基于空间自相关的非洲经济格局

通过收集1992—2000年非洲经济发展的统计数据,选用10项代表性指标,采用均方差权数法计算各指标的权重,计算得出非洲各国家的经济综合指数,并采用空间自相关方法探讨非洲各国的经济分异特征与规律。分析结果表明:Moran’s I指数为0.0214,非洲经济总体上存在弱的正空间自相关,说明非洲没有明显的区域经济集聚,而是具有较强的空间异质性,经济发展基本为“增长极”模式,尚未形成明显的经济区划。根据非洲各国的经济综合指数和局域空间自相关系数,采用层次聚类分析方法,将非洲经济发展模式划分为6种类型:集聚发展型、极核发展型、集中贫困型、贫困核型、强嵌套发展型和弱嵌套发展型。最后,对非洲经济空间格局形成的原因进行了简要分析。     

我国将重新划分经济类型

我国将重新划分经济类型据悉，我国将运用新的标准，将经济类型划分为以下９种：国家经济——中央、地方各级国家机关、事业单位和社会团体使用国有资产投资举办的企业，也包括实行企业化经营、国家不再划拨经费或核拨部分经费的事业单位和从事经营性活动的社会团体，以及...     

国家财政的分类问题的探讨

根据马列主义的国家学说和对历史的考察与分析，笔者认为国家财政基本涵盖三个方面，或者说存在三种类型，亦即经济性财政、公益性财政和行政性财政。将国家财政划分为经济、公益、行政三种类型的目的在于充分地认识国家财政的本质、特点和职能范围，进一步完善财政管理，以不断提高国家财政的宏观调控能力     

非洲国家投资环境综合评价及空间差异分析

首先,从人口与就业、经济发展、基础设施、社会发展、对外开放等方面选取42个指标,构建了非洲国家投资环境综合评价指标体系,接着采用熵权法对非洲52个国家的投资环境进行了定量评价,最后采用聚类分析法和空间自相关分析对其空间差异特征进行分析。结果显示:非洲各国的投资环境差异显著,分布很不平衡,北部地区投资环境较好,南部地区次之,西部地区、东部地区和中部地区较差。根据非洲国家投资环境评价值的大小,可以划分为四种类型:好(T0.15)、较好(0.08T0.15)、较差(0.04T0.08)和差(T0.04)。非洲国家投资环境呈现显著的空间正相关关系,即投资环境好的国家周围往往是投资环境好的国家,而投资环境差的国家周围往往也是投资环境差的国家,呈现出明显的同类集聚现象。     

撒哈拉以南非洲国家经济持续增长

撒哈拉以南非洲国家经济持续增长最近,联合国开发计划署署长发表题为《来自非洲的好消息》的文章,指出撒哈拉以南非洲国家近年经济持续增长。文章指出,非洲３３个国家的经济增长超过了人口的增长。１９９６年,２０个非洲国家国民生产总值的增长率达到或超过了５％,超...     

改革全球经济治理 破解非洲发展困局

一、政治边缘化与人口年轻化:非洲发展的困境与潜力最近,国外势力干涉科特迪瓦和利比亚内政的行为,对整个非洲大陆产生了不良影响。2011年4月,20多位非洲国家的前总统,包括曼德拉、姆贝基等发出呼吁,指出非盟已经被严重边缘化,西方势力现在既不与非盟进行协商,也不考虑对非洲大陆的影响,仅凭一己之私利     

非洲国家经济与外援状况

非洲许多国家面临的经济困难举世瞩目，本文就非洲经济状况，国际组织和一些国家对非洲经济援助作些回顾。     

非洲市场:广阔的前景

非洲有５９个国家和地区，均属于发展中国家，面积３０３０万平方公里，拥有近７亿人口，年进出口值超过２０００亿美元，年进口额达１１００多亿美元。九十年代初期以来，非洲国家整体上政局趋于稳定，各国都加快经济改革步伐，致力发展地区经济合作，投资环境有所改善，...     

