Competitiveness and Efficiency of the Banking Sector and Economic Growth in Egypt

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of financial reforms on competitiveness and production efficiency of the banking sector, as well as the short‐term and long‐term impact on economic growth, in Egypt during 1992–2007. The results suggest that the reforms have a positive and significant effect on competitiveness and production efficiency. Also, the evidence shows that state‐owned banks are generally less competitive than private banks and foreign banks are less competitive than domestic banks. The average x‐inefficiency of Egyptian banks is around 30 per cent, which is comparable to those reported for other African countries. Finally, there is evidence to suggest a significant relationship between financial bank productive efficiency and economic growth in the short run but not in the long run. Overall, the results support the argument for continuing the financial sector reform programme in Egypt.     

Debt Relief and Credit to the Private Sector in African Countries

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to empirically investigate the link between debt relief and credit to the private sector in African countries using a panel method over the period 1988–2004. The motivation for investigating the relationship between debt relief and credit to the private sector follows Christensen's (2004) hypothesis that domestic debt has a negative impact on the credit to private sector; therefore debt relief is expected to alleviate domestic debt and thereby create space for domestic credit, which if it is mostly constituted of public sector credit, crowds out credit to the private sector. The main results of the paper are as follows: (1) debt relief has a significant and positive effect on credit to the private sector in the short term; (2) in the long term, debt relief has positive effects on domestic credit to the private sector only when associated with good initial institutional quality.     

HOW LARGE IS THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN AFRICA? EVIDENCE FROM NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND LABOUR MARKETS

In recent years, the private sector has been recognised as a key engine of Africa's economic development. Yet, very little is known about its size and characteristics. We present novel estimates for 50 African countries and show that the private sector accounts for about two thirds of total investments, four fifths of total consumption and three fourths of total credit. Countries with small private sectors include a sample of oil exporters and some of the poorest countries in the continent. Surprisingly, the size of the private sector does not appear to be significantly correlated with growth performance. Labour market data reinforce the idea of a large private sector, which provides about 90% of total employment opportunities. However, most of this labour is informal and characterised by low productivity: permanent wage jobs in the private sector account on average for only 10% of total employment. South Africa is the notable exception, with formal wage employment in the private sector representing 46% of total employment. Finally, we find evidence of negative private sector earning premiums (?13% on the average), suggesting that market distortions abound. These are likely to prevent the efficient allocation of human resources and to reduce the overall productivity of the African economies.     

Financial stability gap and private investment nexus: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

The illiquidity status of financial institutions widens up the financial stability gap, hence affecting other economic agents that depend on the financial sector. The objective of the study is to determine how the financial stability gap affects private investment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Annual time series secondary data from 33 SSA countries for the period 2007–2018 was used. Using the general methods of moments (GMM) estimation technique, we found that the financial stability gap beyond 109.9% becomes detrimental to private sector investment while government effectiveness and investment by the government improve private investment. The study recommends that financial institutions undertake liquidity protection measures as a means of protecting the stability status, while SSA governments invest in the economy and provide the needed business environment for private sector investment.     

South Africa's infrastructure service delivery needs: The role and challenge for public‐private partnerships

South Africa's development challenges include over R100 billion needed in investment in infrastructure over the next ten years. Municipalities lack the institutional and financial capacity to address this alone and have to raise private sector finance to supplement their own resources and government grants. The borrowing of capital requires a well‐run administration that is able to raise sufficient revenue to meet all running costs, including loan redemption. Municipalities are showing increasing interest in municipal service partnerships (MSPs), including public‐private partnerships (PPPs), as a way of improving efficiency and accessing capital markets. This raises a number of challenges that include understanding and dealing with the continuing negative perceptions of the role of the private sector; clarifying the roles of the private sector and the government, especially local government; and addressing those issues necessary to produce effective and efficient MSPs in South Africa.     

Factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations

Compared to the 1970s blacks made less progress in moving into the managerial occupational category in the private sector during the 1980s decade. This study utilized a model of intrafirm mobility to examine the factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations. Results indicated that line position experience, company seniority, mentor assistance, organization size, and the rate of job vacancies were the best predictors of management promotions. Implications of these findings for the economic prosperity of the black community are discussed.     

Management,managers, and revolution

Management and managers play a critical role in revolutionary societies. During revolutions the increased demand for and decreased supply of managers create a costly management gap. Revolutionary governments face significant problems in mobilizing and developing managers for state-owned enterprises and in motivating private sector managers who face eroding social status and changing societal values. Meeting the management needs in the state enterprises requires significant efforts in management training as well as organizational changes. With the private sector the government's task involves identifying areas of goal congruency and developing cooperative relationships around these. Conflictive relationships with some segments of the private sector complicate the task. This article's emperical basis is derived primarily from the Nicaraguan experience. A final section suggests avenues for further research on management and revolution.     

