The aims of the study could be highlighted as follows: 1. To review the existing academic literature on infrastructure finance, particularly in the area of road construction and the economic models adopted in the financing process. 2. To determine whether the accruing benefits from the concession of Lekki-Epe Expressway out-weighed the cost of constructing the purported road. 3. To determine whether the inflows from toll Lekki-Epe expressway can economically sustain the cost over-run on the Lekki-Epe express road concession.

Iraq is a country with exceptional natural resource wealth, but also consistent political turbulence manifested by high levels of state corruption, patronage networks, weak governance, poor institutional quality, civil unrest and sectarian conflict, all of which have undermined the sovereignty of its vast petroleum wealth and limited its potential for economic prosperity. As a mechanism for reducing the high levels of corruption and patronage networks as well as stimulating economic activity, this dissertation proposes the use of citizen-based direct distribution of oil revenues and studies the economic impacts of this policy using Social Accounting Matrix analysis. The methodology for this analysis includes testing the policy at different levels of per capita distribution, as well as with three variations in the design of the distribution programs. These variations include a universal cash transfer funded by oil revenue surpluses, a targeted cash transfer funded by oil revenue surpluses and a universal cash transfer funded by the reallocation of funding from the existing food subsidy system. The results illustrate that in each of the scenario variations, cash transfers are shown to have a significant positive impact on household incomes, producing activities and aggregate demand in the economy. The results also illustrate a net welfare gain to households when replacing the existing food subsidy system with cash transfers. In the comparison of distribution variations, targeted programs are shown to have the largest effect on the economy, primarily as lower-income households were allocated a greater proportion of income and subsequently also spend a greater proportion of their income on goods with lower leakages. Higher-income households, who are non-recipients in the targeted programs, benefit from targeted programs through the indirect/induced effects, which are largest in comparison to the other distribution variations. The results also show increased consumption on essential goods & services, primarily agricultural produce, which would ease concerns that cash transfers may generate increased consumption on non-essential/temptation goods.

The debate regarding the impact of resource wealth being a curse rather than a benefit has been a subject of debate since the 1950’s. Only since Sachs and Warner, (1995) the ground-breaking study which confirmed a negative relationship between resource abundance and economic growth for a selected set of countries there has been a narrative termed the ‘natural resources hypothesis’. This hypothesis asserts that countries with natural resource abundance tend to grow at a slow economic rate than countries with less resource abundance. Africa, being the most resource abundant continent compared to all other continents should be the best illustrator of the hypothesis because of vast mineral wealth coupled with the high level of poverty on the continent. This study seeks to determine if African citizens are on average deemed better or worse off given the abundant natural resources endowed in most African countries in relation to quality of life and income inequality as a measurement tool. The study further examines the effect of resource abundance in African countries, using income inequality as an addition variable above the economic growth. Using a panel data fixed effect estimation model for African countries and Middle East countries from 1970 to 2016, the study finds the existence of a U-shaped relationship between resource rent and income inequality, which supports the literature regarding the Kuznets curve. The study also found that rising consumer price inflation significantly worsens average income inequality within an African country. In addition, a high degree of trade openness significantly reduces income inequality within an African country, if all else is held constant. It is thus concluded that for African countries based on the population level, inflation level, degree of trade openness, and GDP share of domestic savings, accumulation of more coal rents share is expected to worsen average income inequality, while more mineral resource rents share reduces income inequality. The study recommends that African countries should find ways to measure inequality in their respective countries which would better illustrate the general relationship between mineral wealth and income inequality. Equally valuable would be the investment in research such as studies and reports which that would track the distribution of income over time in countries undergoing a mineral boom.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study set out to establish statistical relationships between matters relating to governance and changes in Zambia’s socioeconomic development. With the aid of survey data compiled by the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, and perceptions of governance amongst Zambian citizens obtained from Round 5 of the Afrobarometer survey, this study used quantitative research methods to investigate the performance of indicators of governance in Zambia between 1996 and 2012 and the perceptions that Zambians had toward matters relating to governance. The indicators and perceptions of governance were based on measures of Control of Corruption, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law and Voice and Accountability. The study further addressed the changes in Zambia’s socioeconomic development by investigating trends in Zambia’s Human Development Index between 1996 and 2012. The study also established the extent of lived poverty in Zambia by addressing how Zambians rated their living conditions based on how much access they had to essential commodities such as food, cooking fuel, water and cash income.

