A. Tovias, The European Communities\u27 Single Market: The Challenge of 1992 for Sub-Saharan Africa

Professor Tovias\u27 book is a refreshing and welcome addition to the existing literature on the different aspects of Europe 1992. The European Communities\u27 Single Market is divided into seven chapters. The introduction in Chapter One is preceded by a summary and conclusions. Chapter Two discusses the interdependence between the EC and Sub-Saharan Africa.\u27 The third and fourth chapters are devoted to the effects of eliminating specific intra-EC barriers and new barriers likely to arise from Europe 1992. Chapter Five comprises an analysis of the impact of Europe 1992 on various sectors, such as mineral products, tropical products, and services.\u27 In the sixth and final substantive chapter, the discussion focuses on the implications for Sub-Saharan Africa of Europe 1992\u27s export credit policies.\u27 The Book concludes with a set of policy recommendations, a detailed statistical annex, and a less comprehensive bibliography. \u27 On the whole, The European Communities\u27 Single Market is a well written and thought-provoking book. Its conclusions are clear and unequivocal. The Book could have benefitted, however, from a discussion of Europe 1992\u27s impact on the private sector of SSA. As explained below, the private sector in African economies is gradually but inevitably supplanting the public sector in importance. In fairness to Professor Tovias, however, it must be stressed that a book as brief as the one being reviewed cannot be expected to cover all aspects of Europe 1992\u27s likely impact on SSA

The Current Status of Mercenaries in the Law of Armed Conflict

Mercenaries have existed since the earliest recorded armed conflict. However, recent trends in the conduct of armed conflict have raised questions over the problem of mercenaries and their status in the laws of war. The Article discusses some of the problems encountered in attempts to regulate the incidence of mercenarism and the norms of international law that govern the treatment of mercenaries in armed conflict

Determinants of National Savings: A Short and Long Run Investigation in Ghana

The study investigated the determinants of national savings by employing the Johansen cointegration technique and error correction model to examine the short run and long run dynamics of the system using time-series data for Ghana over the 1975-2008 period. The study found all the variables to be integrated of order one and the existence of co integration indicated a valid long run economic relationship among the determinants of national saving in Ghana. The empirical results established that in the long run, income and terms of trade have a positive and significant impact on savings while dependency ratio, political instability and the real interest rate have a negative impact on savings. In the short run however, only terms of trade positively affects savings. The other variables namely dependency ratio, political instability, financial deepening, income and interest rate have an insignificant impact on savings. The error correction term has a coefficient of -0.830376 which shows that there will be about 83.04 percent speed of adjustment toward long run equilibrium when there is any imbalance in the short run.Keywords: National Savings, Co-integration; Life Cycle Hypothesis, Error Correction Model; Ghan

Energy Consumption in Ghana and the Story of Economic Growth, Industrialization, Trade Openness and Urbanization

Energy has become increasingly very essential for the growth and development of every nation. However, in Ghana there is a shortfall of energy supply amidst growing demand. Using data from the World Bank Indicators, the study therefore investigates the impact of growth, industrialization, urbanization and trade openness on the energy consumption in Ghana. A Johansen cointegration test shows a long-run relationship exist among all the variables. In the short run, trade openness reduces energy consumption, while income and industrialization increases consumption. The coefficient of urbanization was found to be positive though was not significant. In the long-run trade openness and urbanization increased energy consumption while income reduces energy consumption. The error correction term shows an average or moderate speed of adjustment implying that after a shock from previous year; approximately 50% of the disequilibria from the previous year’s shock converge back to the long-run equilibrium in the current year. Conclusions and policy recommendations are provided