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nep-afr New Economics Papers
on Africa
Issue of 2015‒08‒01
seven papers chosen by
Sam Sarpong
The University of Mines and Technology

  1. Dissecting an Investment Game: Evidence From a Field Experiment in Rural Cameroon By Meriggi, Niccolo F.; Leuveld, Koen; Gardebroek, Cornelis
  2. How important is Foreign Direct Investment to Economic Growth? New Evidence from Nigeria By Owolabi-Merus, Olasunkanmi
  3. Expenditure on Fresh Vegetables, Fresh Fruits, and Peanut Products in Urban Ghana: Does Location Matter? By Meng, Ting; Florkowski, Wojciech J.; Sarpong, Daniel; Chinnan, Manjeet; Resurreccion, Anna V. A.
  4. Private sector investments to create market-supporting institutions: The case of Malawian Agricultural Commodity Exchange By Dentoni, Domenico; Dries, Liesbeth
  5. Impacts on poverty of removing fuel import subsidies in Nigeria By Siddig,Khalid; Minor,Peter J.; Grethe,Harald; Aguiar,Angel; Walmsley,Terrie Louise
  6. Norms of Allocation within Nuclear and Extended-Family Households By Kazianga, Harounan; Wahhaj, Zaki
  7. Technology Adoption When Risk Attitudes Matter: Evidence from Incentivized Field Experiments in Niger By Sanou, Awa; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Shupp, Robert

  1. By: Meriggi, Niccolo F.; Leuveld, Koen; Gardebroek, Cornelis
    Abstract: Preliminary Draft, Please do not cite or circulate without authors’ permission
    Keywords: Trust, trustworthiness, reciprocity, social preferences, institutions, Sub-Saharan Africa, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C90, D2, D3,
    Date: 2015–05–27
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205568&r=afr
  2. By: Owolabi-Merus, Olasunkanmi
    Abstract: This study investigates the impact that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has on economic growth in Nigeria through the use of annual secondary data from 1981 to 2013 collected from the World Bank’s Africa Development Indicators. The econometric methodologies used in this research are Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), ADF unit root and the Granger Causality tests. The OLS results shows that FDI positively contributes to economic growth in Nigeria, but not statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. However, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) is found to have a positive and statistically significant contribution to Nigeria’s economic growth. The unit root test shows that the variables are stationary and the Granger Causality test connotes a unidirectionary causation running from FDI to GDP but not vice-versa. But no mutual correlation is found between GFCF and GDP. This study recommends that policymakers in Nigeria should focus on instigating strategies geared towards increasing capital formation (GFCF) in order to present an attractive platform that will stimulate and encourage FDI inflow which will in whole, facilitate the increase and sustenance of economic growth in the country.
    Keywords: Economic Growth, FDI inflows, GDP, Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Nigeria.
    JEL: E0 E2 E22
    Date: 2015–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65796&r=afr
  3. By: Meng, Ting; Florkowski, Wojciech J.; Sarpong, Daniel; Chinnan, Manjeet; Resurreccion, Anna V. A.
    Abstract: The study found that beside socioeconomic and demographic factors (including income, education, marital status, age, and household composition), the fresh vegetable, fresh fruit, and peanut product expenditure are affected by location in urbanized areas of Ghana, and the location interacts with income in determining the food expenditure.
    Keywords: Regional difference, ANOVA, Multivariate Tobit model, socioeconomic factors, demographic factors., Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,
    Date: 2014–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea14:162427&r=afr
  4. By: Dentoni, Domenico; Dries, Liesbeth
    Keywords: Commodity Exchange, Malawi, marketing, market-support institutions, institutional entrepreneurship., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Marketing,
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205709&r=afr
  5. By: Siddig,Khalid; Minor,Peter J.; Grethe,Harald; Aguiar,Angel; Walmsley,Terrie Louise
    Abstract: The petroleum sector contributes substantially to the Nigerian economy; however, the potential benefits are diminished because of the existence of significant subsidies on imports of petroleum products. Subsidies on imported petroleum products are considered to be an important instrument for keeping fuel prices, and hence the cost of living, low. The costs of these subsidies, however, have risen dramatically in recent years along with increased volatility in world petroleum and petroleum product prices and increased illegal exportation of subsidized petroleum products into neighboring countries. Removing the subsidy on fuel is one of the most contentious socioeconomic policy issues in Nigeria today. In this paper, an economy-wide framework is used to identify the impact of removing the fuel subsidy on the Nigerian economy and investigate how alternative policies might be used to meet socioeconomic objectives related to fuel subsidies. The results show that although a reduction in the subsidy generally results in an increase in Nigeria?s gross domestic product, it can have a detrimental impact on household income, and in particular on poor households. Accompanying the subsidy reduction with income transfers aimed at poor households or domestic production of petroleum products can alleviate the negative impacts on household income.
    Keywords: Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Energy Production and Transportation,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access
    Date: 2015–07–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7376&r=afr
  6. By: Kazianga, Harounan; Wahhaj, Zaki
    Abstract: In many parts of Africa, traditional household structures consisting of an extended family headed by a patriarch are giving way to other types of households -- e.g. nuclear families, female-headed households -- as a result of migration, urbanisation and population pressures on land. In this paper, we explore whether traditional norms which determine how resources are allocated within the household are affected by the evolution of household structures. We show that the allocation of resources, for production and consumption, are closer to being efficient in nuclear family households as compared to extended family households. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individuals belonging to the same nuclear family have stronger ties, enabling them to commit to more efficient contracts infeasible for those connected through an extended family relation.
    Keywords: Intra-household Allocation, Social Norms, Extended Families, Household Farms, Income Shocks, Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, O12, D13, Q1,
    Date: 2015–05–27
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205534&r=afr
  7. By: Sanou, Awa; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Shupp, Robert
    Abstract: Fertilizer micro-dosing is a precision fertilizer application technique that has the potential to improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods in Niger. Despite more than two decades of disseminating the technology, adoption rates remain low and there is evidence of dis-adoption of micro-dosing among fertilizer users. Since fertilizer is a risk increasing technology, it is possible that risk attitudes contribute to the low rates of adoption observed. This paper empirically estimates the effects of risk attitudes on fertilizer use and the practice of micro-dosing. We elicit several measures of risk aversion to assess their comparability and supplement those with measures of ambiguity and loss aversion to examine their effect on the decision to use fertilizer. We find that incentivized measures of risk attitudes have better predictive power than general measures based on hypothetical survey questions. Risk aversion matters in the decision to use fertilizer, and less risk averse farmers tend to practice micro-dosing over mixing seeds with fertilizer. Consequently, it is important to consider policies like insurance programs for risk averse farmers, to increase their likelihood of using fertilizer and promote the practice of micro-dosing.
    Keywords: Risk elicitation, laboratory experiments in the field, incentives, fertilizer micro-dosing, rural Niger, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty,
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205813&r=afr

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