Wassa in southwest Ghana was the location of the largest mining sector in colonial British West Africa. The gold mines provide an excellent case study of how labour was mobilised for large-scale production immediately after the legal end of slavery, in the context of an expansive independent labour market. Divided into three sections, this thesis examines the practice of indirect labour recruitment for the mines during the formative years of colonial rule; the incorporation of ‘traditional’ credit relationships into ‘modern’ commerce. The starting point for this study is the analysis of precolonial strategies for mobilising labour. Part one examines the most pervasive and coercive employer-employee relationship in precolonial West Africa, namely the master-slave relationship. Even enslaved Africans could expect individual economic opportunity, and related to such, debt protection, and the power of labourers increased significantly after abolition. Starting in the 1870s, mine management found that the most effective way of recruiting long-term wage earners was through headmen; African authorities who established temporary patronage relationships with a group of labourers by offering them credit. Moreover, administrative and court records indicate that there were various forms of headship, some which the mines managed to impose greater regulation over than others. Therefore, part two demonstrates that issues of cost and control of recruitment differed depending on whether the labour recruiter had been furnished with the capital of a mining firm to conduct his business, whether he had done so with his own personal savings, or whether he was in the employment of the colonial government. Finally, part three takes a comparative look at headship and recruitment through rural chiefs, which began in 1906; two successive forms of non-free wage labour mobilisation. In 1909, mine management reverted to the headship system that many colonial commentators regarded as being more compatible with the colonial political order, albeit under considerably stricter regulations.

Land information management in Ghana, as in many developing countries, remains a practice monopolised by public sector land administration agencies, which are known for being inefficient in delivering services that satisfy the needs of citizens. Under this monopolised regime, landed property related data gathering, processing through land registration, storage and dissemination of the information as final product for public use is entirely based on expert knowledge. Meanwhile, reliance on this kind of knowledge for land information management has continuously failed to promote smooth flow and a broad based access to reliable information for decision making by citizens. This failure has created a huge land information gap between market participants’ especially genuine and fraudulent landed property owners on one hand and potential buyers, lenders, and investors on the other hand. Thus, there is information asymmetry, which this study identifies as a major contributory factor to the challenges of uncertainties and high transaction costs that characterise dealings in urban real estate markets in Ghana. In order to verify how the information gap can be closed, this research adopts quantitative research methodology. The research mainly explores multinomial logistic regression model to test Economic Theory of Knowledge propounded by Hayek (1945) using Ghana as the context of study. Primary data was collected from potential land information suppliers within the private sector and existing users of land information as likely beneficiaries of an efficient land information management regime. Interrater agreement index and Pearson’s bivariate correlation analysis were used to analyse primary data gathered from users of land information in relation to land information needs and competition in land information harnessing. Following verification of the relationship between competition and economic knowledge, the key research finding is that there are two kinds of land information management knowledge and these are expert and entrepreneurial land information management knowledge. Thus, the research presents empirical evidence that out of four types of entrepreneurial knowledge verified, two types namely adaptive and cost-efficient knowledge are most likely to influence competition in land information supply. Also, competition is likely to deliver land information services that satisfy the needs of users of land information. Altogether, the research findings converge with the theory verified. The research outcome suggests that deregulation of state monopoly of land information harnessing for competition among private economic actors in Ghana is due. Removing this barrier is likely to promote dynamic competition in which licensed land information suppliers can use adaptive and cost efficient knowledge in gathering and disseminating land information at competitive prices. The study also provides evidence that all-in-one land information, which is broadly accessible at competitive prices is likely to be required to help address the problem of information asymmetry in the context of Ghana. For purposes of practice in the context of urban real estate markets in Ghana, a framework based on the research findings is developed and validated. The framework is proposed to inform policy decision on deregulation for competition in land information harnessing to enable the real estate sector function well. To kick start the process, deregulation in land data gathering and dissemination of land information is suggested.

