State Fragility, Rent Seeking and Lobbying: Evidence from African Data

This paper assesses the determinants of state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa using hitherto unexplored variables in the literature. The previously missing dimension of nation building is integrated and the hypothesis of state fragility being a function of rent seeking and/or lobbying by de facto power holders is tested. The resulting interesting finding is that, political interference, rent seeking and lobbying increase the probability of state fragility by mitigating the effectiveness of governance capacity. This relationship (after controlling for a range of economic, institutional and demographic factors) is consistent with a plethora of models and specifications. The validity of the hypothesis is confirmed in a scenario of extreme state fragility. Moreover, the interaction between political interferences and revolutions mitigate the probability of state fragility while the interaction between natural resources and political interferences breeds the probability of extreme state fragility. As a policy implication, there is a 'sub-Saharan African specificity' in 'nation building' and prevention of conflicts. Blanket fragility oriented policies will be misplaced unless they are contingent on the degree of fragility, since 'fragile' and 'extreme fragile' countries respond differently to economic, institutional and demographic characteristics of state fragility

Middle Class in Africa: Determinants and Consequences

This study complements the inclusive growth literature by examining the determinants and consequences of the middle class in a continent where economic growth has been relatively high. The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 33 African countries for a 2010 cross-sectional study. OLS, 2SLS, 3SLS and SUR estimation techniques are employed to regress a plethora of middle class indicators, notably, the: floating, middle-class with floating, middle-class without floating, lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income categories. Results can be classified into two main strands. First, results on determinants broadly show that GDP per capita and education positively affect all middle class dependent variables. However, we have seen a negative nexus for the effect of ethnic fragmentation, political stability in general and partially for economic vulnerability. Simple positive correlations have been observed for: the size of the informal sector, openness and democracy. Second, on the consequences, the middle class enables the accumulation of human and infrastructural capital, while its effect is null on political stability and democracy in the short-run but positive for governance and modernisation. Policy implications are discussed

Characterization of a transient Ni-like Ag X-ray laser under two-color irradiation

By frequency-doubling the long pre-forming pulse in the now well-known transient collisional excitation (TCE) scheme, a two-color ([MATH]) pumping of the nickel-like silver x-ray laser (XRL) has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The angular XRL characteristics have been studied and compared to standard ([MATH]) and inverse 2-color ([MATH]) irradiations. Through a statistical treatment of the recorded data, a significant reduction of the beam divergence has then been noticed. Moreover, the influence of the required traveling wave irradiation on the amplification duration has been checked, the observed shortening being explained by either a simple propagation model or more sophisticated simulations

Transient collisional excitation x-ray laser experiments on P102 laser at CEA-LV

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