| 1. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Is Globalisation Good for Africa?
- 2002
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Globalisation or market integration in Sub-Saharan Africa is closely linked to the structural adjustment programmes. In this paper we focus on their dependence on politics and institutional characteristics of the countries concerned. In particular, we argue that one important explanation for the dismal performance of many African countries, in spite of all the measures taken towards market liberalisation, is a lack of willingness or ability on the part of the politicians to respect the restrictions imposed on their behaviour and policy choices by the liberalised markets. The point we make in this paper is that market integration magnifies the effects of policies. We look specifically at the increased exposure to international prices and returns on assets make the economic equilibrium relations, the law of one price (LOP) and uncovered interest parity (UIP), relevant guidelines for economic policy. We illustrate the arguments by presenting the case of Zimbabwe. It is a good example where the lack of respect for the restrictions imposed by international markets has led to an economic crisis with negative growth rates and a process away from globalisation.
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| 2. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Kenya´s Development Path and Factor Prices 1964-2000
- 2004
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyses how changes in factor abundance and trade policy have affected factor prices in Kenya since 1964. First there was a period of capital deepening, but this was reversed from 1982. As a result, there has been a shift of production towards the labour-intensive informal sector. The econometric analysis shows that in the long run factor proportions determined relative factor returns; for instance, an increase in the capital-labour ratio raised the wage-capital rental ratio. We did not find any significant impact of changes in goods prices, due to among other things changes in trade policy, on factor returns.
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| 3. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Offshoring and Occupational Wages: Some empirical evidence
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Offshoring has changed the pattern of international competition; labor in specific occupations rather than whole firms and sectors are now facing competition. Accordingly, wages in offshorable occupations are affected in new ways. In this paper we investigate the effects of offshoring of electronically traded services on relative occupational wages in 13 countries in the 1990-2003 period. Our findings show that increased exports of IT-related services lead to higher relative wages in offshorable occupations, whereas increased imports of such service reduce them. There is also some evidence that the impact of offshoring on relative wages is larger the lower the level GDP per capita.
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| 4. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Trade Reform and Wage Inequality in Kenya, 1964 - 2000
- 2004
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyses the evolution of wage inequality in Kenya between 1964 and 2000. Our measure of wage inequality is the ratio of wages in manufacturing to wages in agriculture, which can be seen as an indicator of sectoral wage-inequality or as a proxy for skilled to unskilled wages. We find that changes in relative wages have primarily been driven by the degree of openness, while other factors such as the capital-labour ratio, educational attainment, relative labour-productivity, and the ratio between agricultural and manufacturing prices had no significant effect. We conclude that international market integration has reduced wage-inequality in Kenya.
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| 5. |
- Bjurek, Hans, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Does Market Liberalization Increase Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Zimbabwe
- 1998
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we analyze if the structural adjustment program (ESAP), implemented during 1991-1995, contributed to an increase in total factor productivity in the manufacturing sector. To evaluate if productivity has grown we first estimate indexes of total factor productivity for 31 manufacturing sub-sectors for the period 1980-1995. Then we use panel data methods to test for the effects of trade reform and other variables related to ESAP. In general the growth rates vary greatly both over time and across sections. The overall impression is that there was no growth in total factor productivity on average during the whole period of ESAP. However, during the last two years, 1994-1995, most sub-sectors experienced increases in total factor productivity.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Durevall, Dick, 1954, et al.
(författare)
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A Dynamic Model of Inflation for Kenya 1974 - 1996
- 1998
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper develops an error correction model with the aim of analysing the behaviour of prices in Kenya during 1974 -1996. In estimating the model, we first test for cointegration in the money and foreign exchange markets, using the Johansen procedure. The cointegrating vectors are then included in an autoregressive distributed-lag model, and a general-to-specific procedure is applied to obtain a parsimonious, empirically constant, error correction model. We find that in the long run inflation emanates from movements in the exchange rate, foreign prices, and terms of trade. The error correction term for the monetary sector does not enter the model, but money supply and the interest rate influence inflation in the short run. Inflation inertia is found to be an important determinant of inflation up until 1993, when about 400f the current inflation is carried over to the next quarter. After 1993, inertia drops to about 10%. The dynamics of inflation are also influenced by food supply constraints, proxied by maize-price inflation. These findings indicate that the exchange rate is likely to be a more efficient nominal anchor than money supply, and that inflation could be made more stable by policies that secure the supply of maize during droughts.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Durevall, Dick, 1954, et al.
(författare)
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Adult Mortality, AIDS and Fertility in Rural Malawi
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The impact of HIV/AIDS on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa has received attention recently, since changes in population structure can impact on future economic development. We analyze the effect of AIDS on actual and desired fertility in rural Malawi, using data from Malawi 2004 Demographic and Health Survey and population censuses. Since AIDS was the dominating cause of death during the 1990s and early 2000s, we use prime-age adult mortality as the key explanatory variable. The focus is on heterogeneity in the response of gender-specific mortality rates. By estimating ordered probit models we show that actual fertility responds positively to male mortality but negatively to female mortality, and that the overall fertility response is positive but small. One interpretation of the findings is that the effects of female and male mortality differ because of an old-age security motive for having children. When a woman risks death before her children grow up, she is less likely to need support of children and demand should be low, but when the risk of husband’s death is high, the woman should expect to rely more on children’s support.
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| 10. |
- Durevall, Dick, 1954
(författare)
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Are Fairtrade Prices Fair? An Analysis of the Distribution of Returns in the Swedish Coffee Market
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Consumers pay a premium for Fair Trade coffee, often assuming that it mainly benefits poor coffee farmers. However, several studies report that most of the premium accrues to actors in the consumer countries, such as roasters and retailers. This paper analyses how the returns to Fair Trade are distributed among bean producer countries, roasters and retailers, and Fairtrade Sweden, using scanner data on 185 products from Sweden and information about costs of production. The distribution depends on how much more costly it is to produce Fair Trade coffee compared to conventional coffee, given costs of beans and licences. Assuming the difference is 5 SEK per kg (about USD 0.80), which is on the high side, roasters and retailers get 61%, while producer countries, i.e., coffee farmers, cooperatives, middlemen, exporters and Fairtrade International, get 31%. The rest accrues to Fairtrade Sweden. These estimates are uncertain, but there is there strong evidence that Fair Trade retail prices are higher than the level attributable to the costs of Fair Trade beans and licences.
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