The concept of participation seems to reflect in most development programmes that involve people at the grassroots level. In Ghana, the introduction of the decentralization programme in the late 1980s that aimed at promoting effective, comprehensive and rapid development, more especially in the rural areas also adopted participatory approach. The approach led to the introductory of district assembly system which was to enhance the involvement of people at the grassroots in participatory activities. However, since the introduction of the decentralisation system to promote grassroots level participation, the people are still inactive and the level of involvement in development decision-making still remains weak. To clearly understand these problems, the thesis has aimed at answering the following research questions; how are rural people involved in participatory practice in the development activities in their area; what barriers affect and hinder the active participation of rural people and how could these be addressed? Answers to those questions helped to examine the nature of participation at the grassroots level; understand how the district assembly adopt participatory practice and to ascertain the nature of barriers that hinder effective participatory practice. Using a case study approach for the investigation, an interpretivists and constructivists were the philosophical underpinnings of the investigation. The data was gathered through the use of focus group discussions and one-to-one informal interviews. It was observed that, participation continues to reflect in most rural development programmes, but there are key barriers that still continue to hamper the effectiveness of participatory practice. Power relations, threats, intimidations and more especially the use of juju and witchcraft which never featured in most development literature are among the major barriers that continue to weaken local people readiness to actively participate. Most rural people feel threaten to participate for the fear of being bewitched or killed through the use of juju, witchcraft or black magical powers. Without critically and effectively addressing those bottlenecks and barriers, and put community members at the pivot of decision-making, the use of outsiders' knowledge and ideas alone to address the problems of participation with the hope of improving the lives of the rural people will not yield any significant result.

Although the development of small businesses is generally considered important for income generation and job creation, there has been relatively little research in developing countries such as Ghana on understanding why some small firms succeed and grow rapidly while others do not in. This thesis investigates the influences on small firm growth rates in Ghana using data from a random sample of 252 manufacturing and services firms from the database of the Association of Ghana Industries. The general hypothesis is that, growth is a function of the characteristics of the entrepreneur; characteristics of the firm; strategic factors; environmental factors; and cultural factors. Consequently, the research tests 36 hypotheses drawn from the five main categories of variables using the turnover and the employment growth measures. It also uses logistic regression analysis to isolate significant factors differentiating rapid-growth firms from slow-growth firms. Overall, the research finds strong evidence which suggests that, perception of a market opportunity; university education; multiple founders; entrepreneurs with marketing skills; workforce training; new product development; presence of a clear vision and mission statement; majority non-family members in management and membership of professional or business associations were associated with rapid-growth firms. iv Factors which were significant in discriminating between rapid-growth and slow-growth firms but were more likely to be associated with slow-growth firms included threat of unemployment or actual unemployment as a motivation for starting a business; production skills; legal form (limited liability companies); access to external equity (post-formation); exporting; access to public or external aid; unionization and frequent management meetings.

The deficiency of sub-Saharan Africa urban land use planning regimes has received extensive discussion in the literature. As yet, little is known of the extent and magnitude of the economic impact of these planning regimes on the economic wellbeing of individuals and the society. This situation is further compounded by the lack of simplified and bespoke methodologies for calibrating economic impacts of planning policies even in the developed world where there are relatively huge volumes of organised data. This study aims to prescribe a simplified quantitative methodology, which is subsequently employed to gauge the economic impacts of these regimes. It proceeds on the central argument that planning regimes in the sub-region are weak with low compliance with planning regulations, partly because they do not provide incentives for property owners/developers/land users. The study adopts a cross-sectional survey strategywith questionnaires and administrative data extraction to procure the requisite data from Accra, Ghana to feed the devised methodological framework. The study establishes that Ghana’s urban land use planning regime, in its current form, imposes huge cost on residential property owners compared to its benefits; it creates a disincentive for property owners. A substantial amount of this cost emanates from pipe-borne water, and tarred roads and concrete drain infrastructural facilities. It is further established that the cost of title formalisation requirement constitutes a huge portion of the cost on express requirements under the planning regime. A major portion of this cost results from the cost other than official fees. However, on individual basis the requirement generates marginal net benefit. Incidental costs for the other express requirements, architectural design and building permit are also substantial. In terms of benefits, tarred roads and concrete drains, formalised title, electricity and pipe-borne water, individually, are found to generate the most benefits under the planning regime. The study makes a number of recommendations. These include formulation of planning policies on the basis of providing incentives to property owners/developer/land users, strategies for reduction of infrastructural and amenities costs, as well as incidental cost relating to compliance with the subject planning regime express requirements.