Includes bibliographical references. / What areas of social life do our existing social theories allow us to understand, and what areas of society leave us baffled, unsettled and unable to respond? This paper will argue that we are in need of new interpretive tools to allow us to understand the areas of our social world that have previously been excluded from academic view by our colonial and apartheid history, and even by progressive liberal and Marxist responses to apartheid. By first surveying the intellectual history of sociology’s emergence as a discipline and its formations in South Africa, I will argue that we are unable to effectively think about large areas of the African cultural and social world within our society. In search of alternatives this paper will explore the work of the prolific early 20th c. intellectual, S.E.K. Mqhayi. Mqhayi was a product of the complex social hybridity of his time, but oriented this hybridity towards amaXhosa and African people. By looking at his various mediums of writing I will argue that Mqhayi offers powerful insight into the complexities of the changing social world of his time and that his methodologies -- so different from those of academic sociology -- give us powerful insights into an African tradition which can revitalise contemporary social inquiry.

This study sets out to evaluate the impact of industrial mining on local economies, within a context of a developing country with a strict procurement policy on its extractive industry. It contributes empirical evidence on two main ideas on the impact of mining on local communities. The one idea is that mining has a positive impact on local communities because it creates economic activity through economic linkages with local markets; and thus contributes to local industrialisation, economic development, and poverty reduction. The other idea is that mining harms local economies through negative impacts on the environment; which hurts local agriculture and health, leading to an increase in local poverty. By evaluating a case study of a poor rural economy driven by mining and agriculture, this study measures the net average impact of the opening and expansion of mining on local income poverty. Using ward level data combined with firm data, the study essentially uses a difference-in-differences estimation procedure, by exploiting a local input demand shock from large industrial mines, as well as changes in distance to a mine, as sources of variation. The study finds that the opening of a mine is associated with poverty reduction in surrounding communities, while the impact from an expansion of a mine depends on the type of commodity mined. Unpacking these results by commodity gives insight into the concentration of labour and community unrest in the platinum and gold mining sectors in South Africa. The findings of this study remain robust to different indicators of mine expansion, and checks for alternative explanations such as selective migration and sample checks. The study uses the Limpopo Province of South Africa as a suitable case study.

This paper examines the long-run causal relationship between stock market development (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) and economic growth in South Africa by making use of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bounds method. The study also reviews South Africa's economic growth trajectory using World Bank data sets over the period between 1975 and 2013. Stock market development is proxied by stock market capitalization, stock market value traded and stock market turnover and economic growth is represented by gross domestic product (GDP). The study is predicated on the the puzzle of why there is such a large disparity between the economic growth rate experienced by South Africa and its peers in spite of South Africa having a world leading stock market in the form of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange? The study presupposes that a causal relationship between stock market development and economic growth exists in South Africa and questions why the effects thereof are not more emphatic. The purpose of the study is to seek answers to the question of whether there is a significant and positive correlation between the development of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and economic growth in post-apartheid South Africa. The study would also examine and describe the economic growth trajectory of South Africa look prior to 1994 and post 1994. The study makes use of annual time series data, which covers the period from 1975 to 2013 obtained from different sources, including South African Reserve Bank annual reports, quarterly bulletins, International Financial Statistics (IFS) from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Statistical Yearbook. In addition, data on real GDP growth rate for South Africa was obtained from Statistics South Africa whilst the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's stock market capitalization and total value of stocks traded was obtained from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange website, turnover ratio of stocks traded was calculated. To accomplish the goal of this study, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodology was employed with consideration of the existence of a structural break in the series due to the study considering the pre and post-apartheid eras in South Africa. The existence of a long-run relationship between the variables was tested after using lag length selection criteria from an estimated vector autoregression to select the optimal lags for the vector error correction model of the ARDL. The results obtained from the analysis confirmed that there is a long-run positive relationship between economic growth, stock market capitalization and stock market traded value. The existence of a positive long-run relationship between economic growth and two of the three proxies for stock market development can be used to make a general inference of a positive long-run relationship between the development of the JSE and South Africa's growth rate post-apartheid. The empirical analysis further confirmed that the growth elasticity between stock market capitalization, stock market traded value and economic growth is less than 1 indicating a possible channelling of funds raised on the JSE to offshore investments or to nonproductive sectors of the economy. It was also evident from regression analyses run on the post democracy era that post-apartheid South Africa has only had a positive statistically significant effect on the domestic stock market capitalization at the exclusion of stock market value traded and stock market turnover. The results of this study show that stock market development Granger-causes economic growth.

