Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage

Africa's economic performance has been widely viewed with pessimism. In this paper, firm-level data for around 80 countries are used to examine formal firm performance. Without controls, manufacturing African firms perform significantly worse...

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Main Authors:	Harrison, Ann E., Lin, Justin Yifu, Xu, L. Colin
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS ADVERSE EFFECT ADVERSE EFFECTS AGENCY PROBLEMS AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILES BANK LOANS BENCHMARK BENCHMARKING BUSINESS CLIMATE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS BUSINESS REGULATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL INVESTMENTS COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS COMPETITIVENESS CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CUSTOM DAMAGES DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTCOMES ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES ENTERPRISE SURVEY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS EQUIPMENT EXPORTS FACE VALUE FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL CRISIS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FOREIGN ENTRY FOREIGN INVESTMENT GDP GDP PER CAPITA GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBALIZATION GROWTH RATE IMPORT TARIFFS IMPUTATION INCOME INCOME GROUPS INCOME LEVELS INDUSTRIALIZATION INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY INEFFICIENCY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INFORMATION SHARING INNOVATION INNOVATIONS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOB CREATION LABOR COSTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY LABOR MARKETS LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR REGULATIONS LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MANAGERIAL DISCRETION MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES MARKET COMPETITION MATERIAL MENU MINIMUM WAGES MONITORING MECHANISM MONOPOLY MONOPOLY RENTS NATURAL RESOURCE NATURAL RESOURCES NETWORK DATA OPEN ACCESS PENALTIES PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE MEASURE PERFORMANCE MEASURES PHONES POLICY INSTRUMENTS POLICY MAKERS POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POSITIVE EFFECTS PRIVATE INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRIVATIZATION PRODUCERS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROFITABILITY PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC GOODS RESULT RESULTS RETAIL STORES RISK SHARING SAFETY SEVERANCE PAY STRUCTURAL CHANGE TAXATION TELECOM TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE TIME PERIOD TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRANSPORT UNEMPLOYMENT URBANIZATION VALUE ADDED WAGE STRUCTURE WAGES WEB
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17395138/explaining-africas-disadvantage http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13181