A comparison of the wage structure between the public and private sectors in Japan

This study compares the wages in the public and private sectors in Japan. In addition to comparing overall wage levels, we examine the differences in the wage structures, specifically, the relative wages by gender, age, education, and region. The size of the public sector wage premium depends crucially on the size of the private companies chosen as the comparison group. Wage gaps by gender and educational attainment are smaller in the public sector than they are in private companies. The public sector's age–wage profile is steeper than that of the private sector. Public sector wages are more compressed. In other words, the wages are relatively higher at the lower end of the wage distribution and relatively lower at the higher end. The regional wage differentials are smaller in the public sector. Here, the wage levels of public sector workers are relatively higher in rural regions and relatively lower in large metropolitan regions. To ensure the efficient provision of public services, it is inappropriate to compare only mean wages.     

Public‐private partnerships in the health industry

This article compares the traditional government method of procurement of goods and services with various public‐private partnership methods and provides an overview of the various advantages and disadvantages of both. Governments face many challenges in meeting the basic needs of their people. The private sector is therefore becoming increasingly involved in the provision of a range of services. In South Africa, examples are the Maputo N4 Tollroad, various water and sanitation concessions, and even the building and running of prisons, all of which have received media coverage. Many of these forms of private sector involvement, and lessons learnt from these projects, could be transferred to the health care sector. The health industry is currently faced with the challenge of providing increased levels of service to a growing population. There has been much debate over the state of the nation's hospitals, all of which require some maintenance and at least a third of which need extensive, if not complete, replacement. This also applies to the equipment used in hospitals. Overseas, governments are looking to the private sector to work in partnership with them to address these concerns in terms of knowledge and expertise in delivering, financing and operating these services. By involving the private sector as a partner, governments can focus their energies on ensuring that adequate health policy frameworks are established and that the necessary health services are provided. The article identifies and highlights several ways in which the private sector and government could work together to solve many of the challenges facing the industry.     

Estimation of Public–Private Wage Differentials in Turkey with Sample Correction

The aim of this study is to determine how the change in the balance between public–private sector employments affected public and private earnings during the 1990s and 2000s in Turkey. We use the Oaxaca–Blinder and quantile decomposition methods to determine the wage gap between public and private sectors utilizing the 1994 Household Income Distribution and Consumption Expenditure Survey and the 2008 Household Budget Survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute. The study determined that the primary difference in the average wages between sectors arises from the differences in the endowments without correction for gender. After adjusting for correction using quantile regression, we find that the difference in the endowments between sectors at lower quantiles explains the majority of the raw wage gap; whereas a substantial amount of the raw wage gap is explained by the sector effect at higher quantiles.     

Exploring ‘onward-journey’ ODI strategies in China's private sector businesses

Are the internationalization strategies of China's private businesses different from those of state-owned businesses? To date, little systematic empirical research addresses this question, despite the now well-established arguments that market and institutional imperfections influence the outward foreign direct investment (ODI) of China's state sector MNEs. Why is so little known about private sector foreign direct investment? One important reason is that private companies have gone to considerable lengths to conceal their activities by using offshore holding companies in tax havens. This paper, using a sample of offshore listed companies that are privately controlled, investigates what we dub ‘onward-journeying’ – foreign direct investment undertaken via tax havens. In doing so it further explores the ODI strategies of some of China's most successful private companies.     

Implicit Taxation of Agriculture: The Cause of Development Failure in Egypt

Abstract: Egypt has been unable to sustain rapid economic growth in the past, nor has it been able to generate employment opportunities at a fast enough rate to keep unemployment from rising. It will be argued in this paper that this has been the result of significant implicit taxation of the agricultural sector. The latter has slowed the structural transformation of the Egyptian economy, increased the capital intensity of production in the urban sector, and slowed overall economic growth. The Egyptian experience is contrasted with that of South Korea and Taiwan. The results indicate that indeed structural change in Egypt has been slowed by the implicit taxation of agriculture.     

Financial reform and credit extension in Lesotho

The study on which this article is based was concerned with establishing whether the lending behaviour of Lesotho's commercial banks in relation to the private sector has changed following the reforms that have been implemented since 1980. The influence of macroeconomic variables on agricultural credit and on private sector lending provided through the existing commercial banks during the period 1980 to 1993 was examined. The results showed a high and significant association between total credit extension and the general performance of the economy. Macroeconomic variables such as returns on financial securities in Lesotho and bonds in the Republic of South Africa, bank discount rates and the interest rates on saving deposits applicable in Lesotho had a key effect on the extension of credit by commercial banks to the private sector. The study concluded that credit extension activities in Lesotho during the study period were sensitive to the macroeconomic environment.     

