REGIONAL INTEGRATION OF EQUITY MARKETS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Equity markets in developing and emerging economies have grown in number and importance as a result of financial market globalisation. However, their role in economic growth and development is enhanced if nascent markets are integrated with well‐established ones. Market integration, measured by the transmission of returns volatility, is identified across a sample of SSA countries, using a unique dataset. Evidence for potential integration between financial markets in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) is found. Spillovers are found across markets, some unidirectional and others bi‐directional. However, continued illiquidity and incomplete institutions indicate that an integrated financial community remains premature, and considerable regulatory reform and harmonisation will be necessary for this to succeed.     

Openness and total factor productivity in Swedish manufacturing, 1980–1995

Openness and Total Factor Productivity in Swedish Manufacturing, 1980–1995. — This paper studies the effect of openness on total factor productivity (TFP) growth. Using industry-level data for Swedish manufacturing from 1980 to 1995, the paper shows that integrated industries tend to be more engaged in R&D and have more entry and exit activity than other industries. The results show that domestic R&D intensity does not contribute to the TFP growth rate. Instead, openness to international markets, which helps facilitate technology spillovers, is an important factor. There is also some evidence that producers exiting the market are less productive, implying that such exits will increase the average productivity of the industry.     

Size and liquidity effects in Japanese regional stock markets

This paper assesses the effectiveness of traded turnover, Amihud (2002) and Liu (2006) metrics in measuring illiquidity, as used in a multifactor CAPM. The performance of this model is contrasted using a unique sample from Japan’s regional stock exchanges, namely Sapporo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Osaka and Tokyo. The evidence suggests that size effects are important in Tokyo, liquidity plays a more important role in the conditional modelling of returns particularly in the smaller markets of Sapporo, Fukuoka and Nagoya where costs of equity are highest.     

Macroeconomic and Sectoral Effects of International Trade: A Vector Error-Correction Study

This study examines various claims that in the U.S., international trade has contributed to a loss of manufacturing base, an increased gap between unskilled and skilled wages, lower employment, and a loss of productivity. Cointegration tests indicate that in the long run and at the macro level, the ratio of trade to output and FDI to output are correlated with the manufacturing share of output, the ratio of unskilled to skilled wages, labor productivity, and the employment rate. However, Granger causality tests reveal that, with one exception, causation does not run from trade to the domestic variables, the only exception being that FDI Granger causes productivity. When the focus is shifted to the manufacturing sector, the results support the proposition that openness to trade has had adverse effects on this sector.A slightly different version of this paper was presented at the Fifty-sixth International Atlantic Economic Conference, October 16–19, 2003 in Quebec City, Canada. The research reported in this paper is partially funded by a grant from the Institute for Global Economic Affairs at Marquette University.     

An Examination of Subnational Growth in Nigeria: 1999‐2012

I use satellite imagery on night‐time lights to measure growth across states and local government areas in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999. The data suggest that states in southern Nigeria have grown faster on average than states in the north. Using the Ordinary Least Squares, I estimate a relationship between change in night lights and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Africa and use the coefficients to estimate GDP growth for states and local government areas in Nigeria over the period. Finally, I evaluate the effects of violence on growth in Plateau, Yobe and Borno states. I find that the crisis in Plateau state has resulted in slower growth compared with other states in the region. I also show that Yobe and Borno states had performed worse than other states in the north even before the outbreak of violence related to the Boko Haram sect.     

Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience

African women farmers are less likely than men to adopt improved crop varieties and management systems. This paper addresses two issues: How does gender affect technology adoption among African farmers? How does the introduction of new technologies affect women's well-being? Three conclusions come out of an extensive and critical review of the literature. First, African households are complex and heterogeneous. Second, gender roles within African households and communities cannot be simply summarized. Third, gender roles and responsibilities are dynamic; they respond to changing economic circumstances. The paper demonstrates the complexity and importance of efforts to design interventions for African women.     

A multidimensional analysis of poverty in China from 1991 to 2006

Most studies have reported non negligible improvements for China in terms of poverty during the last three decades. However, this result is potentially hampered by two limitations. First, it may be contingent to the specific choices made regarding the poverty line and the poverty indices used for the analysis. As a consequence, it may collapse if one uses alternative poverty lines or poverty measures. Second, it results from a focus on the sole monetary aspects of poverty. As income does not cover all facets of well-being and since the relationship between these two concepts are quite fuzzy, it may be worth using a broader view of well-being, hence opting for a multidimensional approach of poverty analysis. In the present paper, these two issues are addressed using multidimensional stochastic dominance procedures on the joint distribution of income, education and health in seven Chinese provinces.