Risk-sharing networks and insurance against illness

Most risk-sharing tests on developing country data are conducted at the level of the village; generally, the full risk-sharing hypothesis is rejected. This paper uses detailed data on all insurance networks within a village in Tanzania; networks are not clustered but largely overlapping. We test whether full risk-sharing occurs within these networks. While village level full-insurance cannot be rejected for food consumption, we find evidence consistent with at least partial insurance of non-food consumption via networks.     

Potentiel de Productivité et Efficacité Technique du Secteur Agricole en Afrique

This study utilizes frontier metaproduction functions to analyze inter‐region agricultural productivity differences. Technical efficiency scores are examined through estimation of stochastic frontiers for 16 African countries divided into three different regions (West Africa, East and Southern Africa, and North Africa) from 1970 to 2001. The idea is to explore the differences in efficiency and technological gaps of agricultural sector. Apart of common traits that characterize African agricultural sector, countries exhibit national and regional specificities. These diversities are such that it is difficult to make valuable generalizations. It appears from the results that: in West Africa, the level of technology is relatively good, meaning that there is no problem of input constraints. By contrast, the efficiency with which inputs are used is very low. The situation is very different in the East and Southern Africa, with the level of technology relatively low and appreciable technical level. At least, the North Africa countries make a performing mixture between technology and efficiency. Cette étude utilise les Meta frontières de production pour analyser les différences inter‐régionales de la productivité agricole. Les niveaux d'efficacité technique sont examinées par l'estimation des frontières stochastiques de 16 pays africains regroupés en trois régions (l'Afrique de l'Ouest, l'Afrique de l'Est et Australe, et l'Afrique du Nord), sur une période allant de 1970 à 2001. L'idée étant d'explorer les différences d'efficacité et les écarts technologiques du secteur agricole. Au‐delà des simples traits communs qui caractérisent le secteur agricole africain, on trouve des expériences nationales et régionales dont il est difficile, du fait de leur grande diversité, de tirer des généralisations valables. Des résultats de l'étude, il ressort que: en Afrique de l'Ouest, le niveau technologique est relativement satisfaisant, traduisant le fait que la présence des inputs ne représente pas une contrainte. Par contre le niveau d'efficacité avec lequel ces intrants sont utilisés est assez faible. La situation est tout autre en Afrique de l'Est et Australe avec un niveau technologique relativement faible et un niveau d'efficacité appréciable. L'Afrique du nord enfin fait un savant dosage entre efficacité et technologie.     

Distortions in world trade: Recent developments

The functioning of the world trading system is seriously distorted by a multitude of protectionist measures that impede a possible expansion in world trade and national product. Hans Joachim Hochstrate and Ralf Zeppernick analyse the latest developments against the background of the current Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.     

An African fertilizer crisis : Origin and economic effects in the Gambia

In 1985, fertilizer did not arrive in the Gambia in time for the cropping season, since a fertilizer grant was not being properly managed and coordinated. The costs of such policy failure are high. Fertilizer use was down by 64%. In this situation of scarcity, fertilizer use was even more skewed than before towards rich farmers. Output lost was about 10% of agriculture's GDP. Even in normal years in the Gambia, fertilizer use in millet and groundnuts is found far below optimal levels.     

Egypt and the enlargement of the EEC: Impact on the agricultural sector

This article examines the impact of the second enlargement of the EEC on the agricultural sector of Egypt. The authors consider the impacts on Egypt's agricultural trade and, through the use of a linear programming model, the long term impacts of EEC enlargement. The authors conlude that, in short run, the southward expansion of the EEC will impose only a limited additional burden on the Egyptian economy. But, in the long run the burden placed on Egypt by increased protectionism in the expanded EEC could be much more severe.