John Spray
John Spray is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, and a former Country Economist for IGC Rwanda. Prior to working at the IGC, John worked as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) in Liberia. John assisted Liberia’s WTO accession team, worked on Liberia’s first National Trade Policy, and wrote a chapter of Liberia’s forthcoming Diagnostic Trade Integration Study. John holds a MSc in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford. His research interests include international trade, public policy, and applied econometrics.
Content by John Spray
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Project
Prices, firm-to-firm trade, and import substitution in Rwanda
In developing countries, where domestic firms often lack the capabilities to produce intermediate goods efficiently, firms rely heavily on imported intermediate inputs for production. Reflecting this observation, there is now ample evidence that import prices of these intermediate goods have important consequences for production and profit margins of the domestic importers...
18 Dec 2018 | John Spray, Yuhei Miyauchi, Jie Bai
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Publication - Policy Brief
The potential of backward linkages in Rwanda: A data-driven approach to supplier development programmes
17 Dec 2018 | Victor Steenbergen, John Spray
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Publication - Project Report
Estimating value added in Rwanda’s domestic trade
15 Nov 2018 | Ewoud Nijhof, Victor Steenbergen, John Spray
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Publication - Policy Brief
Improving Uganda’s trade performance to spur economic growth
25 Oct 2018 | Jakob Rauschendorfer, John Spray
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Blog post
The need to prioritise export linkages in Uganda’s new growth strategy
Establishing a unit that focuses on tackling information constraints between firms, as well as a supplier database registry of domestic firms, can support export linkages in Uganda. Linking domestic tax data to such a firm registry would further enhance access to information, thereby improving export linkages and domestic firm competitiveness, in the pursuit of economic...
11 Oct 2017 | John Spray
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Publication - Policy note
Made in Rwanda: Establishing a publicly available supplier database for Rwanda
13 Sep 2017 | John Spray, Victor Steenbergen
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Project
Improving supplier development linkages in the ‘Made in Rwanda’ policy: The potential of a Local Content Unit and a Firm Database
The Government of Rwanda has recently drafted a “Made in Rwanda” (MiR) Policy. This seeks to improve the overall trade balance by improving perceptions of Rwandan products within Rwanda, promote nascent industries, and boost productivity of exporting sectors (MINEACOM, 2017). Improving linkages between domestic suppliers and large exporting firms is a critical...
13 Sep 2017 | Victor Steenbergen, John Sutton, John Spray
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Publication - Policy Brief
Improving linkages between exporters and local industries: Lessons from research in implementing the BUBU policy
15 Aug 2017 | John Spray
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Publication - Working Paper
Export transitions, productivity, and the supply chain: Assessing the influence of EAC trade costs reductions in exports and export supply chains
28 Jul 2017 | John Spray
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Publication - Policy Brief
Exports and promoting backward linkages: Ideas and lessons for the Made in Rwanda policy
12 Jul 2017 | John Spray
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Publication - Policy Brief
Industries without smokestacks in Uganda and Rwanda
1 Jun 2017 | John Spray, Sebastian Wolf
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Project
Supply chains, exports, and import-substitution
The two biggest policy priorities of the Rwandan Ministry of Industry, Trade and EAC Affairs (MINEACOM) currently relate to the promotion of exports, and the reduction of the import bill through ‘domestic market recapturing’. This project will conduct two small studies that utilise firm-level tax data to better understand the dynamics and constraints in both these...
20 Mar 2017 | John Spray
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Project
Export transitions, productivity, and the supply chain
This project assessed the consequences of Uganda's trade policy in terms of the impact on firm exports, productivity, and most interestingly, the wider supply chain. I also examine how this has important lessons for the ‘Buy Uganda, Build Uganda’ (BUBU) policy. I observed that Ugandan export and domestic trade performance is impressive and has been driven by the...
15 Mar 2017 | John Spray
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Blog post
Can index based insurance reduce the vulnerability of farmers to weather?
An IGC study reveals that index insurance has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of farmers to weather. This is dependent on data quality and model accuracy, with the highest predictive capacity involving a combination of satellite datasets. Even so, variation in agricultural production remains a challenge. Furthermore, the insurance needs to be credible and...
27 Oct 2016 | Patrick McSharry, Tom Swartz, John Spray
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Project
Enterprise map of Rwandan maize, tourism and dairy value chains
This research paper reviews detailed data collected by the Rwanda Revenue Authority to consider the structure and behaviour of three value chains in Rwanda. This data analysis exercise complements a larger IGC study into regional value chains. Consequently, we consider the structure and behaviour of the maize, dairy and tourism value chains. This research paper found...
8 Apr 2016 | John Spray, Vivek Agarwal
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Multimedia Item - Audio
Africa Growth Forum 2015: Key transformational challenges in Africa
23 Jul 2015
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Blog post
How coffee can drive economic growth
In 2012, coffee accounted for almost 30% of Rwanda’s total export revenue. Considering national targets to increase export revenues by 18%, a few simple measures to improve the performance of the sector could have substantial effects on the country’s economic growth
18 Feb 2015 | John Spray