[go: up one dir, main page]

IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/12-038.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Liberalisation Policies on Inequality in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Asongu Simplice

    (Yaoundé/Cameroun)

  • Michael E. Batuo

    (Westminster, U.K)

Abstract
Despite over three decades of Liberalisation policies in Africa, income-inequality has stayed persistently high. Using updated panel data of 26 African countries spanning the period 1996-2010, this study examines the effect of liberalisation policies with particular focus on financial, trade, institutional, political and economic liberalisations on income-inequality. We find: that financial liberalisation has a levitated income-redistributive effect with the magnitude of the de jure measure (KAOPEN) higher than that of the de facto measure (FDI); that exports, trade and ‘freedom to trade’ have an equality incidence on income-distribution; and that institutional and political liberalisation has a negative impact. We also find that, economic freedom has a negative income-redistributive effect possibly because of the weight of its legal component. The impact of these policies implications are discussed in detail in this study.

Suggested Citation

  • Asongu Simplice & Michael E. Batuo, 2012. "The Impact of Liberalisation Policies on Inequality in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 12/038, African Governance and Development Institute..
  • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:12/038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/The-impact-of-liberalisation-policies-on-inequality-in-Africa.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen M. Reinhart & Ioannis Tokatlidis, 2003. "Financial Liberalisation: The African Experience," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 12(Supplemen), pages 53-88, September.
    2. Simplice A., Asongu, 2011. "Finance and inequality: exploring pro-poor investment channels in Africa," MPRA Paper 34994, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Gordon, David F., 1996. "Sustaining economic reform under political liberalization in Africa: Issues and implications," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(9), pages 1527-1537, September.
    4. Albanesi, Stefania, 2007. "Inflation and inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1088-1114, May.
    5. Michael Enowbi‐Batuo & Mlambo Kupukile, 2010. "How can economic and political liberalisation improve financial development in African countries?," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(1), pages 35-59, April.
    6. Ila Patnaik & Ajay Shah, 2012. "Asia Confronts the Impossible Trinity," Chapters, in: Masahiro Kawai & Peter J. Morgan & Shinji Takagi (ed.), Monetary and Currency Policy Management in Asia, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Sebastian Edwards, 1999. "How Effective Are Capital Controls?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 65-84, Fall.
    8. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    9. Hisako Kai & Shigeyuki Hamori, 2009. "Globalization, financial depth, and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(3), pages 2025-2037.
    10. Carmen M. Reinhart & Graciela L. Kaminsky, 1999. "The Twin Crises: The Causes of Banking and Balance-of-Payments Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 473-500, June.
    11. William Easterly, 2002. "Inequality Does Cause Underdevelopment," Working Papers 1, Center for Global Development.
    12. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Financial Sector Policies, and Long-Run Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28021.
    13. Carmen M. Reinhart & Graciela L. Kaminsky, 1999. "The Twin Crises: The Causes of Banking and Balance-of-Payments Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 473-500, June.
    14. Philip Arestis & Asena Caner, 2010. "Capital account liberalisation and poverty: how close is the link?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 34(2), pages 295-323, March.
    15. Asongu Simplice, 2011. "Law, Democracy and the Quality of Government in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 11/018, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    17. Grossman, Gene M. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1991. "Trade, knowledge spillovers, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2-3), pages 517-526, April.
    18. Alexander Cobham, "undated". "Capital Account Liberalisation and Poverty," QEH Working Papers qehwps70, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    19. By Ales BulÌr, 2001. "Income Inequality: Does Inflation Matter?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(1), pages 1-5.
    20. Enowbi Batuo, Michael & Guidi, Francesco & Mlambo, Kupukile, 2010. "Financial Development and Income Inequality: Evidence from African Countries," MPRA Paper 25658, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Federico Varese, 1997. "The Transition to the Market and Corruption in Post–socialist Russia," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 45(3), pages 579-596, August.
    22. Léonce Ndikumana & Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2008. "Corruption and Growth: Exploring the Investment Channel," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2008-08, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    23. Menzie D. Chinn & Hiro Ito, 2002. "Capital Account Liberalization, Institutions and Financial Development: Cross Country Evidence," NBER Working Papers 8967, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Wade, Robert, 1985. "The market for public office: Why the Indian state is not better at development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 467-497, April.
    25. Bourguignon, Francois & Morrisson, Christian, 1998. "Inequality and development: the role of dualism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 233-257.
    26. Hickey, Sam, 2005. "The politics of staying poor: exploring the political space for poverty reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 995-1009, June.
    27. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    28. Edinaldo Tebaldi & Ramesh Mohan, 2010. "Institutions and Poverty," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1047-1066.