This thesis consists of four separate chapters which address different aspects of inequality and income determination. The first three chapters are country-level studies which examine (1) how incomes are shaped by spatial price differences, (2) the factor income composition, and (3) enterprise size. The final chapter analyses how income inequality changed at the global level. The first chapter investigates the implications of regional price differences for earnings differentials and inequality in Germany. I combine a district-level price index with administrative earnings data from social security records. Prices have a strong equalising effect on district average wages in West Germany, but a weaker effect in East Germany and at the national level. The change in overall inequality as a result of regional price differences is small (although significant in many cases), because inequality is mostly explained by differences within rather than between districts. The second chapter is motivated by the rapid increase in top income shares in the United States since the 1980s. Using data derived from tax filings, I show that this pattern is very similar after controlling for changes in tax unit size. Over the same period as top income shares increased, the composition of these incomes changed dramatically, with the labour share rising. Using a non-parametric copula framework, I show that incomes from labour and capital have become more closely associated at the top. This association is asymmetric such that top wage earners are more likely to also receive high capital incomes, compared with top capital income recipients receiving high wages. In the third chapter, I investigate the positive cross-sectional relationship between enterprise size and earnings using panel data from Ghana. I find evidence for a significant firm size effect in matched firm-worker data and a labour force panel, even after controlling for individual fixed effects. The size effect in self-employment is stronger in the cross-section, but it is driven by individual time-invariant characteristics. The final chapter studies the global interpersonal income distribution using a newly constructed and improved database of national household surveys between 1988 and 2008. The chapter finds that the global Gini remains high and approximately unchanged at around 0.7. However, this hides a substantial change in the global distribution from a twin-peaked distribution in 1988 into a single-peaked one now. Furthermore, the regional composition of the global distribution changed, as China graduated from the bottom ranks. As a result of the growth in Asia, the poorest quantiles of the global distribution are now largely from Sub-Saharan Africa. By exploiting the panel dimension of the dataset, the analysis shows which decile-groups within countries have benefitted most over this 20-year period. In addition, the chapter presents a preliminary assessment of how estimates of global inequality are affected by the likely underreporting of top incomes in surveys.

This diploma thesis explores the emergence of the welfare state in developing countries, in particular shown on the example of Botswana, Ghana and India. The inquiry is focused on the period beginning in 1990, when the neoliberal paradigm was dominating, untill 2010. The recent years are in token of the shift from the neoliberalism to the post-neoliberalism characterized by a number of concepts, which are taking into account. The common feature of these concepts is the diversion from the narrow focus on GDP, as the only indicator of the growth, to the social dimension of the development. This shift is also being distinguished as a transition from the basic-needs concept to the rights-based approach. Therefore, the thesis explores, if these shifts are remarkable in the analyzed countries, eventually, if there are any divergences as compared to the theoretical concepts. To achieve this goal, a broader analysis of the welfare state was used, which involves social, health and education policy. Based on this analysis, the diploma thesis tries to classify the analyzed countries into the welfare state typology; eventually, in case such classification is impossible, it describes the weaknesses of this welfare state the typology. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Timothy J. Dalton / Given the changing climate paradigm, food and poverty are likely to become more severe in Africa. Farmers can adapt to climate change, especially through conservation agriculture. This study relies on a minimum data approach developed by Antle and Valvidia (2006) to estimate the spatial distribution of opportunity cost for farmers in switching to conservation practices in Wa, Ghana. It assesses the economic feasibility of several scenarios that rely on production techniques currently studied by the CRSP SANREM project. We also explore the possibility that these practices can provide income from carbon sequestration payments implemented by the Kyoto protocol’s Clean Development Mechanisms. The methodology uses data from both a recent survey and information from secondary sources to assess simulated management practices. Results indicate that all the simulated management practices would theoretically benefit farmers. In fact, adoption rates for the four scenarios range from 52% to 65%, even without any carbon payment. Adding a proportional payment to the amount of carbon sequestered with these practices does not seem enough to influence farmers switch to switch to alternative scenarios. The analysis shows that these results hold even when additional fixed costs to adopt these practices are included. This case study demonstrates the usefulness of the minimum data approach in estimating the economic potential of conservation practices in Ghana. These production techniques may represent environmentally-friendly alternatives that are more profitable for farmers than current practices. The next step in assessing implementation of such practices would require studying farmers’ willingness to adopt these production systems, given their ex-ante economic returns.

