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151. Drivers of Economic Growth in Africa

Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
The paper produced by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) shows that investment, human capital formation, debt, and overseas development assistance drive Africa’s economic growth. It recommends paying attention to capacity, which is critical to making Africa’s growth sustainable and inclusive. Continental, regional, and national long-term growth plans require stronger capacities to improve economic governance, align national and subnational institutions, coordinate planning and financing ministries, and cultivate a culture of committed leadership to stir economies when times are hard and execute recovery plans without policy reversals. The paper provokes discussion, encourages further investigation, and defines the critical capacity challenges to tackling the growth-equality disconnect in Africa.
Topic:
Economics, Economic growth, Capacity, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Global Focus

152. Accessing Funds for Development: Required Capacities for Resource Mobilization and Absorption

Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
African countries are now implementing the Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030 (also known as Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs), both requiring huge financial resources. Globally, large amounts of investable resources, mostly private, are available in advanced and emerging economies while domestic public resources, even in low-income countries, can be increased when the relevant capacities are in place. To efficiently mobilize the available resources, therefore, countries need to tackle the binding capacity constraints. These include human and institutional capacity to effectively manage tax exemptions, tax evasion, capital flight, illicit financial flows; constraints to accessing private resources particularly blended finance offered by public private partnership (PPP) avenues; and constraints relating to underdeveloped capital markets in most Africa countries. This Issues Paper produced by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for the 26th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors considers the capacity dimensions related to the mobilization and absorption of funds by responding to the following questions (1) What are the domestic and external resources available for Africa’s development? (2) How can the resources be effectively mobilized? (3) What are some of the good practices employed by countries to ensure that the available resources are effectively utilized and fully absorbed? (4) What have been the capacities required to effectively access and absorb the mobilized resources?
Topic:
Economics, Economic growth, Public Sector, Capacity, Capital Flight, Economic Development, and Private Sector
Political Geography:
Africa

153. What Lies Ahead? Korea's Long- and Short-Term Challenges

Author:
Edda Zoli
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
For decades Korea has had a remarkable track record of economic performance. But growth has now declined, and Korea may find it difficult to move quickly to the OECD income frontier. Moreover, Korea faces serious structural challenges, many of which will imply a further decline in potential growth. These include demographic shifts, export dependence, structural weakness and corporate vulnerabilities, and the labor market. With the economy facing major structural headwinds, a comprehensive set of measures are needed in a number of areas, including corporate restructuring, labor market reform, and productivity enhancement.
Topic:
Demographics, Labor Issues, Economy, and Economic growth
Political Geography:
South Korea and Korea

154. Why northern Ghana lags behind in Ghana’s growth and poverty reduction success

Author:
John Baptist D. Jatoe, Ramatu Al-Hassan, and Bamidele Adekunle
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Ghana’s post adjustment growth and poverty reduction performance has been hailed as impressive, albeit with spatial disparities in the distribution of welfare, especially between the north and south of the country. Researchers generally agree that economic growth does not always reduce poverty. Indeed, the effectiveness of growth in reducing poverty depends on the level of inequality in the population. Growth that increases inequality may not reduce poverty; growth that does not change inequality (distribution-neutral growth) and growth that reduces inequality (pro-poor growth) result in poverty reduction. Policy makers can promote pro-poor growth by empowering the poor to participate in growth directly. Policy makers can focus on interventions that improve productivity in smallholder agriculture, particularly export crops, increasing employment of semi-skilled or unskilled labour, promoting technology adoption, increasing access to production assets, as well as effective participation in input and product markets. Also, increasing public spending on social services and infrastructure made possible by redistribution of the benefits of growth benefits the poor, indirectly.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Poverty, Labor Issues, Economic growth, Labor Policies, Economic Policy, and Macroeconomics
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

155. Potential impact of financial innovation on financial services and monetary policy

Author:
Marek Dabrowski
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The recent wave of financial innovation, particularly innovation related to the application of information and communication technologies, poses a serious challenge to the financial industry’s business model in both its banking and non-banking components. It has already revolutionised financial services and, most likely, will continue to do so in the future. If not responded to adequately and timely by regulators, it may create new risks to financial stability, as occurred before the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. However, financial innovation will not seriously affect the process of monetary policymaking and is unlikely to undermine the ability of central banks to perform their price stability mission.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Monetary Policy, Financial Crisis, Economic growth, Innovation, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and European Union

