scholarly journals Taxing the Good? Distortions, Misallocation, and Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Cirera ◽  
Roberto Fattal-Jaef ◽  
Hibret Maemir
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Aggregate Productivity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Resource Misallocation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Type Data ◽  
Marginal Returns

Abstract This paper uses comprehensive and comparable firm-level manufacturing censuses from four Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to examine the extent, costs, and nature of within-industry resource misallocation between heterogeneous production units. This paper finds evidence of severe misallocation in which resources are diverted away from high-productivity firms towards low-productivity ones, although the magnitude differs across countries. Estimated aggregate productivity gains from the hypothetical equalization of marginal returns range from 30 percent in Côte d’Ivoire to 160 percent in Kenya. The magnitude of reallocation gains appears considerably lower when performing the same counterfactual exercise based on the World Bank Enterprise Surveys once the value-added shares of industries are adjusted using the census data. This suggests that linking firm-level survey data to aggregate outcomes requires census-type data or sampling methods that take the true structure of production into account.

scholarly journals Job Quality, FDI and Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Firm-Level Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1287-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sotiris Blanas ◽  
Adnan Seric ◽  
Christian Viegelahn
Keyword(s):  
Job Quality ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Fermented Edible Insects for Promoting Food Security in Africa

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf Olamide Kewuyemi ◽  
Hema Kesa ◽  
Chiemela Enyinnaya Chinma ◽  
Oluwafemi Ayodeji Adebo
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Nutritional Composition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Fermented Foods ◽  
Edible Insects ◽  
Edible Insect ◽  
Product Acceptability ◽  
Therapeutic Properties ◽  
Sub Saharan

Efforts to attain sustainable nutritional diets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are still below par. The continent is envisaged to face more impending food crises. This review presents an overview of common edible insects in Africa, their nutritional composition, health benefits and utilization in connection with fermentation to enrich the inherent composition of insect-based products and offer foods related to existing and generally preferred culinary practice. Attempts to explore fermentation treatments involving insects showed fermentation affected secondary metabolites to induce antimicrobial, nutritional and therapeutic properties. Available value-added fermented edible insect products like paste, powder, sauces, and insect containing fermented foods have been developed with potential for more. Novel fermented edible insect-based products could effectively fit in the continent’s food mix and therefore mitigate ongoing food insecurity, as well as to balance nutrition with health risk concerns limiting edible insects’ product acceptability in SSA.

Misallocation and reallocation of resources in Vietnamese manufacturing firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1605-1627
Author(s):  
Phuong Thi Nguyen ◽  
Minh Khac Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Market Share ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Productivity Change ◽  
Aggregate Productivity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Resource Misallocation ◽  
Productivity Decomposition ◽  
Exit Decisions

PurposeThis research identifies the level of misallocation in Vietnamese manufacturing sector for the period 2000–2015. Meltiz and Polanec dynamic productivity decomposition is used to compare the relative productivity contributions from surviving, entering and exiting firms to aggregate productivity change by the type of ownership. Heckman's two-step model is used to examine the effect of misallocation and industry- and firm-level factors on entry or exit decision and market share of firms in Vietnamese manufacturing sector.Design/methodology/approachThe level of misallocation and efficiency gains in total factor productivity (TFP) are assessed using Hsieh and Klenow (2009) productivity decomposition framework for the period 2000–2015. The dynamic productivity decomposition of Meltiz and Polanec (2015) is used to compare the relative contributions from surviving, entering and exiting firms to aggregate productivity change. The effects of misallocation and other factors on entry or exit decisions and market share of firms are determined by using Heckman choice model.FindingsThe results indicate three main points. Firstly, resource misallocation is found to be highest among state-owned enterprise (SOEs) and low technology industries. TFP is found to 81.2% greater if there is no resource misallocation among firms. Secondly, the aggregate productivity change for the entering, exiting and surviving firms is 35% due to productivity reallocation among three groups. Finally, the decision of entry or exit as well as the market share of firms are influenced by misallocation and industry- and firm-level factors such as Vietnam's WTO entry, tax policy, financial frictions, industrial concentration, technology gap, capital intensity, human capital, scale of firm, time entry and FDI spillovers. The result finds the higher misallocation level is, the lower the probability and market share for a new firm to enter in the industry is.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is that the market is assumed perfectly competitive and the method has only decomposed misallocation of resources to those arising from output and capital distortions. The results of Heckman choice model only clarify on the sub-sample of state-owned enterprises and low technology firms.Originality/valueThe focus of many previous research papers on resource misallocation was generally to look at the level of misallocation in developed countries. However, knowledge about the effect of misallocation and other factors on entry or exit decisions and market share of firms is limited, particularly in the context of developing countries. This paper clarifies the level of misallocation in Vietnamese manufacturing sector and the effect of misallocation and other factors on entry or exit decisions and market share of firms.

