ABSTRACT The most distinguishing feature between developed and developing countries is the relative poverty rates. Poverty scourge undermines lives of many in developing countries including Swaziland (63%). The general belief is that irrigated agriculture limits crops failure, external shocks hence Swaziland has seen development of new and rehabilitation of existing Smallholder irrigation schemes (SHIS). The Poverty Reduction Strategic and Action Programme (PRSAP) advocates for the developmen...
ABSTRACT The East African Community has recorded rising and persistent current account balance in the last ten years. The countries namely, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda have maintained current account deficits which were above five percent of their Gross Domestic Product. This trend has raised the concerns among economists and trade experts regarding the sustainability of the imbalances and the measures of alleviating them. If not addressed, the deficits may erode the bloc’...
ABSTRACT Remittance flows in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased for the past two decades. However; empirical literature fails to reach a consensus on the impact of remittances on economic growth, with many studies using aggregate data that suffers from aggregation bias. Given that there are different categories of remittances resulting from varying patterns of remitting, there was a need to specifically the effect of each component of remittances on economic growth. This will help in optimal ...
ABSTRACT The modern devolution development across the globe has been in part driven by assertions of a supposed ‘economic dividend’ linked with the devolved expenditure. There is however, little empirical evidence to validate these assertions in Kenya. Most empirical studies across different countries have used different methods of analysis, different time periods and diverse techniques of measuring variable which have generated mixed conclusions and others are inconclusive. More so, in ...
ABSTRACT The goal of this research was to investigate empirically how government expenditure contributes to economic growth in East Africa. Most existing studies on the association between government expenditure and economic growth show conflicting results and mainly focus on developed economies. Hence this study focused on both the functional and composition of public spending of the East African countries over the period from 1980 to 2010, with a particular focus on sectoral expenditures: ...
Background of the Study Several developed and developing countries have tried to achieve sustainability in their power sectors in recent years. However, due to technical and administrative issues, some countries are confronted with various challenges in achieving sustainability objectives. Management of the continuously increasing demand for electricity has emerged among these issues as one of the major concerns for both developing and developed countries. The increased demand for electricity...
This document presents the research proposal on Impact of Urbanization on Enviornmental Degradation Introduction Environmental degradation remains the most complex issue for developed countries and is no longer practically valid for unindustrialized countries. The world’s developed and unindustrialized countries are affected by high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Environmental destruction is caused by forest fires, and the main elements that affect environmental degradation are flooding in...
ABSTRACT The dairy sub-sector in Kenya is of particular importance as it provides vital employment, income and nutrition, in an environment where job opportunities are scarce. The subsector markets about 55 percent of the total milk produced but the informal sector accounting for more than 75 percent of all the marketed milk. Large milk quantities are marketed through the informal sector raising questions over the safety and quality of milk products. In spite of the growth of value added milk...
Abstract This thesis consists of three papers on child labour and schooling in Ghana. The first paper examines the correlates of child labour and schooling, as well as the trade-off between work and schooling of children aged 5-17 years with the 2013 Ghana Living Standard Survey data. A bivariate probit model is used since the decisions to participate in schooling and in the labour market are interdependent. The results show that there is a gender gap both in child work and schooling. In par...
ABSTRACT This study empirically examined the effect of research and development on agricultural sector growth in East African Community from the year 2000-2014. According to the endogenous growth theory, research and development leads to increase in the stock of knowledge which in turn has got spill over effects hence leads to economic growth. However, information on the effect of R&D on the agricultural sector in the EAC was lacking hence the study sought to bridge this knowledge gap. The ob...
ABSTRACT How effectively governments can use tobacco tax as a public health and a revenue-generating measure depends on how able smokers are to circumvent the tax by switching to other tobacco products. Recently, tobacco product switching has become more common, especially with many new tobacco product types appearing on the market. The research on these switching behaviors is scarce. This thesis provides analysis in three aspects tobacco product switching: (1) price-driven between-product s...
Abstract While countries around the world have experienced unprecedented shifts in their population age structures over the last 70 years, it has only really been over the last 20 years that research into the impact of the structure of the population on the economy has gained momentum. Analytically, it is the recognition that engagement in the economy and the resulting economic ows between individuals vary with age that underpins this impact: children consume more than they produce; prime wor...
Abstract This thesis discusses reward bundling as a process that enables decision makers to self-regulate their choice behavior. Most empirical work on intertemporal choice has focused on analyzing impulsive choice. Less effort has been dedicated to explanations of how individuals manage to overcome self-defeating behavior. This thesis evaluates the theory of reward bundling. It presents a set of econometric tools that can be employed to investigate whether actual choice behavior is consiste...
Abstract This thesis consists of three different essays-organized as different chapters-that deal with empirical as well as theoretical aspects of the economics of retirement. The first essay contributes to the theoretical life-cycle literature by analyzing in depth the role of retirement date expectations in determining saving behavior. As our main contribution, we demonstrate that the magnitude of the reaction of consumption and saving behavior of younger individuals to a change in the ret...
ABSTRACT Researchers and policy makers agree that studying the relationship between school quality and academic achievement will benefit public investment in education. An important turning point in educational delivery in Africa came during the 1990 World Conference on Education for All where renewed commitments to quality basic education were made. Against this background, interest in how African education systems are progressing has increased. This thesis contributes to this understanding ...