156. Stabilization Policies and Structural Developments: Poland and the Crises of 1929 and 2008

Author:
Zbigniew Polański
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
This paper contrasts the impact of the 1929 and 2008 world crises on the Polish economy. Her much better performance during the recent crisis can be explained by two groups of factors: first, by very different stabilization policies and second, by distinct structural developments (resulting both from authorities' structural policies and spontaneous processes). It is emphasized that several factors responsible for Poland's superior performance during the 2008 crisis also contributed to her economic success vis-à-vis other European Union countries.
Topic:
Financial Crisis, Economic structure, Economic growth, Global Financial Crisis, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Poland, and European Union

157. The Future Development of EU Exports in a Global Context

Author:
Robert Stehrer, Roman Stöllinger, and Sandra Leitner
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Global trade patterns are changing rapidly. Emerging economies are increasing their share of exports overall and intensifying competition in nearly all sectors. Using a gravity-based approach, this report examines the future profile of European Union (EU) world market shares at the aggregate and sectoral level. It further points towards the changing patterns of trade within the EU. Based on the results, some conclusions on EU industrial policy are drawn.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Global Markets, Economic growth, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and European Union

158. The Relevance of Financial and Economic Factors for Determining Banking Risk across Europe

Author:
Renata Karkowska
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The goal of this study is to identify empirically how country-level development, taking into account the financial and macroeconomic environment, affect the risk profiles of the banking sector in Europe. Through a dataset that covers 3,399 European banks spanning the period 1996-2011, and the methodology of panel regression, the empirical findings document the heterogeneity of banking risk determinants. I examine the implications of bank leverage that manifest itself as spreading and growing instability. The study contributes to and combines the different strands of literature and understanding of the importance of the links between the variables. It also contributes to the literature by focusing on a group of countries from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States that have not been studied before. The extended model provides a causal link between risk in the banking sector and the growth of the financial market and macroeconomy. I apply four measures of country-level development that are available in previous studies: share of foreign ownership in the banking sector; the financial freedom index; the real growth rate; and stock market capitalization. Using these measures, I obtain different results which highlight the fact that the effect of macroeconomic and financial development on banking sector risk-taking is ambiguous.
Topic:
Financial Markets, Economic growth, Banks, Trade Liberalization, Macroeconomics, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and European Union

159. Domestic Cycles, Financial Cycles, and Policies. What Has Gone Wrong?

Author:
Daniel Daianu
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The financial crisis and its ensuing effects have brought back into the limelight the issue of cycles and of policies which fuel or mitigate crises. Cognitive and operational models in economics and business are questioned. There is a specter of much lower economic growth in the industrialized world. Central banks are over-burdened. This makes central bankers’ lives much more complicated and obfuscates the boundaries between monetary policy and fiscal policy, especially when financial stability gets to center stage. New systemic risks show up in capital markets. The eurozone has escaped collapse owing to the European Central Bank’s extraordinary operations and large macro-imbalance corrections in its periphery, but major threats persist. This paper focuses on economic cycles and policies in an international (European) context. Attention is paid to linkages between domestic cycles and the European financial cycle, drivers of financial cycles, finance deregulation and systemic risks, ultra-low interest rates, the international policy regime, and global stability. The experience of European emerging economies is taken into account.
Topic:
Debt, Monetary Policy, Financial Crisis, Economies, Economic growth, Interest Rates, and Fiscal Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and European Union

160. How Not to Get Stuck in the Middle Lessons for the Commonwealth of Independent States from Central and Eastern Europe

Author:
Jakub Zowczak and Kamil Pruchnik
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to analyze how different models of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased or decreased the risk of being stuck in the middle-income trap (MIT). The key finding is that the CEE and CIS countries are, from a definition point of view, not materially at risk of the MIT as out of nine selected MIT definitions, none of the CEE or CIS countries were “stuck” more than three times. At the same time, the CEE countries are more at risk of falling into the MIT than the CIS countries; however this is because the CIS is a poorer region and is not near the lower MIT thresholds. The CEE countries had a better start at the beginning of the transformation and on average implemented a better set of transformation models; however, some CEE countries are now struggling to permanently join the advanced countries and CIS countries are, on average, far behind that. The literature review on transformation models and the analysis of the “jumps” in the World Bank ranking classification suggest that while the MIT is not a concern for CEE or CIS countries, in order to speed up convergence, CIS countries might consider more shocks and consistently following free market related approaches. The study fills a gap in the literature on the MIT which has thoroughly analyzed the Asian and Latin American countries but has provided little analysis of the CEE and CIS countries.
Topic:
Finance, Economic growth, Economic Policy, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe