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Investor performance and tax incentives
The focus to attract additional private-sector investment, both domestic and foreign, has long been a key priority for the Government of Rwanda, and a critical policy focus for economic development. This has commonly taken the shape of targeted support for priority sectors, such as manufacturing, agro-processing and ICT, and has occurred, in part, through prioritised...
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Project
Support to the Rwanda Mining Board in revising the Mining Policy and Strategy
Rwanda, like most mineral-exporting countries in sub-Saharan Africa, exports minerals in semi-processed concentrate form. Although contributing 11 per cent of foreign exchange, mining activities have existed as an enclave, disconnected from the wider economy. There is a widespread perception among senior Rwandan government officials that the mining sector performs below...
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Project
Political economy of road networks: What happens to a local economy when a new road is built?
The processes that involve the provision of public goods like paved streets, electricity, gas and piped water connections are highly contested and politicised in Pakistan. As a result, differences in the provision of public goods exist across dimensions of class, caste/biraderi, gender and locality. The differential and uneven provision of public goods, not only further...
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Project
Electricity and public goods provision in Karachi, Pakistan
In large parts of the developing world where democracy and democratic institutions such as legislature, courts and civil society are weakly institutionalised, the provision of public goods to the most disenfranchised members of society falls through the cracks. This project focuses on the privatisation of electricity, a public good that at the turn of the millennia is...
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Key policy messages for Pakistan’s new government
Ahead of the upcoming general elections in Pakistan, there is a growing perception that the government administration will be overhauled as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) forms a new government. In the case that PTI does not form a government, the country team will still be keen to engage with the new government regardless of the party. The primary objective of this...
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Strains on trade: frictions and policy in the Ugandan vehicle sector
The secondary markets for motor vehicles and their spare parts loom large in Uganda, as they do in many other low-income countries. In 2015, second only to petroleum products, vehicles represented one of the top imports by value, with most of them being in used condition. The relative affordability of used vehicles allows for deeper penetration into the Ugandan population,...
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Project
The impact of infrastructure improvement on urban life quality and firm output
Zambia has embarked on an aggressive agenda of road-building in its bid for growth over the past couple of decades. Since landlocked countries tend to grow more slowly due to reduced openness to trade, infrastructure development is particularly critical for growth. Research shows that after reaching a certain level of infrastructure capacity, the continued construction...
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Project
Economic geography of Rwanda
The purpose of this research project is to provide policymakers with more detailed insights into the structure of economic activities in secondary cities across Rwanda and to fill a gap in the literature with respect to the magnitude and direction of inter-regional trade within the country. The economic development of secondary cities is a key priority for the Government of...
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Trade facilitation and informal cross border trade
Informal cross border trade (ICBT) – trade activities which are unrecorded in official trade statistics – is pervasive in Africa. Economic theory suggests that the presence of informal trade depends on the relative costs of trading informally and formally (Golub, 2015; Eberhard-Ruiz & Moradi, 2018). Some of the factors spurring informal trade are expensive document...
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Project
Tanzania Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Map
Despite evidence of the contribution of fast-growing micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to private sector growth and economic transformation, academic studies and policymakers have struggled to effectively identify and support these high-growth MSMEs. The reality is that much of our understanding of the MSME sector comes from information drawn from low- or...
Project
Female politicians and economic growth: Evidence from state elections in India
The project studies close elections between men and women for election to India's state legislative assemblies. It finds significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women. Given average GDP growth in India of about 7% per year (during the study period), the researchers estimate the growth premium for constituencies from having a...