Business constraints and growth potential of micro and small manufacturing enterprises in Uganda

Ugandan micro and small enterprises (MSEs) still perform poorly. Studies associating poor performance of manufacturers with lack of finance and low investment ignore micro enterprises. Those focusing on MSEs are either exploratory in nature or employ a descriptive analysis, which cannot show the extent to which business constraints explain the performance of MSEs. Thus, this paper tries to examine the extent to which the growth of MSEs is associated with business constraints while controlling for owners’ attributes and firms’ characteristics. The results reveal that MSEs’ growth potential is negatively associated with limited access to productive resources (finance and business development services), high taxes and lack of market access

The income elasticity of demand in a sub-Saharan African housing market: evidence from Ibadan, Nigeria

Very little is known about the behaviour of housing demand in sub-Saharan housing markets. This ostensibly is due to the dearth of such studies in this region. In this paper the author estimates the parameters of the demand for housing, using data drawn from the city of Ibadan in Nigeria. The empirical analysis, in which housing is viewed as a composite product, reveals that the demand for housing is income inelastic. Specifically, income-elasticity estimates for renters and owners are 0.88 and 0.56, respectively. Furthermore, these income-elasticity estimates were found to be higher than those reported for other African cities.