Given the poor ongoing economic outlook, particularly for emerging market countries such as South Africa, new innovative, low-risk opportunities for improved service delivery and societal outcomes are particularly attractive. This is critically true for Early Childhood Development interventions given their ability to positively impact the school-readiness of learners and thus improve education outcomes. This exploratory investigation examined relevant Social Impact Bonds from other markets and concluded that their implementation is likely to find traction within an emerging market context such as South Africa. The findings suggest that short to medium term (less than 5 years) SIB contractual periods are preferred with investor capital fully risk exposed.

Financing peasant farmers using sustainable and effective approach can reduce poverty level significantly among peasant farmers. Development Institutions and government deploy various financing models to fund peasant farmers as a means of intervention to alleviate poverty. This study assesses and compares two financing model i.e. matching grants and microcredit in order to know which model has greater impact in improving livelihoods of peasant farmers so that it can be advocated for as a model best suited to fund peasant farmers. The respondents for the study are peasant farmers who have accessed funding from Vision Fund Zambia a microcredit institution and Smallholders Agriculture Promotion Program an Institution that provides matching grants. The study is based on assessing livelihood improvement of peasant farmers using Care International framework that is focusing on capabilities, economic activities and assets. A total of one hundred and forty six respondents were selected using simple random procedure. The data was analysed using statistical package for social science (SPSS). Using descriptive statistics and focus group discussions, the finding shows marginal difference in livelihood improvement between microcredit and matching grants on assets and capabilities of the respondents. Matching grants exhibit higher impact on economic activities of the recipients as compared to microcredit. The study recommends that institutions offering matching grants must consider streamlining the process of project approval and disbursement while microcredit institution must tailor their services to client's needs and charge interest taking into consideration the vulnerability context. Overall matching grants are a better model for financing poor and vulnerable peasant farmers.

Greenhouse gas emissions are said to be on a very dangerous trajectory and the debate around man's industrial activity being the key cause of climate change seem to be receding. Governments around the world are mostly in agreement that something urgent needs to be done but the big question that remains is how to mobilize sufficient financial resources to address the enormous investment requirement to transition world economies towards greener growth and development. The United Nations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has rallied countries together for a coordinated global response to the potential negative impact of climate change. The major challenge the UNFCCC through the conference of parties (COPs) is balancing the needs of developing countries with that of developed countries with regard to appropriate climate change response strategies, more especially about who should carry the financial burden. In its response to climate change, the South African government, through the department of Environmental Affairs has initiated the National Green Fund to assist the country in transitioning to a greener economy. The Green Fund has received R1.1 billion in direct fiscal support to invest in green initiatives for a 3 year period. However, it evident that R1.1 billion, though commendable, is a "drop in the ocean" when compared to the enormous amount of financial resources required to bring about the transition. It is therefore crucial that we explore appropriate financial mechanisms that are able to mobilize the required level of investment. It is in this regard that this study explored a broader base of potential financial instruments and mechanisms that can attract the much needed private finance. More specifically the study explored green or climate bonds as a more efficient and effective mechanism to use in capitalizing an initiative like the National Green Fund than is current dependent on direct fiscal support.