518 research outputs found
Relevance of the Nordic Model for African Development
Nordic Model, African lessons, Development, Social compassion
Prospects for 'Pro-Poor' Growth in Africa
pro-poor growth, Africa, Millennium Development Goals, income distribution, poverty
What have we learned from a decade of manufacturing enterprise surveys in Africa ?
In the early 1990s the World Bank launched the Regional Program on Enterprise Development in several African countries, a key component of which was the collection of manufacturing firm-level data. In this paper the authors review the research based on the data sets generated by these and subsequent firm surveys in Africa, with a special view to what they think are the most important policy implications. The authors survey the research on the African business environment, focusing on market size, risk, access to credit, labor, and infrastructure. They cover the research on how firms choose to organize themselves and how firms do business. They review the research on firm performance, including firm growth, investment and technology acquisition, and exports. They conclude with an extended discussion of the policy lessons.Economic Theory&Research,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Labor Markets,Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise
Smallholder Income Diversification in Zambia: The Way Out of Poverty?
1) One can achieve poverty reduction in rural areas of Zambia by both growth and inequality reduction, but growth must be the main driver; 2) Rural income growth does not come from agriculture alone so options to diversify income are very important and should be pursued; 3) But careful attention is required to focus on improved endowments and reduced constraints facing households trying to improve agriculture directly as well as trying to improve possibilities of income diversification away from agriculture; and 4) Land per labourer, education, and location (market access and infrastructure) are key dimensions to understand and figure out how to improve.food security, food policy, Zambia, small holder, poverty, income, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Q20,
Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty: A Review
Pro-poor growth, Income distribution, Poverty, Survey
Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty: A Review
This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty. This generally fails to find any systematic pattern of change in income distribution during recent decades. Neither does it find any systematic link from fast growth to increasing inequality. Some recent empirical evidence has tended to confirm the negative impact of inequality on growth, on the other hand. Others have found that the level of initial income inequality is not a robust explanatory factor of growth, though high inequality in the distribution of assets, such as land, has a significantly negative effect on growth. Possible channels are credit rationing, reduced possibilities for participation in the political process, and social conflicts. Among the strategic elements that contributed to reduced poverty are: an outward-oriented strategy of export-led growth, based on labour-intensive manufacturing; agricultural and rural development, with encouragement of new technologies; investment in physical infrastructure and human capital; efficient institutions that provide the right set of incentives to farmers and entrepreneurs; and social policies to promote health, education, and social capital, as well as safety nets to protect the poor. Countries that have been successful in terms of economic growth are also very likely to be successful in reducing poverty. Poverty can be reduced if there is sufficient economic growth. Growth can be substantial if the policy and institutional environment is right.Growth; income distribution; poverty; economic policy
Mobility and earnings in Ethiopia's urban labor markets, 1994-2004
An analysis of panel data on individuals in a random selection of urban households in Ethiopia reveals large, sustained, and unexplained earnings gaps between public and private, and formal and informal sectors over the period 1994-2004. The authors have no formal evidence whetherthese gaps reflect segmentation of the labor market along either of these divides. In other words, they cannot show whether they are at least in part due to impediments to entry in the higher wage sector. But they do have evidence that, if segmentation explains any part of the observed earnings gaps, then it could only have weakened over the survey decade. The authors find, first, that the rate of mobility increased between the two pairs of sectors. Sample transition rates grew across survey waves, while state dependence in sector choice decreased. Second, the sensitivity of sector choice to earnings gaps increased over the same period. In particular, the role of comparative earnings in selection into the informal sector was evident throughout the survey decade and increased in magnitude over the second half of the period.Labor Markets,Labor Standards,Work&Working Conditions,Markets and Market Access,Labor Management and Relations
Informality, Ethnicity and Productivity: Evidence from Small Manufacturers in Kenya
A rapidly increasing share of firms in Kenya consists of not only small but also informal establishments. This paper investigates the role of ethnicity and other factors in the choice of formality status at start-up. Differences in productivity, investment and growth across the formality and ethnicity divide are also investigated. The results show that while African-owned firms are more likely to start informally, enterprises owned by either professionals or persons who are older are less likely to start informally. African informal firms are more efficient than African formal firms are, but both categories are less efficient than Asian-owned formal firms are. We conclude that ethnicity is important in explaining choice of formality status, while the network implications of ethnicity account for the differences in firm productivity, investment and growth prospects. It is possible to mainstream informal enterprises by reducing cost related to business registration. However, additional analysis is needed to unpack the ethnic variable en route to developing policy interventions for improving the performance of small scale manufacturing in Kenya.informal sector; informality; ethnicity; productivity; manufacturing; Kenya
Distribution and development: a survey of empirical evidence
The paper is a survey of the literature analysing the development
of income distribution in the less developed countries. First, a number
of cross-section studies are reviewed. Then the results from a number of
studies concerning the development of inequality in Latin American, Asia, and
African countries are presented. It was found that income distribution had
deteriorated in a number of countries. Finally, the factors which have been
shown to determine the development of income distribution are summarized.
These concern institutions, structural change, functional distribution, asset
distribution, financial markets, human capital, labour market, social
stratification, market imperfections, trade policy, domestic policy,
spatial factors, trade unions, and demographic factors
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