Transactional Interactions and Growth in the Global Economy: A Multiple-Network Analysis.

This dissertation postulates that the trend of increasing globalization of economic activities within the shifting features of the world economy has been the dominating force transforming and integrating the international economic structure. I adopt ecological theory\u27s external view of system structure, and focus on a more relational view of international exchange. Using network methodology, I analyze the effects of global transactional interactions on economic growth. This research extends concepts of the macro-urban approach to an analysis of international transactions. Based on data for 93 nations over a 20-year period (1970-1978 and 1978-1990) from three transactional networks (93 x 93 matrices), major effects of international trade, capital, and labor flows on global economic structure and growth are carefully examined. Results indicate that economic interdependencies developed in terms of network positions and changes in the network centralities have been pivotal determinants in reorganizing international economies and creating competitive advantages for economic growth for countries centrally located in the global production networks. Applying difference-of-logs (growth rate) models, the results present robust positive effects of transactional networks on economic growth net of four groups of alternatively hypothesized determinants (dependence, industrialization, human capital investment, and military expenditure). The results indicate that increased transactional linkages with the international economy have been beneficial rather than harmful to economic growth. I conclude that structural position in external transaction networks has been the critical factor affecting growth and transformation in the world economy

Entre science et subsistance : quel avenir pour les chercheurs africains ?

Peu d’études empiriques sur l’état de la science en Afrique sont aujourd’hui disponibles dans l’important corpus des écrits sur la science et la technologie en Afrique. Fondé sur les résultats d’une étude financée par la Commission Européenne, le Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (MAE) et l’Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), cet article tente de faire le point sur la réalité aujourd’hui du métier de chercheur en Afrique. Si les activités scientifiques et techniques se sont institutionnalisées et professionnalisées en Afrique au cours des trente dernières années, les efforts déployés n’ont pas été suffisants pour créer, à moyen ou long terme, une dynamique durable de production scientifique et de reproduction des communautés scientifiques. La situation aujourd’hui est critique dans de nombreux pays de l’Afrique Médiane (Afrique sub-saharienne hors Afrique du Sud) qui subissent une dégradation des systèmes scientifiques et techniques et des conditions de l’exercice du métier de chercheur. Les résultats des études empiriques présentés dans cet article donnent non seulement une image vivante de la condition de chercheur sur le continent, mais contribuent à poser un diagnostic en terme d’urgence politique

Three essays on FDI, human capital and structural change

Economic development is a complex process in which aggregate output growth is accompanied by changes in the sectoral structures of output and employment. Although scholars like Simon Kuznets and Hollis Chenery have demonstrated, from the late 1950s, the quantitative importance of structural change, the issue remained largely ignored by mainstream economists, who tended to treat structural change as a by-product of growth of lesser importance. However, over the last two decades the interest on the topic has been revigorated, fuelled by concerns about premature deindustrialisation and the viability of alternative routes to prosperity. This Thesis aims to contribute to the growing literature on the causes and consequences of structural change focusing on two issues that are still largely neglected. First, it investigates whether the effect of human capital on aggregate economic growth depends on the type of economic specialisation of the country. Most cross-country studies do not find a significant positive effect of human capital on growth. Failure in taking the demand for skilled labour into account may be the cause. The estimations suggest the existence of a complementarity between human capital endowment and economic specialisation, proxied by the Economic Complexity Index. Second, the Thesis investigates whether foreign direct investment (FDI) contributes to structural change in host economies. Inspired by stages-of-development approaches to FDI such as the Investment Development Path framework, it tests, for a group of developing countries, whether aggregate FDI affects the employment structure, whether the effect depends on the sectoral concentration of FDI and whether this vary according to the stage of development of the country. In a separate chapter, it investigates, using industry-level data of post-communist countries, whether the effect of FDI on productivity growth and structural change depends on institutional quality, human capital endowment, participation in global value chains (GVCs) and alignment to comparative advantage

African Studies Abstracts Online: number 53, 2016

ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 53 (2016). African Studies Centre, Leiden

African Studies Abstracts Online: number 33, 2011

ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 33 (2011). African Studies Centre, Leiden.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Economic Policy Implications of Port Concession in Nigeria

Previous research on privatization has focused on its effect on output, profitability, investment, and efficiency at the level of the firm, neglecting the economic growth and other impacts. Nigeria\u27s port privatization through concession in 2006 covered virtually all the ports in the economy. However, the few studies on the subject neither factored in the complexity that characterize the multiple port system nor controlled for alternative explanations of the changes in the economy. This correlational study tested the property rights theory by investigating whether the changes in production efficiency at the ports following privatization are good predictors of economic growth in Nigeria. Eight years of existing panel data were collected from Nigerian ports, providing 160 observations on several selected variables. The analyses controlled for the influence of confounding or interacting variables and addressed the complexity of the port system using linear programming. The multiple regression analysis showed that privatization, deregulation, cargo increases, interest rate, and inflation rate accounted for high variations in short and long-term economic growth. Port privatization transmitted growth to the economy through cargo throughput increases. The Malmquist linear programming analysis revealed overall but modest improvements in production efficiency changes after the privatization. By isolating possible areas of efficiency improvements, this study may inform port managers in Nigeria on ways to improve overall competitiveness. The potential contribution of the research to social change lies in clearly identifying the critical variables to economic growth in Nigeria to aid economic planning, poverty alleviation and improving the quality of life

Report of the Second External Programme and Management Review of ICLARM

Second External Program and Management Review (EPMR) of ICLARM, carried out between September 1998 and February 1999 by a panel chaired by Hans Gregersen. The document also contains an excerpt from the report of the CGIAR 1999 Mid Term Meeting, a transmittal from the TAC Chair and CGIAR Executive Secretary, TAC's commentary, ICLARM's response, and a transmittal from the review panel chair.The review panel recommended further development of ICLARM's tactical plan for Africa and West Asia, and the representation of other countries from the region on the staff at the regional headquarters in Egypt. It suggested use of external mechanisms for the review of all ICLARM research. The panel also suggested that ICLARM find an alternative to the ten year limit on staff tenure. The center should continue on the path it is on, and seek additional resources. TAC was encouraged to note a major effort at strategic planning. It hoped that ICLARM would undertake reviews of all of its research activities.The report was discussed at TAC 76, and considered by an ad hoc committee at the CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting in May 1999. The committee endorsed the panel recommendations, and its report was approved by the Group, including the decision to transfer ICLARM's headquarters to Malaysia