inputs, generating a greater amount of income that can be distributed among the economy's population. With rising per capita incomes, an economy can provide higher living standards and well-being. This thesis analyses variations in economic and productivity trends among the states of Australia and the USA. It investigates whether disparities in GSP per capita, labour and multifactor productivity among the states have declined (converged) or widened (diverged), during this period. The analysis is undertaken at a national level as well as for specific industries to identify the sectoral sources of the various trends. Further, in an interstate analysis the performance of individual states is examined to identify those that may have had a major role in accounting for the observed trends. The analysis employs both cross - section and time - series techniques. Contrary to earlier studies, this thesis finds that lately the interstate dispersion of per capita incomes and productivity has stopped decreasing. In Australia, once the Mining sector (which is a special case) is excluded from the analysis, the levels of GSP per capita and labour productivity in the various states are found to have neither converged nor diverged. Convergence trends among the US states observed prior to the 1990s have not only slowed down but even reversed into divergence. Divergence in labour productivity started during the 1980s in the service industries and was followed by the Manufacturing sector (and here in particular by the Electronic and Electrical Equipment industry) during the 1990s. There appears to be a belt of states in the West (and a few states in the North-East) which started off relatively poorly but managed to catch-up with the richer states due to an above average growth performance in labour productivity and multi factor productivity. Some of these states did not only manage to catch-up with richer ones but continued to surge ahead, causing the observed increase in the interstate dispersion in recent years. Policy makers, especially those in the states that are falling behind need to develop policies that will lead to an increase in the rate of productivity growth. In order to achieve this they must foster industries, which are conducive to higher growth rates and adopt policies that would increase the productivity of the labour force. These policies will need to create an environment in which productivity enhancing innovation can be sustained. States need to engage in research and development activities to ensure the invention and the adoption of new technologies.