African Journal of Economic Policy

Mobility and Sector-specific Effects of Changes in Multiple Sources of Deprivation in Cameroon

2014-02-26T09:27:05+00:00

Using the second and third Cameroon household consumption surveys, this study examined mobility and sector-specific effects of changes in multiple sources of deprivation in Cameroon. Results indicated that between 2001 and 2007, deprivations associated with human capital and labour capital reduced, while deprivations associated with financial and demographic capital worsened. Further, deprivations in urban areas decreased, with the rural areas appearing to suffer more from the different deprivation outcomes. Regarding the sectoral decomposition, with exception of human capital, the intra-sector component appeared to globally affect deprivation outcomes more than the inter-sector component for all other forms of capital. Policy suggestions pointed to the need to consolidate human capital investment and acquisition; facilitate access to-and provision-of microcredit; render efficient rural electrification and access to water; encourage family planning; as well as encourage employment mobility and decent employment working conditions.

Keywords: Deprivation, Regressed-income sources, Sectoral decomposition and Cameroon.

JEL: I31, I32, D39, D63

An Empirical Re-examination of Exchange Rate-Trade Balance Nexus in Nigeria

2014-02-26T09:27:06+00:00

The Nigerian exchange rate-trade balance nexus was re-examined. The long run relationship between these variables was explored using the Gregory-Hansen cointegration approach on a data sample between 1980:Q1 and 2010:Q4. Prior to this, three efficient integration tests that can overcome potentially severe finite sample power and size problems suffered by the standard methods were tactfully pursued for robustness. The short run impact analysis was done in the error correction framework. The analyses showed that exchange rate depreciation led to trade balance deterioration in both the short run and the long run. Thus, this study could not find support for J-curve in Nigeria. Some suggestions on the way forward were put forth.

Keywords: Trade balance; Exchange rate; Autoregressive distributed lag

JEL classification: F13; F31; C32

Analysis of Bilateral Trade in UEMOA: The Implication of Trade Effects

2014-02-26T09:27:07+00:00

This study evaluated the implications of trade effects on bilateral trade analyses drawing evidence from UEMOA. Consequently, it provided three main innovations: augmentation of the gravity model (GM hereafter) to include Kelejian et al (2012) type of trade effects, among others; employed a more generalised GM proposed by Salisu et al. (2012) which accounted for all possible dimensions of trade effects; and examined the implications of ignoring these effects on bilateral trade models. Like the previous literature, it showed that economic size, geographical and political factors were the major drivers of bilateral trade in UEMOA. In addition, following from the augmented GM, it noted that UEMOA was trade creating. Contrarily, the results from the generalised GM revealed that UEMOA was trade diverting. Based on the diagnostic tests, the latter evidence seemed more reliable than the former. Therefore, ignoring these dimensions of trade effects in bilateral trade analysis when they exist may yield biased and inconsistent results.2

Keywords: Trade, Gravity model, UEMOA, Trade creation, Panel data

JEL Classification: F15, F33, C23.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in the Economic Community of West African States

2014-02-26T09:27:08+00:00

The main objective of this study is to determine the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the economic growth of the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The study utilised the fixed effects model to estimate regression coefficients of all ECOWAS countries between 2000 and 2009. The FDI-income ratio, exports and human capital were found to be positively related to economic growth. An important policy recommendation is that ECOWAS countries should provide adequate legal and institutional frameworks to protect foreign investors, improve governance, and ratchet up investment incentives to boost FDI inflows and accelerate economic growth.

Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Economic growth; Fixed effects model; ECOWAS

JEL classification: E22, F21, F43, C33, C32

The Determinants of Corruption in Cameroon

2014-02-26T09:27:09+00:00

The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of the users of public services who do not pay bribes in five activity sectors in Cameroon; police, justice, transport, health and education. We found public services’ users who do not pay bribes were the poor, young, less-educated and those who work mostly in the private sector. The incidence of corruption decreased with the supply of certain public goods and services. Thus, the government should promote the rule of law, increase the market share of private schools and hospitals, and develop professional codes of conduct in each sector.