Inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo

The liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Togo aimed at ensuring access to a better quality of telecommunication services at affordable prices to everyone. While the liberalization policy has increased competition in the sector and reduced significantly telecommunication services prices charged to costumers, statistics on the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo reveal disparities with respect to individuals' socio-economic characteristics which could be an indication of the existence of inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of these services.This paper investigates the inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo using a parametric approach. The results of estimations indicate that, inequalities of opportunities are larger for men and the elderly than respectively women and youths and are more pronounced in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions. Moreover, the circumstance variables such as the ‘place of residence’ and the ‘region’ are the key variables in explaining the inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo. So, policies toward reducing inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo should be designed with regards to men, the elderly, and people living in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions.     

Eco‐labelling by a for‐profit certifier: Countervailing power and its consequences

For‐profit certifier's eco‐labelling is common in industries where firms have some “countervailing power” on sharing gains from labelling. We show that the certification standard for an environmental quality is lowered when firms have strong “power.” A certifier with too low bargaining power will prefer to sell to the best offer rather than bargain. This switch in the selling mechanism also thwarts his incentives in setting the standard. This is consequential for evaluating policies. The dimensions and even signs of welfare changes induced by taxes and subsidies depend upon the mechanism used, and ultimately upon firms’ countervailing power.     

Transmission of Rice Prices from Thailand into West African Markets: The Case of Benin,Mali, and Senegal

ABSTRACT

The integration of West African rice market to the world market is assessed in order to derive the implication for food security. To this end, the transmission of rice price changes on the world market to selected markets in West Africa was examined to test for the presence of transaction costs. Using the two-regime threshold cointegration procedure on monthly price data, evidence in support of the hypothesis of asymmetric price transmission was found between Thailand and some West African markets. Price increases on the world market were more quickly transmitted to domestic price than were price decreases in Benin and Mali, suggesting short-run dynamic inefficiencies and the presence of transaction costs. In Senegal, the adjustment was linear, suggesting greater integration with the world rice market. The results suggest that West African governments should design and implement adequate policies to develop the domestic rice sector, improve market infrastructures in order to reduce their country dependency to international markets and ensure food security.     

Socio economic impact of vegetable production in Senegal：a case study of Niayes area

Vegetable production plays a very important role not only as a source of foreign exchange for Senegal and an appreciation of the dietary needs of populations,but also in the context of the policy of diversification.Thus the aim of this analysis is to measure the important economic impact and vegetable industrial actors,find the limited factors of the horticulture development and the perspectives for improving the vegetable production in the area.Our results show that the National production of fruits and vegetables is estimated approximately at 370,000 tons and the Niayes zone constitutes 80%of the domestic production.Horticulture is a sector which creates employments in that area with important incomes earned by both producers and the various intermediaries（commercial process） .The volume of exports has reached 14,321.588 tons in（2002-2003） against 11,125.132 tons in（2001-2002） witnessing than an increase of 28.7%,but the one of imports is very important and represents an outflow of foreign currency estimated at about 3 billion per year.