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41. Agricultural input subsidy and farmers outcomes in Tanzania

Author:
Bethuel Kinyanjui Kinuthia
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of the government input subsidy—the National Agriculture Input Voucher—on farmers’ production and welfare in Tanzania as well as the factors that influence agricultural production in the country. The analysis is based on the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for 2008–13. The study uses panel fixed effects and difference-in-difference and propensity score matching methods to examine the two objectives. The results show that the input subsidy programme resulted in an initial increase in maize and rice production but not in the long run and only in a few regions. In addition, there was a decrease in total production in the southern region and the programme had little effect on farmers’ welfare. The results show that this programme only partly met the expected outcomes in Tanzania due to mistargeting, inaccurate identification of households, and poor implementation.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Welfare, Farming, and Subsidies
Political Geography:
Africa and Tanzania

42. Uganda’s nascent oil sector: Revenue generation, investor-stakeholder alignment, and public policy

Author:
Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper discusses the political economy of oil in Uganda since the announcement of its discovery in 2006. It focuses on the dynamics of oil revenue generation (pre-commercial production) and expenditure, investor-stakeholder contestation (i.e. between bureaucrats, investors/oil companies, and domestic stakeholders), and the role of public policy. Although the Government has created several institutional and regulatory frameworks to manage oil-related revenues and ensure that oil contributes to structural transformation, Uganda is already experiencing many of the stylized facts associated with natural resource exploitation, including macroeconomic instability, rent dissipation, and, more broadly, threats of adverse impact on the environment and on local livelihoods in the oil regions. Besides these, Uganda, and similarly endowed African countries, face the economic challenges related to the global shift in recent decades towards a low-carbon development paradigm and the threatening prospect of oil investments becoming ‘stranded assets’. The latter issues are not yet part of the policy conversation in Uganda.
Topic:
Environment, Oil, Public Policy, Investment, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

43. Roads and jobs in Ethiopia

Author:
Matteo Fiorini and Marco Sanfilippo
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
We look at how improving roads can affect jobs and structural transformation. We use a novel geocoded dataset covering the universe of Ethiopian roads and match this information with individual data to identify the effects of improvements in road infrastructure on the creation, quality, and sectoral distribution of jobs over the period 1994–2013. We find that, at the district level, higher market potential due to better roads contributes to the creation of new jobs, reduces the share of agricultural workers, and increases that of workers in the services sector but not in manufacturing. The latter experiences a relative increase in the share of informal workers. Finally, investigating the underlying mechanisms, we show that patterns of internal migration and changes in economic opportunities can help to rationalize our findings.
Topic:
Markets, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Roads
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

44. The politics of social protection in Eastern and Southern Africa: Actors, institutions and dynamics

Author:
Sam Hickey, Tom Laver, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, and Jeremy Seekings
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since the mid-1990s, there has been in Africa something of a ‘quiet revolution’ in poverty reduction strategies with the proliferation of social assistance programmes that entail cash transfers to the poor. The past two decades have also been characterized by a series of important political developments that have reshaped both state–society relations within sub-Saharan Africa and its relationship with transnational actors. What lies behind these changes?​​​
Topic:
Development, International Organization, Poverty, and Social Services
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and East Africa

45. The gender gap in firm productivity in Rwanda: Evidence from establishment and household enterprise data

Author:
Ggombe Kasim Munyegera and Akampumuza Precious
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Rwanda is one of the countries with the best strategies for women empowerment and gender equality in Africa and globally. Nonetheless, some inequalities exist especially in education attainment. This study investigates the gender gaps in business performance using nationally representative household survey and establishment census data. Ordinary Least Squares results indicate that female-owned business enterprises employ fewer workers and are less productive than male-owned counterparts. Specifically, turnover and net revenue per worker are 20-22 per cent and 22-25 per cent lower among female-owned enterprises. The results are corroborated by propensity score matching estimates, implying that the estimated gender productivity gap is robust to observed heterogeneity between male- and female-owned enterprises. We investigate the potential mechanisms and find that female owners invest less capital, are less likely to seek and/or obtain credit and devote fewer hours per week to their businesses. Credit products targeting collateral-constrained and female-owned household enterprises could partially close the gender productivity gap.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Business, Economic Policy, and Productivity
Political Geography:
Africa, Rwanda, and Global Focus