Most Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana are notparticularly anxious about the consequences of inadequacy or lack of anyform of vulnerability management operation in their normal businesspractices. This case study research explores how a local Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) in Ghana and its local client-base can manage vulnerabilitieswith a targeted patch management practise integrated into their operations.To answer the research question “How can a SME local Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) in Accra, Ghana, assist their local customer base to integrateeffective cybersecurity vulnerability management into their operations?“,This case study comprised the Subject Matter Expert of one local ISP as well as4 other technical Subject Matter Experts of the ISP’s clients about their patchmanagement operations. This case study research revealed that most SMEs donot consider vulnerability management as a key concern in the operation oftheir organisation and therefore, proposes a way to highlight the importanceof vulnerability management whiles doing so at a cost-effective manner. Theimplications of targeted cybersecurity patch management for the local ISP andtheir client-base is also addressed by this thesis research.

The policy of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) has been promoted at the global level as an innovative approach to reduce forest loss that contributes to about one-fifth of global climate change. My dissertation brings together theories of policy processes and political ecology to examine REDD+ at three levels: global, national and local. It focuses on how this global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another and from policy into practice. The analysis of how REDD+ is transformed through this process provides insights into the extent to which REDD+ is likely to achieve its aims of reducing forest loss and mitigating global climate change. The national and local cases are drawn from Ghana, West Africa. The study is mainly qualitative, and employs semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, oral histories, participatory activities, and document analysis, as methodologies. At the global scale, I explore how REDD+ became a global climate policy and the range of global expectations that supported its rise to prominence. I argue that REDD+ became prominent because of three main strategies employed by its proponents: first, the re-introduction of the role of forest-sector emissions to climate change negotiations; second, the setting-up of financial schemes to attract and mobilise support for REDD+; and third, the establishment of safeguards mechanisms to address criticisms raised by stakeholders that opposed REDD+. At the national level, I examine how the policy processes related to REDD+ were translated from the global scale to the national context of Ghana. I critically examine the narratives around how deforestation was understood and the range of actions that were subsequently identified as options for achieving REDD+ outcomes. I show that REDD+ has created opportunities for promising reforms and structures on forest management in Ghana; yet it is unlikely to achieve its intended objectives because of (i) problems with the way the narrative has framed the causes of deforestation; (ii) a failure to fully address long-standing problems with tenure and benefit-sharing frameworks; and (iii) the centralisation of revenue generation that is limiting local-level implementation of plans. At the local levels, I focus on how two REDD+ pilot projects were unfolding. Similar to the national level, my analysis reveals that the projects have employed questionable narratives about the ways deforestation is produced in both cases. In addition, the solutions designed to address deforestation were found to contain misplaced assumptions that undermine the prospects of both projects to achieve their intended objectives. The research highlights the messy processes of translation of global climate policies such as REDD+ as they move from one scale to another, and from policy to practice. The study contributes to understanding how problematic narratives, misguided assumptions, and diverse interests, create gaps between the policy ideas and their implementation as global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another.