The Search for Inclusive Growth in North Africa: A Comparative Approach

This paper considers North Africa’s recent trajectory of growth and considers critically its prospects for achieving inclusive growth in light of the recent political and social upheavals. It starts by reviewing the evolution of thinking on growth and distribution in economic theory and development policy showing how pro-poor growth strategies have given way to concerns about inequality in recent years. It then examines the concept of inclusive growth asking whether and to what extent it differs from pro-poor growth both analytically and in practice. After this, a wide range of performance indicators pertaining to growth and distribution in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are examined in some detail. It analyses, where possible, the experience of these countries over time and in a comparative context with other developing regions. The following section 5 then offers a methodology for constructing a single combined score for measuring inclusive growth in these and a number of other Less Developed Countries for comparison purposes. It ends by critically re-examining prospects for inclusive growth in North Africa and challenges and opportunities this course of development strategy may entail in years to come

Tax me, but spend wisely? Sources of public finance and government accountability

Existing evidence suggests that extra grant revenues lead to little improvements in public services in developing countries - but would governments spend tax revenues differently? This paper considers a program that invests in the tax capacity of Brazilian municipalities. Using variations in the timing of program uptake I find that it raises local tax revenues and that the increase in taxes is used to improve both the quantity and quality of municipal education infrastructure. In contrast increases in grants over which municipalities have the same discretion as over taxes have no impact on any measure of local public infrastructure. These results suggest that the way governments are financed matters: governments spend increases in tax revenues more towards expenditures that benefit citizens than increases in grant revenues

The Fiscal Effects of Aid in Ethiopia Evidence from CVAR Applications

This article explores the fiscal effects of aid in Ethiopia using the Cointegrated Vector AutoRegressive (CVAR) methodology to model complex long-run and short-run dynamics. We use national data for 1961–2010, including a measure of aid capturing flows through the budget as measured by the recipient. The data suggests three main conclusions on the long-run equilibrium. First, government long-term spending plans are based on domestic sources, treating aid as an additional source of revenue. Second, both grants and loans are positively related to tax revenue. Third, aid is positively associated with spending, with a particularly strong relation between capital expenditure and grants. Overall, our results show that aid in Ethiopia had beneficial fiscal effects

Governing food and agriculture in a warming world

In order to understand, how, why and whether the trade-offs and tensions around simultaneous implementation of the SDGs are resolved in ways which are both sustainable and equitable requires an appreciation of power relations across multiple scales of governance. We explore the politics and political economy of how the nexus around food-energy and water is being governed through initiatives to promote ‘climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA) as it moves from the global to the local. We combine analysis of how these interrelationships are being governed (and ungoverned) by key global institutions with reflection upon the consequences of this for developing countries that are being targeted by CSA initiatives. In particular, we look at Kenya as a country heavily dependent on agriculture, but also subject to some of the worst effects of climate change, and which has been targeted by a range of bilateral and multilateral donors with their preferred vision of CSA. We draw on strands of literature in global environmental politics (GEPs), political ecology and the political economy of development to make sense of the power dynamics which characterize the multi-scalar politics of how CSA is translated, domesticated and operationalized in practice

the challenge of energy access in africa

There are multiple dimensions to the problem of energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, where large shares of population lack a reliable supply of electricity and affordable modern cooking fuels: from insufficient power generation capacity, to difficulties in managing energy infrastructure and attract investments in the sector, to challenges in serving low-income users. Booming populations, urbanization, and ambitions of economic development will all demand more energy. This chapter illustrates the main challenges ahead towards the sustainable development objective of achieving universal access to electricity and clean cooking in the region

Multi-donor trust funds and fragile states: assessing the aid effectiveness of the Zimbabwe multi-donor trust fund

It is widely acknowledged that multi-donor trust funds (MDTFs) contribute to aid effectiveness. This paper challenges this assertion through assessing the aid effectiveness of the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund. The paper makes four key arguments. First, political relations between recipient and donor countries are vital in the functioning of MDTFs. Second, the design of MDTFs affects the delivery and functioning of the trust fund. Third, whilst the legitimacy of national governments in fragile states is often contested, targeting legitimate and credible institutions can offer tangible and life changing results. Fourth, MDTFs focusing on the recovery of key sectors such as water, sanitation and energy have direct impacts to economic recovery and people’s lives

Using geospatial technology to strengthen data systems in developing countries: the case of agricultural statistics in India

Despite significant progress in the development of quantitative geography techniques and methods and a general recognition of the need to improve the quality of geographic data, few studies have exploited the potential of geospatial tools to augment the quality of available data methods in developing countries. This paper uses data from an extensive deployment of geospatial technology in India to compare crop areas estimated using geospatial technology to crop areas estimated by conventional methods and assess the differences between the methods. The results presented here show that crop area estimates based on geospatial technology generally exceed the estimates obtained using conventional methods. This suggests that conventional methods are unable to respond quickly to changes in cropping patterns and therefore do not accurately record the area under high-value cash crops. This finding has wider implications for commercializing agriculture and the delivery of farm credit and insurance services in developing countries. Significant data errors found in the conventional methods could affect critical policy interventions such as planning for food security. Some research and policy implications are discussed