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Blog post
AfCFTA: Africa is moving too slowly towards economic integration
Africa’s quest for a single market dates back to the establishment of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) in 1963. The OAU, which brought together Africa’s newly independent nations, had at its heart intra-Africa economic integration. In fact, it aimed to emulate Europe by creating an African Economic Community, encompassing a single market and a customs union. In...
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Blog post
Tracking constraints to micro-enterprise growth in Kenya and Uganda
Existing surveys that aim to measure and track barriers to business growth often under-represent micro-enterprises and small informal firms. Our pilot, which targeted a sample of small scale entrepreneurs in Kenya and Uganda in a survey conducted by phone, suggests that such enterprises may face a very different set of constraints to growth. This exposes a potential...
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Blog post
Management in Pakistan: Performance and conflict
Research on Pakistan offers a fascinating insight into the impact of terrorist events on the deterioration of managerial practices. The causes and consequences of the vast dispersion in productivity within and across countries has been the subject of research for decades. Recently, researchers have woken up to the important role of management practices in firms to...
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Blog post
Rethinking VAT: Making sense of Zambia’s policy U-turn on VAT
On 28 September 2018, the Zambian Minister of Finance, Margaret Mwanakatwe, in her maiden budget address to Parliament, announced a major policy change set to turn the Zambian tax system on its head. Effective April 2019, Zambia will abolish Value Added Tax (VAT) and replace it with a non-refundable sales tax. This move re-opened a policy debate: Which consumption tax is...
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Blog post
The effects of electricity price increases on the poor in Zambia
The distribution of electricity subsidies and access to the grid is skewed towards rich households, resulting in an increase in extreme poverty. However, budget neutral mitigation strategies lead to larger reductions in extreme poverty compared to the baseline scenario. In 2016, the electricity crisis in Zambia reached its peak, with daily load shedding of up to 12 hours...
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Blog post
IGC Quick Clicks: A new world order in the making? Highlights from Davos
A short summary of the main themes covered at the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. “It can’t be business as usual amid constant protests, riots, shutdowns and escalating social tensions”. These words were written by Seth Klarman, touted as the next Warren Buffet by Fortune, and titled the ‘most successful and influential investor you've probably never...
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Blog post
The politics of public sector and tax reform in Lebanon
In Lebanon, rain from the latest storm was seen dripping through the cracks in Beirut’s bridges. This image aptly summarises the country’s deteriorating infrastructure, which is due to woeful public finances and decades of negligence. Until now, the focus has been on improving the resilience of the financial and banking systems, and immediate structural reforms, to...
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Blog post
New research findings on firms in five graphs
The productivity gap between firms in developed and developing countries is large. Recent research has focused on both the obstacles and opportunities in bridging this gap. This blog presents new findings, presented in five graphs, from up-and-coming economists exploring firm productivity in developing countries. Evidence shows firms are much less productive in developing...
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Blog post
The trade and industrialisation nexus: A pathway for development
There is no single country that has managed to reach a high-income level without first undergoing an industrialisation process. Even the few exceptions of rich countries with a large natural resource base, such as Canada and Australia, built a strong and relatively diversified industrial park. Perhaps the main question is what kind of industrialisation process the current...
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Blog post
Improving asset and debt management in developing cities
Many developing cities have a large pool of wealth in their public assets, however they lack the inventory and strategic capacities required to untap the potential revenue. Well managed cities are able to harness their assets, ensuring they have predictable streams of finance that can be used to pursue inclusive and sustainable development plans. Strategic management of...
Blog post
AfCFTA: Africa is moving too slowly towards economic integration
Africa’s quest for a single market dates back to the establishment of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) in 1963. The OAU, which brought together Africa’s newly independent nations, had at its heart intra-Africa economic integration. In fact, it aimed to emulate Europe by creating an African Economic Community, encompassing a single market and a customs union. In...