Suchergebnisse

An analysis of recent data on the economic behavior of market institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, with implications for future research and current policy.In Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Marcel Fafchamps synthesizes the results of recent surveys of indigenous market institutions in twelve countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and presents findings about economics exchange in Africa that have implications both for future research and current policy. Employing empirical data as well as theoretical models that clarify the data, Fafchamps takes as his unifying principle the difficulties of contract enforcement. Arguing that in an unpredictable world contracts are not always likely to be respected, he shows that contract agreements in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by the absence of large hierarchies (both corporate and governmental) and as a result must depend to a greater degree than in more developed economies on social networks and personal trust. Fafchamps considers policy recommendations as they apply to countries in three different stages of development: countries with undeveloped market institutions, like Ghana; countries at an intermediate stage, like Kenya; and countries with developed market institutions, like Zimbabwe.Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa caps ten years of personal research by the author. Fafchamps, in collaboration with such institutions as the Africa Division of the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, participated in the surveys of manufacturing firms and agricultural traders that provide the empirical basis for the book. The result is a work that makes a significant contribution to research on the continuing economic stagnation of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is also largely accessible to researchers in other fields and policy professionals.

Cet article passe en revue la littérature récente sur l'estimation causale des effets de pairs. Après une discussion de la causalité en général, j'introduis le modèle standard d'effets de pairs dans les réseaux et je donne une illustration du problème de réflexion. Je présente ensuite différentes approches de l'inférence causale avec des données d'observation, avant d'introduire les approches expérimentales. Je passe en revue les problèmes d'estimation qui sont soulevés par les erreurs de mesure et d'échantillonnage, et je discute la façon dont ils affectent l'inférence causale dans les expériences d'effets de réseau et d'effets de pairs. La dernière section de l'article élargit la discussion pour couvrir les effets de pairs dynamiques et la formation des liens, et illustre les différentes significations que peut revêtir le concept de causalité dans l'estimation des effets de pairs. Classification JEL : C31, C21, C90

Résumé Il n'y a pas lieu de soupçonner les cultures africaines d'être plus hostiles que les autres au développement du marché. Une telle conclusion s'impose dès lors que l'on compare les institutions africaines de marché à celles d'autres pays dans le monde, aujourd'hui et par le passé. Les entrepreneurs africains sont moins compétitifs parce que peu familiers des innovations institutionnelles exogènes.

This paper examines social capital and its relation with economic development. We focus on the role that interpersonal relationships play in social exchange, whether through the market or through the provision of public goods. By facilitating search and trust, social capital can increase the efficiency of social exchange where formal institutions are weak. But the benefits from social capital are likely to be unequally distributed. Given these features, documenting empirically the benefits of social capital is complicated by the presence of negative and positive externalities and by the existence of leadership and group effects. Lessons for development policy are drawn at the end. Adapted from the source document.