Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa from Latin American Experience?

Abstract: There are many issue areas in which African policymakers and analysts may learn from Latin American experience. These include appropriate incentive structures, industrialization strategy, response to external shocks, anti-inflation policies, policies on foreign direct investment, and economic integration. Comparisons of particular country experiences can also be useful if carefully made. Attention is called to the possibility of fruitful comparisons between specific Latin American countries' experiences and the current problems of Cameroun, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Résumé: I1 y a maintenant de nombreux domaines oh les dirigeants et les analystes africains peuvent tirer des lecons de l'experience latino-americaine. On peutciter, entre autres, des structures incitatives adoptees, une strategic del'industrialisation, une reponse aux chocs externes, les politiques de lutte contrel'inflation, les politiques concernant les investissements directs etrangers etl'integration economique. Des comparaisons des experiences particulieres de pays si elles sont soigneusement faites, peuvent egalement se reveler utiles.L'attention est attiree sur la possibilite de comparaisons fructueuses entre lesexperiences precises des pays dpmerique lathe et les problemes que connais-sent actuellement le Cameroun, la C6te d'Ivoire, le Kenya, le Senegal, la Zambieet le Zimbabwe.     

Science Policy Priorities and Implementation Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Experience of Ghana

Abstract: The persistence of poverty in sub-saharan Africa constitutes a distressing paradox given the region's rich natural resources. To alleviate this endemic poverty and improve the well-being of the inhabitants on a sustainable basis, require the promotion of integrated national science and technology policy plans with prioritised objectives based primarily upon basic needs, namely improved food supply, better environment, and improved health, shelter and fuel energy supply through enhanced manpower. Prioritisation of the policy objectives appears necessary to optimise the limited investment resources. Severe financial limitations, weak job incentives, mismanagement, intersectoral rivalry, political-economic disunity, and a general lack of an enabling environment loom as a serious threat to the implementation of such S & T plans. But these problems could be surmounted by imaginative financial mobilisation arrangements, rational resource management, appropriate incentives and education, co-operation, and a will to succeed.     

东亚经济一体化宜从次区域合作开始

建立自由贸易区的必然性 1.组成自由贸易区可产生许多收益 根据国际经济一体化理论,建立自由贸易区可带来如下效应:贸易创造效应,成本下降效应,与规模经济有关的效应,给定生产要素在企业内得到利用所产生的技术效率效应,在一体化过程中由于竞争加剧而产生的价格和成本效应.     

Governance and Growth: Lessons from the Asian Economic Crisis

The East Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 has provoked yet another round of controversy on the institutional foundations of the region's growth. This article provides some flavour of this new work by examining three factors that impinge on economic policy and performance: the role of political regime type; the structure of business-government relations; and the design of government agencies. Institutional weaknesses contributed to the onset of the Asian financial crisis.     

Lessons from the euro zone for the East Asian economies

This paper endeavors to contribute to the solution of the following critical issues: (1) what the East Asian nations can do in cooperation among themselves and with China, Japan, and South Korea in their foreign trade arrangements to improve the stability and growth of their economies; (2) what they must do individually to get their financial and real economies better integrated; (3) what they can do in cooperation with China, Japan and South Korea—bilaterally and regionally—to modernize their monetary systems and to render them more resilient to financial crises; and (4) what new focus of the IMF is most likely to enable the East Asian nations to maintain relatively free and open economies without the impact of catastrophic financial crises. Lessons from the development of the European Union, the dynamics of the euro zone, the experience of the Bank for International Settlements, and recent research on monetary and international macroeconomic theory are drawn upon to provide answers to these questions. It is argued that an area-wide approach, with a new IMF regional role and the formation of an East Asian Monetary Authority, would contribute to a sense of “community” within East Asia, leading to an enhanced role for both East Asia and ASEAN + 3 in the new world economic order.     