scholarly journals Enhancing information technology for value added across economic sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa✰

2020 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 120301
Author(s):  
Simplice A. Asongu ◽  
Mushfiqur Rahman ◽  
Joseph Nnanna ◽  
Mohamed Haffar
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Does Financial Liberalisation Improve Access to Investment Finance in Developing Countries?

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Conor M. O’Toole
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Securities Market ◽  
State Control ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Reserve Requirements ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Financial Liberalisation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Market Liberalisation

AbstractThis paper considers the effect of financial liberalisation on access to investment finance using firm level data covering 48 developing and transition countries. An index is presented which measures financial market liberalisation along the following policy dimensions: directed lending, credit controls and reserve requirements, state control of banking, openness of international financial flows, banking market entry, prudential regulation and supervision and securities market development. Categorising firms as financially constrained across four measures, the results indicate that financial liberalisation is robustly associated with a reduction in the probability of being credit constrained, with the effect strongest for young, domestic private small and medium sized enterprises. For Sub-Saharan Africa, the results indicate that financial liberalisation actually increases financing constraints for firms. This may help explain the stylised fact that despite a commitment to financial reform, the predicted growth benefits have not been realised in this region.

scholarly journals Information, Misallocation, and Aggregate Productivity *

2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 943-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel M. David ◽  
Hugo A. Hopenhayn ◽  
Venky Venkateswaran
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Imperfect Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aggregate Productivity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Resource Misallocation ◽  
China And India ◽  
Noisy Information ◽  
Internal Sources

Abstract We propose a theory linking imperfect information to resource misallocation and hence to aggregate productivity and output. In our setup, firms look to a variety of noisy information sources when making input decisions. We devise a novel empirical strategy that uses a combination of firm-level production and stock market data to pin down the information structure in the economy. Even when only capital is chosen under imperfect information, applying this methodology to data from the United States, China, and India reveals substantial losses in productivity and output due to the informational friction. Our estimates for these losses range from 7% to 10% for productivity and 10% to 14% for output in China and India, and are smaller, though still significant, in the United States. Losses are substantially higher when labor decisions are also made under imperfect information. We find that firms turn primarily to internal sources for information; learning from financial markets contributes little, even in the United States.

scholarly journals Potential for Development of Novel Food Products from Azanza garckeana Tree Fruit: a Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Johnson Kyalo Mwove
Keyword(s):  
Food Processing ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Novel Foods ◽  
Wild Fruit ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Functional Components

Azanza garckeana is among the least utilized indigenous wild fruit trees of interest in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa. The tree's fruit and seeds have found their importance as food while their barks and leaves as medicine because of their vast nutritional and functional components. This paper reviews the utilization of the fruit in food processing demonstrating the potential this species has in the preparation of novel foods. There are few reports on macronutrients and micronutrient composition of the fruit and the seeds, and their utilization in food processing. Some researchers have identified key functional ingredients in the fruits as well as their seeds that could be of benefit when incorporated in the production of value-added food products. This paper not only advocates for the production of value-added food products from this fruit, but also its integration into farming systems to enhance nutritional security and provide ready income for communities in the dry areas in sub Saharan Africa.

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