An analysis of recent data on the economic behavior of market institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, with implications for future research and current policy. In Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Marcel Fafchamps synthesizes the results of recent surveys of indigenous market institutions in twelve countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and presents findings about economics exchange in Africa that have implications both for future research and current policy. Employing empirical data as well as theoretical models that clarify the data, Fafchamps takes as his unifying principle the difficulties of contract enforcement. Arguing that in an unpredictable world contracts are not always likely to be respected, he shows that contract agreements in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by the absence of large hierarchies (both corporate and governmental) and as a result must depend to a greater degree than in more developed economies on social networks and personal trust. Fafchamps considers policy recommendations as they apply to countries in three different stages of development: countries with undeveloped market institutions, like Ghana; countries at an intermediate stage, like Kenya; and countries with developed market institutions, like Zimbabwe. Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa caps ten years of personal research by the author. Fafchamps, in collaboration with such institutions as the Africa Division of the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, participated in the surveys of manufacturing firms and agricultural traders that provide the empirical basis for the book. The result is a work that makes a significant contribution to research on the continuing economic stagnation of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is also largely accessible to researchers in other fields and policy professionals.

The paper uses a unique database covering 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries between 2000 and 2007 to study the determinants of the allocation and composition of flows across countries, as well as channels through which private capital flows could affect growth. In our sample, the degree of financial market development is an important determinant of the distribution of capital flows across countries as opposed to property rights institutions. The fairly consistent positive association between net capital flows and growth for SSA countries contrasts with the more pessimistic results of recent studies, though our data do not allow us to make conclusive inferences about a causality relationship.

This is a book on market law and policy in sub-Saharan Africa. It shows how markets can be harnessed by poorer and developing economies to help make the markets work for them: to help them integrate into the world economy and raise the standard of living for their people while preserving their values of inclusive development. It studies particular countries and particular regions, delving deeply into the facts.

FIAS Occasional Paper No. 9. Many developing countries have made dramatic progress in promoting private sector participation in their infrastructure sectors, especially with the help of foreign investors. However, this has not been the case in Southern and Eastern Africa, which have been perceived as relatively unattractive locations for investment. This paper describes the state of infrastructure in the region, takes stock of actual and potential projects in the various sectors, and analyzes the main impediments to private investment in the region's infrastructure services.

This paper discusses how sub-Saharan Africa’s financial sector developed in the past few decades, compared with other regions. Sub-Saharan African countries have made substantial progress in financial development over the past decade, but there is still considerable scope for further development, especially compared with other regions. Indeed, until a decade or so ago, the level of financial development in a large number of sub-Saharan African countries had actually regressed relative to the early 1980s. With the exception of the region’s middle-income countries, both financial market depth and institutional development are lower than in other developing regions. The region has led the world in innovative financial services based on mobile telephony, but there remains scope to increase financial inclusion further. The development of mobile telephone-based systems has helped to incorporate a large share of the population into the financial system, especially in East Africa. Pan-African banks have been a driver for homegrown financial development, but they also bring a number of challenges.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbes. Ökonometrie), course: Bachelorarbeit, language: English, abstract: In recent years foreign aid was often conditioned on good institutions. Due to this course the development of financial institutions has been considered vital for the development process. This thesis points in its theoretical part to the positive effects of efficient stock markets on economic growth and examines empirically the efficiency of Africa's sub-Saharan stock markets. Results are then compared with the same tests on four emerging markets in Asia and as a benchmark on S&P 500 and DAX. It discusses further the relationship between market efficiency and financial crisis and comes to the conclusion that a crisis worsens the respective efficiency level. Nevertheless, all African markets are at least able to pass the critical lowest hurdle of market efficiency. However, conclusions from the research propose, that the Asian markets perform better than the African markets, although the study comes to some inconclusive results. Limits to the efficient market hypothesis itself and its empirical analysis are shown throughout the paper. The study suggests that former reforms need to be intensified in order to avoid a further increase in overall income inequalities.