非洲边缘化与依附性试析

全球化过程中,非洲面临的挑战大于机遇。而最大的挑战源自边缘化与依附性并存。文章应用国际组织提出的报告对此做出统计分析。旨在用比较可靠的数据,参与非洲与全球化的学术讨论。同世界其他地区的横向比较表明,非洲正处于世界经济体系的最边缘。非洲自身的纵向比较显示,它在世界经济体系中的地位继续弱化。非洲的依附性表现在多个方面。商品进出口结构与贸易伙伴的空间分布,显示对发达国家的依附性。外资流入以官方援助为主,对发达国家提供的援助存在依附性。沉重的债务负担也加剧了依附性。     

对援助非洲的若干思考

对援助非洲的若干思考蔡玲明（外经贸部国际经济合作研究所）国际上对非洲的援助主要是从６０年代非洲走向独立后开始的。政治上的独立为经济发展创造：条件，但长期的殖民主义统治使大多数非洲国家，特别是撒哈拉以南非洲国家处于极端落后和贫困之中，成为世界上最不发达...     

Demand for international telephone services between US and Africa

This paper uses a two-equation dynamic simultaneous equation model that accounts for call externality and arbitrage, and a dynamic panel estimator to investigate the demand for international telephone calls between the US and African countries. Using panel data from 45 African countries over the 1992–1996 period, we find that the demand for telephone calls from African countries to the US is price elastic while the demand for telephone calls from the US to African countries is price inelastic. We find telephone calls originating from African countries to the US are complementary to calls from the US to African countries while calls originating in the US to African countries are substitutes for calls to the US that originate in African countries, and calls between the two sets of countries exhibit reciprocal and arbitrage effects. We also find that the demand for telephone calls between the US and African countries show strong dynamic effects. Finally, we find that telephone demand between African countries and the US responds positively to income and trade. Our results have interesting research and policy implications.     

Africa is on time

We present evidence that the recent African growth renaissance has reached Africa’s poor. Using survey data on African income distributions and national accounts GDP, we estimate income distributions, poverty rates, and inequality indices for African countries for the period 1990–2011. We show that: (1) African poverty is falling rapidly; (2) the African countries for which good inequality data exists are set to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) poverty target on time. The entire continent except for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will reach the MDG in 2014, one year in advance, and adding the DRC will delay the MDG until 2018; (3) the growth spurt that began in 1995, if anything, decreased African income inequality instead of increasing it; (4) African poverty reduction is remarkably general: it cannot be explained by a large country, or even by a single set of countries possessing some beneficial geographical or historical characteristic. All classes of countries, including those with disadvantageous geography and history, experience reductions in poverty. In particular, poverty fell for both landlocked as well as coastal countries; for mineral-rich as well as mineral-poor countries; for countries with favorable or with unfavorable agriculture; for countries regardless of colonial origin; and for countries with below- or above-median slave exports per capita during the African slave trade.     

Does Africa grow slower than Asia,Latin America and the Middle East? Evidence from a new data-based classification method

We address the question whether sub-Saharan African countries have lower average growth rates in real GDP per capita than countries in Asia, Latin and Middle America and the Middle East. In contrast to previous studies, countries are no a priori assigned to clusters based on geographical location. Instead, we propose a latent-class panel time series model, which allows a data-based classification of countries into clusters such that within a cluster countries have the same average growth rate. Our empirical results suggest that three clusters are sufficient to describe the different growth paths. Twenty-six African countries belong to the low growth cluster, but 8 African countries show growth rates comparable with many countries in Asia, Latin and Middle America and the Middle East.     

Is the consumption-income ratio stationary in African countries? Evidence from new time series tests that allow for structural breaks

This article examines whether the consumption-income ratio is stationary in 50 African countries. We use the residual augmented least squares (RALS-LM) unit root test that allows for structural breaks. The empirical evidence shows that the consumption income ratio is stationary around structural breaks in most (44 out of 50) African countries. This is consistent with the predictions of most economic theories. The general finding of mean reversion implies that (policy) shocks are likely to have only temporary effects on the consumption-income ratio in most African countries .     