    29. Kevin C. Murdock & Thomas F. Hellmann & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2000. "Liberalization, Moral Hazard in Banking, and Prudential Regulation: Are Capital Requirements Enough?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 147-165, March.
    30. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    31. Philip Arestis & Asena Caner, 2004. "Financial Liberalization and Poverty: Channels of Influence," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_411, Levy Economics Institute.
    32. repec:pru:wpaper:7 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A Asongu, 2014. "On the substitution of institutions and finance in investment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1557-1574.
    2. Olena SOKOLOVSKA, 2016. "Trade freedom and revenue from trade taxes: a cross-country analysis," Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University. Series 5. Economics Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Серия 5. Экономика, CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет», issue 2, pages 52-67.
    3. Asongu Simplice, 2014. "Fresh Patterns of Liberalization, Bank Return and Return Uncertainty in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/004, African Governance and Development Institute..
    4. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Liberalisation and Financial Sector Competition: A Critical Contribution to the Empirics with an African Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 425-451, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Enowbi Batuo & Simplice A. Asongu, 2015. "The impact of liberalisation policies on income inequality in African countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(1), pages 68-100, January.
    2. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Liberalisation and Financial Sector Competition: A Critical Contribution to the Empirics with an African Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 425-451, September.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Jules R. Minkoua N., 2018. "Dynamic openness and finance in Africa," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 409-430, May.
    4. Asongu, Simplice A., 2013. "Inequality, poverty and quality of institutions: which freedom channels of globalization matter for Africa?," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 2(1), pages 24-31.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "New Financial Development Indicators: With a Critical Contribution to Inequality Empirics," The International Journal of Economic Behavior - IJEB, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 4(1), pages 33-50.
    6. Batuo, Michael & Mlambo, Kupukile & Asongu, Simplice, 2018. "Linkages between financial development, financial instability, financial liberalisation and economic growth in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 168-179.
    7. Batuo Enowbi, Michael & Kupukile, Mlambo, 2012. "Financial instability, financial openness and economic growth in african countries," MPRA Paper 43340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "On Taxation, Political Accountability and Foreign Aid: Empirics to a Celebrated Literature," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(2), pages 180-198, June.
    9. Simplice A Asongu, 2014. "On the substitution of institutions and finance in investment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1557-1574.
    10. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "How has politico-economic liberalization affected financial allocation efficiency? Fresh African evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 663-676.
    11. Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney & Kangni Kpodar, 2006. "Développement financier, instabilité financière et croissance économique," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(3), pages 87-111.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu, Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Taxation, foreign aid and political governance in Africa," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 18(2), pages 217-249, December.
    13. Sylviane GUILLAUMONT JEANNENEY & Kangni KPODAR, 2004. "Développement financier, instabilité financière, croissance et pauvreté," Macroeconomics 0407003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Brahim Gaies & Stéphane Goutte & Khaled Guesmi, 2019. "Does Financial Globalization Still Spur Growth In Emerging And Developing Countries? Considering Exchange Rate Volatility'S Effects," Working Papers hal-01968082, HAL.
    15. Meniago, Christelle & Asongu, Simplice A., 2018. "Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 399-419.
    16. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2019. "The role of openness in the effect of ICT on governance," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 503-531, July.
    17. Asongu Simplice, 2014. "Fresh Patterns of Liberalization, Bank Return and Return Uncertainty in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/004, African Governance and Development Institute..
    18. Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "The Comparative Economics of Knowledge Economy in Africa: Policy Benchmarks, Syndromes, and Implications," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(2), pages 596-637, June.
    19. Gagari Chakrabarti, 2022. "Openness and Potential Fragility of the Global Banking System," India Studies in Business and Economics, in: Supravat Bagli & Gagari Chakrabarti & Prithviraj Guha (ed.), Persistent and Emerging Challenges to Development, chapter 0, pages 351-370, Springer.
    20. Alessandra Canepa & Fawaz Khaled, 2018. "Housing, Housing Finance and Credit Risk," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-23, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liberalisation Policies; Income Inequality; Poverty; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F30 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - General
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:12/038. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agdiycm.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.