The Great Compression of the 1940s: The Public versus the Private Sector

Between 1940 and 1950 wage differentials narrowed substantially, a phenomenon that economic historians have called the “Great Compression.” This paper dis-aggregates the Great Compression into changes within and between the public and private sectors. We show that wage differentials declined in the public sector as well as in the private sector; had the public sector decline not taken place, the Great Compression would have been substantially smaller. In this regard, the experience of the 1940s stands in stark contrast with that of the past two decades, during which a relatively rigid public sector wage structure has dampened overall increases in wage inequality.     

Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Urban Areas of Ghana: What Do Households Want and Can Afford?

This study conducts a survey among households in three cities in Ghana on how water delivery should be managed. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate the willingness to pay for improved water delivery under private sector participation. Results indicate that most households will remain connected to their current water supplies if private sector is engaged to improve water delivery at higher monthly water bills. Given that the mean household monthly water bill of GH¢10.82, the results indicate that there is demand for water quality improvement, and private sector engagement is likely to provide these services. However, this policy measure marginalises the poor in terms of access to water. Therefore, private sector participation in water delivery may require a complementary programme to promote access to water.     

公共部门战略管理理论的合理创新研究

文章首先对私人部门战略管理理论进行介绍与分析,然后对私人组织和公共组织的异同进行分析,最后在科学借鉴私人部门战略管理理论的基础上提出了以群体价值观为基点、学习能力为核心、人员激励为手段的战略管理理论。     

Caste and Religion-Based Wage Discrimination in the Indian Private Sector: Evidence from the Indian Human Development Survey

Using data from the Indian Human Development Survey, we examine evidence of caste and religion-based discrimination in the Indian private and public sector. Both Dalits and Adivasis show significant results of discrimination in the private sector, and benefit disproportionately from working in the public sector. This is strong evidence that at least some of the affirmative action policies in the public sector are proving effective. The policy implications are relevant: should similar affirmative action policies be implemented in the private sector? Further, this research suggests a path for further research to understand why protected castes do not benefit from affirmative action programs to the same extent as Dalits and Adivasis.     

State advances and private retreats? — Evidence of aggregate productivity decomposition in China

This paper is motivated by the recent debate on the existence and scale of China's ‘Guo Jin Min Tui’ phenomenon, which is often translated as ‘the state sector advances and the private sector retreats’. We argue that the profound implication of an advancing state sector is not the size expansion of the state ownership in the economy per se, but the likely retardation of the development of the already financially constrained private sector and the issues around the sustainability of the already weakening Chinese economy growth. Drawing on recent methodological advances, we provide a critical analysis of the contributions of the state and non-state sectors in the aggregate Total Factor Productivity and its growth over the period of 1998–2007 to verify the existence of GJMT and its possible impacts on Chinese economic growth. Overall, we find strong and consistent evidence of a systematic and worsening resource misallocation within the state sector and/or between the state sectors and private sectors over time. This suggests that non-market forces allow resources to be driven away from their competitive market allocation and towards the inefficient state sector.     

Quantifying the vulnerabilities of China’s corporate sector with contingent claims

This paper measures and analyzes the default risk and debt sustainability of China’s non-financial corporate sector both on an aggregate level and within a sector by employing the contingent claims approach (CCA). Our results suggest that the vulnerabilities of Chinese firms are heterogenous in terms of investment source, ownership group, corporate form, industry type, and geographic unit etc. First, foreign capital enterprises have a lower default risk than domestic capital enterprises. Within domestic capital enterprises, state-owned firms have the lowest default risk, whereas private and collective firms are most unsustainable despite that they have the highest returns on assets. Second, state-controlled firms, private stock limited firms, and Chinese foreign cooperative firms are least vulnerable in the state-owned corporate sub-sector, the private corporate sub-sector and the foreign corporate sub-sector, respectively. Third, all industries except the coal industry are sustainable by industry type. Fourth, the vulnerabilities of local state-owned sub-sectors are diverse across China’s administrative regions. Moreover, we provide robustness tests which support our findings. In Sum, our study shed key light on ensuring the soundness of China’s non-financial corporate sector and thereby maintaining the stability and sustainability of the Chinese economy.     

双循环格局下的竞争中性与国企改革——来自国有资本差异化功能的证据

本文在一般均衡框架下构建理论模型,从微观视角考察国有资本功能在国有、民营两部门中的差异,讨论"双循环"战略下如何有效配置国有资本,推动竞争中性框架的建立.研究表明:国有资本在理论上具有正向的经济效率并促进企业积极承担社会责任,但经验证据显示其经济效率偏低,且在国有和民营部门有较大差异.在国有部门中,国有资本的经济效率显...