id	okr-10986-13181
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spelling	okr-10986-131812021-04-23T14:03:07Z Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage Harrison, Ann E. Lin, Justin Yifu Xu, L. Colin ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS ADVERSE EFFECT ADVERSE EFFECTS AGENCY PROBLEMS AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILES BANK LOANS BENCHMARK BENCHMARKING BUSINESS CLIMATE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS BUSINESS REGULATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL INVESTMENTS COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS COMPETITIVENESS CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CUSTOM DAMAGES DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTCOMES ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES ENTERPRISE SURVEY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS EQUIPMENT EXPORTS FACE VALUE FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL CRISIS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FOREIGN ENTRY FOREIGN INVESTMENT GDP GDP PER CAPITA GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBALIZATION GROWTH RATE IMPORT TARIFFS IMPUTATION INCOME INCOME GROUPS INCOME LEVELS INDUSTRIALIZATION INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY INEFFICIENCY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INFORMATION SHARING INNOVATION INNOVATIONS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOB CREATION LABOR COSTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY LABOR MARKETS LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR REGULATIONS LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MANAGERIAL DISCRETION MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES MARKET COMPETITION MATERIAL MENU MINIMUM WAGES MONITORING MECHANISM MONOPOLY MONOPOLY RENTS NATURAL RESOURCE NATURAL RESOURCES NETWORK DATA OPEN ACCESS PENALTIES PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE MEASURE PERFORMANCE MEASURES PHONES POLICY INSTRUMENTS POLICY MAKERS POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POSITIVE EFFECTS PRIVATE INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRIVATIZATION PRODUCERS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROFITABILITY PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC GOODS RESULT RESULTS RETAIL STORES RISK SHARING SAFETY SEVERANCE PAY STRUCTURAL CHANGE TAXATION TELECOM TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE TIME PERIOD TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRANSPORT UNEMPLOYMENT URBANIZATION VALUE ADDED WAGE STRUCTURE WAGES WEB Africa's economic performance has been widely viewed with pessimism. In this paper, firm-level data for around 80 countries are used to examine formal firm performance. Without controls, manufacturing African firms perform significantly worse than firms in other regions. They have lower productivity levels and growth rates, export less, and have lower investment rates. Once geography, political competition and the business environment are controlled for, formal African firms lead in productivity levels and growth. Africa's conditional advantage is higher in low-tech than in high-tech manufacturing, and exists in manufacturing but not in services. The key factors explaining Africa's disadvantage at the firm level are lack of infrastructure, access to finance, and political competition. 2013-04-12T17:05:31Z 2013-04-12T17:05:31Z 2013-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17395138/explaining-africas-disadvantage http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13181 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6316 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS ADVERSE EFFECT ADVERSE EFFECTS AGENCY PROBLEMS AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILES BANK LOANS BENCHMARK BENCHMARKING BUSINESS CLIMATE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS BUSINESS REGULATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL INVESTMENTS COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS COMPETITIVENESS CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CUSTOM DAMAGES DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTCOMES ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES ENTERPRISE SURVEY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS EQUIPMENT EXPORTS FACE VALUE FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL CRISIS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FOREIGN ENTRY FOREIGN INVESTMENT GDP GDP PER CAPITA GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBALIZATION GROWTH RATE IMPORT TARIFFS IMPUTATION INCOME INCOME GROUPS INCOME LEVELS INDUSTRIALIZATION INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY INEFFICIENCY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INFORMATION SHARING INNOVATION INNOVATIONS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOB CREATION LABOR COSTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY LABOR MARKETS LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR REGULATIONS LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MANAGERIAL DISCRETION MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES MARKET COMPETITION MATERIAL MENU MINIMUM WAGES MONITORING MECHANISM MONOPOLY MONOPOLY RENTS NATURAL RESOURCE NATURAL RESOURCES NETWORK DATA OPEN ACCESS PENALTIES PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE MEASURE PERFORMANCE MEASURES PHONES POLICY INSTRUMENTS POLICY MAKERS POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POSITIVE EFFECTS PRIVATE INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRIVATIZATION PRODUCERS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROFITABILITY PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC GOODS RESULT RESULTS RETAIL STORES RISK SHARING SAFETY SEVERANCE PAY STRUCTURAL CHANGE TAXATION TELECOM TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE TIME PERIOD TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRANSPORT UNEMPLOYMENT URBANIZATION VALUE ADDED WAGE STRUCTURE WAGES WEB
spellingShingle	ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS ADVERSE EFFECT ADVERSE EFFECTS AGENCY PROBLEMS AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILES BANK LOANS BENCHMARK BENCHMARKING BUSINESS CLIMATE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS BUSINESS REGULATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL INVESTMENTS COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS COMPETITIVENESS CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CUSTOM DAMAGES DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTCOMES ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES ENTERPRISE SURVEY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS EQUIPMENT EXPORTS FACE VALUE FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS FINANCIAL CRISIS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FOREIGN ENTRY FOREIGN INVESTMENT GDP GDP PER CAPITA GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBALIZATION GROWTH RATE IMPORT TARIFFS IMPUTATION INCOME INCOME GROUPS INCOME LEVELS INDUSTRIALIZATION INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY INEFFICIENCY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INFORMATION SHARING INNOVATION INNOVATIONS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOB CREATION LABOR COSTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY LABOR MARKETS LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR REGULATIONS LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIC POLICIES MANAGERIAL DISCRETION MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES MARKET COMPETITION MATERIAL MENU MINIMUM WAGES MONITORING MECHANISM MONOPOLY MONOPOLY RENTS NATURAL RESOURCE NATURAL RESOURCES NETWORK DATA OPEN ACCESS PENALTIES PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE MEASURE PERFORMANCE MEASURES PHONES POLICY INSTRUMENTS POLICY MAKERS POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POSITIVE EFFECTS PRIVATE INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRIVATIZATION PRODUCERS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROFITABILITY PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC GOODS RESULT RESULTS RETAIL STORES RISK SHARING SAFETY SEVERANCE PAY STRUCTURAL CHANGE TAXATION TELECOM TELECOMMUNICATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE TIME PERIOD TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRANSPORT UNEMPLOYMENT URBANIZATION VALUE ADDED WAGE STRUCTURE WAGES WEB Harrison, Ann E. Lin, Justin Yifu Xu, L. Colin Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
geographic_facet	Africa Africa
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6316
description	Africa's economic performance has been widely viewed with pessimism. In this paper, firm-level data for around 80 countries are used to examine formal firm performance. Without controls, manufacturing African firms perform significantly worse than firms in other regions. They have lower productivity levels and growth rates, export less, and have lower investment rates. Once geography, political competition and the business environment are controlled for, formal African firms lead in productivity levels and growth. Africa's conditional advantage is higher in low-tech than in high-tech manufacturing, and exists in manufacturing but not in services. The key factors explaining Africa's disadvantage at the firm level are lack of infrastructure, access to finance, and political competition.
format	Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author	Harrison, Ann E. Lin, Justin Yifu Xu, L. Colin
author_facet	Harrison, Ann E. Lin, Justin Yifu Xu, L. Colin
author_sort	Harrison, Ann E.
title	Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
title_short	Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
title_full	Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
title_fullStr	Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
title_full_unstemmed	Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage
title_sort	explaining africa's (dis)advantage
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2013
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17395138/explaining-africas-disadvantage http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13181
_version_	1764422909328097280

Explaining Africa's (Dis)advantage

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