Pooled Mean Group estimation on international capital mobility in African countries

This paper investigates the relationship between the savings and investment rates for 37 African countries over the period 1970-2006, using the recently developed Pooled Mean Group cointegration technique. Our results show that in the long-run, capital was relatively mobile in African countries, while, in the short-run, coefficients are not significant. However, there are marked differences in ratio retentions between country groups. The savings retention coefficient is higher in civil law countries than in common law countries. Furthermore, our results show that the Feldstein-Horioka coefficient is relatively lower in non-CFA than in CFA countries. These results have some policy implications.     

The growth effect of trade openness on African countries: Evidence from using an instrumental variable panel smooth transition model

This paper assesses the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Africa by accounting for the heterogeneity of African countries. In addition, the paper contributes to the literature on trade openness and economic growth nexus by applying the instrumental variable panel smooth transition regression, a methodology that accounts for nonlinearity and endogeneity in the relationship between the two variables. The results of the empirical analysis reveal that the investment ratio is a channel through which trade openness affects economic growth in the African continent. In addition, the relationship between trade openness and economic growth varies according to the degree of a country's development in Africa. The study finds a negative relationship between openness and growth in low-income countries. Conversely, for upper-income countries, the coefficients of trade indicators are positive and statistically significant. The results indicate that African countries are not homogeneous, especially concerning trade openness and economic growth nexus.     

Nonlinearity and the Unit Root Hypothesis for African Per Capita Real GDP

Once described as an epic center of growth tragedy, African nations have lately achieved relatively rapid growth rates, which have raised hopes that the continent is finally on the path to economic convergence with other emerging economies. However, there is a need to establish whether stabilization policies for the purpose of enhancing the GDP are effective in African countries. One of the means of examining the effectiveness of these policies is through the investigation of the unit root properties of per capita GDP in the continent. This study aims to add to the existing papers on GDP in African countries by investigating the non-stationarity of per capita GDP in 52 African countries, while using a newly proposed nonlinear unit root test. The results suggest that per capita GDP follows the non-stationarity process in half of the entire sample.     

Knowledge of African countries: production and value of doctoral dissertations

The notion that lack of knowledge undermines the economic performance of African countries is deeply and widely held to be true. Yet quantitative evidence for the basis of that truth is few and far in-between. This article first describes a conventional production function approach to the creation of knowledge of African countries in terms of a relative and indirect measure of the quantity of dissertations (D). Second, it assesses the imputed values of knowledge. In the first instance it finds that relative income (Y), population (N), openness (Z), and technical factors (A) are central to the production of knowledge of African countries. In the second instance, the imputed values of knowledge are positive, but of modest magnitude. The results recommend more investment in the production of knowledge of African countries, improved openness, and especially reduced opportunity cost of knowledge creation which now differs widely across countries, and averages 10.7%. For further research the results suggest that dissertations may be useful proxies for human capital in economic growth regressions.     

Does productivity in Africa benefit from advanced countries’ R&D?

This study employs dynamic ordinary least squares and panel co-integration to estimate advanced countries’ R&D spillover effects on labour productivity in 28 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1992–2011. Results show that African countries that import and receive (technical and non-technical) development aid from advanced countries experience an increase in labour productivity, suggesting that trade and aid are transmitters of foreign R&D. However, the extent to which labour productivity responds to R&D spillovers varies based on the country of origin, where spillovers from the USA have a greater impact compared to those from other advanced countries.     

The role of unit labor costs in African manufacturing investment and export performance

Several studies have pointed out that manufacturing wages are relatively higher in African countries than in other countries at similar levels of development, and that this contributes to the continent's lower levels of manufacturing competitiveness. This paper derives unit labor costs (ULCs)—average wages relative to productivity—for two-digit manufacturing sectors across a sample of 79 developed and developing countries, including 13 African countries, over the 1990–2015 period. We benchmark the ULCs to China and estimate the relationship between relative ULCs and manufacturing sector investment rates and export performance. We find that relative ULCs have a smaller association with exports in Africa relative to other developing regions. There is some evidence that investment responds to changes in relative ULCs in Africa; however, the estimated effects are smaller than in the full sample. Further, we find that for Africa, the level of labor productivity has a quantitatively stronger and more robust association with manufacturing performance than the level of real wages. The results have important implications for industrial policy in African countries.