后发经济体如何成功开放:从东亚模式到中国道路

文章尝试从国家能力视角分析东亚开放模式何以成功,以及中国开放的独特之处。基本史实梳理显示,东亚开放模式的本质特征是渐进开放和有序开放;在此基础上尝试解释东亚模式何以成功,作为一种制度创新的对外开放,渐进、有序是其固有特征,即使成功发挥"后发优势"压缩追赶进程也需要遵循一定规律,能否发现并遵循规律则反映了国家能力差异。中国在借鉴东亚渐进、有序成功开放经验的同时,亦从"双转型"后发大国的基本国情出发,在两个方面拓展了后发开放理论:一是按照"试验—推广"路径扩大开放是大国的可行选择;二是对于双转型经济体需要开放与改革相互促进。最后探讨国家能力在中国开放进程中所起的作用及其动态演化。     

Supply and Demand for Livestock Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons for Designing New Credit Schemes

Based on analysis of credit supply in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, it is shown that public credit institutions do not have sufficient funds to meet the demand for livestock credit and cannot mobilize savings from their clients or other commercial sources for one reason or another. In addition, available credit does not reach those who need it the most and with whom it could have the greatest impact due to the application of inappropriate screening procedures and criteria to determine creditworthiness. The analysis of demand based on borrowing and nonborrowing sample households using improved dairy technology, it is shown that not all borrowers borrowed due to liquidity constraint while some borrowers and some nonborrowers had liquidity constraint but did not have access to adequate credit. Logistic regression analysis show that sex and education of the household head, training in dairy, prevalence of outstanding loan and the number of improved cattle on the farm had significant influence on both borrowing and liquidity status of a household, though the degree and direction of influence were not always the same in each study country. Based on the findings it is suggested that combining public and commercial finance could solve the problem of inadequate credit supply while inventory finance to community level input suppliers and service providers might help in getting credit to worthy and needy smallholders at lower cost than providing credit to smallholders directly.     

Growth Linkages, Price Effects and Income Distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper measures economic linkages emanating from investment-ledgrowth in eight different African countries with widely varyingeconomic structures. To explore the importance of price effectsin estimating these linkages, the paper employs two differentmethodologies for measuring the linkages, a fixed-price semi-input–output(SIO) model as well as a fully price-endogenous computable generalequilibrium model (CGE). Regardless of the methodology used,indirect effects prove to be large. On average — acrosscountries and sectors — inclusion of growth linkages nearlydoubles estimated national income growth following an initialinvestment-led shock. Sectorally, investments in agriculturegenerate the largest impact on the poor.     

Stimulating Growth and Investment in Africa: From Macro to Micro Reforms

Abstract: How do we stimulate investment and growth in Africa? This paper focuses on low‐income countries that are ‘good performers’ and not especially endowed with natural resources. Many of these countries have undertaken a set of economic reforms, and have recorded growth rates in per capita GDP of around 5 percent over the past 10 years. But some constraints to growth persist. We look at three things — how business environments create ‘external costs’ for firms and inhibit performance, how investors perceive the constraints to doing business, and the role of political economy factors especially in those countries with lagging indigenous business sectors. Our analysis of investment climate and other data leads us to several recommendations for governments, donors and the private sector itself, including the following: deepen macro reforms; build a strong, unified business forum; create incentives for more responsive governments; and improve risk mitigation and broaden this to domestic investors.     

Lessons for Africa from Indonesia's Experience in Smallscale Entrepreneurial Finance

Abstract: Indonesia has developed some very successful credit schemes for both men and women smallscale entrepreneurs and farmers in rural and urban areas; one is a state-owned commercial bank which reaches out into the poorer areas; one is owned by local governments, but supervised by the state-owned commercial bank; and one is owned and operated by the provincial government. Can the factors which led to their success be transferrable to the African setting ? The authors argue that they can, but that the high population density, the vibrant economy and the relative stability of the price level are important positive factors in Indonesia not found in sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, the paying of a market rate of interest on savings and encouragement of savings, the integration of the credit scheme into the commercial banking system, an interest rate on loans which covers the spread between savings borrowing and costs plus administrative costs, high levels of repayment, untargeted credit, good management, financial viability of each branch unit, and convenience in location are transferrable and should be part of African institutions leading to the smallscale sector.