Research Papers/Topics in Economics

Social Capital And Willingness To Pay For Community Based Health Insurance: Empirical Evidence From Rural Tanzania

Abstract This study examines the effect of social capital on willingness to pay (WTP) for health services provided through community based health insurance schemes (Community Health Fund) in Tanzania. The study covered 274 household heads. We use probit regression analysis to model the relationship between the predictors and our outcome variable. Our results have shown that with the exception of religion, all other social capital variables have a positive and significant impact on the WTP fo...

Mapping of the Sweet Potato Value Chain Linkages between Actors, Processes and Activities in the Value Chain:A Case of “Michembe” and “Matobolwa” Products

Abstract  The objective of the study was to map sweet potato value chain linkages between actors, processes and activities in Tanzania. The study is cross sectional in design.The study was conducted in Shinyanga rural and Mwanza urban districts. The study used individual interviews, focused group discussions; review of relevant practical documents and discussions with key informants. A total of 150 actors in the value chain participated. Data collected was summarized using Statistical Packag...

Mapping of the Sweet Potato Value Chain Linkages between Actors, Processes and Activities in the Value Chain: A Case of “Michembe” and “Matobolwa” Products

Abstract  The objective of the study was to map sweet potato value chain linkages between actors, processes and activities in Tanzania. The study is cross sectional in design.The study was conducted in Shinyanga rural and Mwanza urban districts. The study used individual interviews, focused group discussions; review of relevant practical documents and discussions with key informants. A total of 150 actors in the value chain participated. Data collected was summarized using Statistical Packag...

Revenue Generation Capacity in Developing Countries: Implications for Physical and Human Capital Development in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda

ABSTRACT  This paper is an attempt to investigate the effects of tax revenue generation capacity on public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa drawing empirical lessons from three East African countries-Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It employs the co-integration and error-correction modeling framework to analyze the effects of erratic and inadequate revenue generation on physical and human capital development in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda using time-series data over the period 1970-2005.The result...

Impact Evaluation Of Poverty Alleviation Programmes For The San Community In Omaheke And Ohangwena Regions

ABSTRACT The study focused on the San community which is the most marginalised ethnic group in Namibia to establish their current economic status. The study sought to assess the effectiveness and impact of the poverty alleviation policies and programmes that are in place to respond to the plight of the poor, specifically the San. Primary data was collected in Omaheke and Ohangwena regions through structured questionnaires or interview guides, and field observations. Secondary data was collec...

Ashesi Economics Lectures Series

Abstract Decomposing economic time series into their temporary and permanent components have followed two broad paths: trend versus difference stationary models and detrending versus filtering. Whereas the former breaks down due to their inability to capture the underlying data generation process (dgp), the latter are either one sided filters or are based on ad hoc procedures in achieving parsimony. In this paper, we propose structural time series models in which trends, cycles, seasonal comp...

Causality And Exogeneity Issues In Socio-Economic Determinants Of Good Health In Nigeria

Abstract The premise of this study is to empirically appraise and identify the factors that can promote good health in Nigeria. The study use a VEC and Granger causality/block exogeneity tests methods to explain the linear relationship between the endogenous and exogenous variables and to test whether the endogenous variable life expectancy at birth (LEP) (proxied as good health) can be treated as exogenous. The results show that health expenditures, income per capita, education expenditure,...

Decentralizing Public Sector Collective Bargaining And The Contradictions Of Federal Practice In Nigeria

ABSTRACT Economic reforms and the quest for efficiency in public administration call for the decentralization of collective bargaining and wages in the public sector in Nigeria. But the effort to decentralize has translated into both a protracted industrial relations crisis and intergovernmental conflict. This situation is traced to the failed effort at institutionalising collective bargaining and the consolidation of the unified wage structure in the public sector by the resort to ad hoc wag...

Nature and Outcome of Nigeria's #NoToSocialMediaBill Twitter Protest against the Frivolous Petitions Bill 2015

Abstract Focusing on the #NoToSocialMediaBill Twitter protest against the introduction of The Frivolous Petitions (Prohibition, etc.) Bill 2015, in Nigeria, this chapter examined the composition of the loudest voices that framed the protest, explored the level of engagement of those voices with the content of the bill, and analysed the nature and outcome of the protesters' reactions to the bill. To achieve these objectives, the study adopted a mixed method sequential design consisting of qua...

Econometric analysis of the effect of Ghana’s increasing external debt on foreign direct investment (FDI)

Abstract The study explored the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and several covariates including external debt, GDP per capita income, and gross fixed capital formation, for Ghana from 1980 to 2013. It was conducted following Ghana’s bail out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilise the Ghanaian currency (the Cedi) as debt levels soared and the Cedi depreciated precipitously against the Dollar. The primary research question that precipitated the study was: ...

Strategies to stimulate Ghana’s economic transformation and diversification

Abstract After metamorphosing into a lower middle income country, Ghana needs to transform and diversify its economy if it is to consolidate its lower middle income status, reach upper middle income status and drag more of its people out of poverty. Pertinent questions that remain unanswered include: what are the principal self-imposed problems Ghana needs to resolve; what are the institutional changes Ghana needs to make to transform and diversify its economy and what lessons can Ghana glean...

Wells Fargo: Lessons for African Companies on Loyalty Marketing as Growth Strategy

Wells Fargo is in the news, but for the wrong reasons. The company has been fined US$185 million and more than 5,000 employees have been fired for secretly creating more than 2 million customer accounts without the customers knowing it. Indications are that the woes of the bank are only just beginning. The scandal brewing is a result of the “Gr-eight” Initiative, a cross-sell initiative by the bank which takes advantage of customer loyalty to increase the average number of products held b...

Going regional:internationalisation strategies of Ghanaian service companies within the ECOWAS market

Abstract This paper investigates the internationalisation strategies of Ghanaian service companies within the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) market. The topic was necessitated by the increasing interest in the study of internationalisation processes of local firms in this era of globalisation, which hitherto was the preserve of multinational enterprises from the developed world. There is very little research on internationalisation processes of firms within the developing ...

Innovation and Best Practice in Mobile Technologies for Development

Introduction/Overview This paper is a review of innovation in the ICT entrepreneurship/mobile internet/mobile related applications space. The paper aims to identify best practice in stimulating innovation in developing countries. Definitions of Innovation We use the standard definitions provided by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS 2011) of both product innovation and process innovation: Product innovation: “the introduction of a good or service that is new or significantly improved w...

Earth System Governance in Africa: knowledge and capacity needs

ABSTRACT Traditional approaches for understanding environmental governance — such as environmental policy analysis or natural resources management — do not adequately address the gamut of human–natural system interactions within the context of the complex biogeophysical cycles and processes of the planet. This is perhaps more so in the African regional context where the complex relationships between modern and traditional governance systems and global change dynamics are arguably more p...


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