46. Industries without smokestacks: Industrialization in Africa reconsidered

Author:
Richard Newfarmer and John Page
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Our research shows that structural change in Africa is relying on a new set of economic activities, called ‘industries without smokestacks’, created by recent technological changes and a changing global market place. Adopting a broad concept of industrialization is crucial to recognizing that manufacturing, while important, is not everything. However, a lot needs to be done internationally, regionally and at the country-level to push these unique drivers of structural change.
Topic:
Development, Economic Growth, Investment, Diversification, and Industry
Political Geography:
Africa

47. Toward gender equity and women’s empowerment

Author:
Jean-Philippe Platteau
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
There are three main channels of women’s empowerment: legal or policy reforms, outside economic opportunities, and collective action. Legal (or policy) reforms are generally based on statutory laws that enact rules to be followed or prohibit certain practices. External economic opportunities for women represent alternative activities and places of working and living. Collective action brings women together to advance their collective interests.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Women, Discrimination, Equality, and Empowerment
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Africa, China, Europe, Turkey, India, Asia, and Senegal

48. Fishermen’s wives: On the cultural origins of violence against women

Author:
Vincent Leyaro, Pablo Selaya, and Neda Trifković
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
We study the roots of violence against women, and propose that it partly originates in cultural norms that derive from (a) characteristics of the traditional subsistence problem in different societies, and (b) differences in the sexual division of labor for solving that problem in each society. We construct this hypothesis on economics and anthropology research showing the potential of traditional livelihoods to shape persistent cultural norms at the local level, and arguing that this concept can be extended to explain outcomes at the domestic level. We test our main hypothesis by examining differences in the incidence of domestic violence across areas with different historical livelihoods in modern-day Tanzania, where we observe a large degree of spatial variation in both attitudes and actions of violence against women. Using rich individual survey and high-resolution georeferenced data, we find systematically less violence against women in traditionally sea-fishing areas vis-à-vis traditionally lake-fishing, agricultural, and pastoralist ones. Our results are consistent with anthropological accounts of the idea that women in sea-fishing societies tend to be comparatively more independent in decision-making, and to acquire skills that are complementary to demands in non-agrarian sectors. We interpret this as evidence for direct mechanisms helping to sustain egalitarian gender norms in general, and less violence against women in particular. By exploiting sub-national variation, this research allows us to move beyond studying the socio-economic and institutional determinants of violence against women, and to analyse the formation of specific cultural traits that explain where and why some women tolerate less violence against them.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Culture, Women, Violence, and Fishing
Political Geography:
Africa and Tanzania

49. Does women’s empowerment affect the health of children? The case of Mozambique

Author:
Joseph Deutsch and Jacques Silber
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In developing countries, women’s decisions concerning their children’s health depend on ‘empowerment’ concerning decision-making, husband/partner’s use of violence, woman’s attitude towards this violence, available information, and resources. We derive an empowerment indicator using the ‘fuzzy sets’ and Alkire and Foster approaches to multidimensional poverty measurement. The health of children is a latent variable; their height and weight are observed health indicators. We apply the ‘MIMIC’ approach to the 2009 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey. Children’s health is better when the woman opposes her partner’s violence, the higher her education and body mass index, among female children, and in urban areas.
Topic:
Demographics, Health, Poverty, Children, Women, and Empowerment
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

50. Multidimensional poverty and wellbeing in Mozambique

Author:
Ricardo Santos and Vincenzo Salvucci
Publication Date:
02-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon involving things other than consumption — such as access to and quality of health and education, housing, possession of durable goods, freedom, and many other factors. The consumption and multidimensional poverty approaches are complementary: it is possible for example that a family has consumption levels below the poverty line but lives in a good quality home, its members have a good level of education, and vice versa.
Topic:
Education, Health, Poverty, Survey, and Housing
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique