Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa

Beegle, Kathleen; Christiaensen, Luc

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1232-3

Cited by 125 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 410 publications

(583 reference statements)

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“…Boost productivity in agriculture. Given the large share of activity and employment accounted for by agriculture, measures to raise agricultural productivity-especially in staple crops-can yield significant development gains (Beegle and Christiaensen 2019). These include ensuring secure land tenures, better access to markets and finance, better crop choices, more effective and increased use of fertilizers, improved irrigation, diffusion and adoption of new technologies, and targeted training to help small farmers reap the benefits of cutting-edge knowledge and practices Sinha and Xi 2018;World Bank 2019u).…”

Section: G L O B a L P R O D U C T I V I T Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies

Dieppe

2020

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Productivity growth is the key driver of sustainable income growth and poverty reduction. Its effects on human welfare are enormous. While economists agree on the importance of productivity, its measurement and drivers remain elusive. We sometime refer to productivity as a "residual" or even as a "measure of our ignorance." This important book analyzes the trends and drivers of productivity growth, with a special focus on emerging and developing countries. It uses state-ofthe-art econometric techniques and brings together the analysis of a wide range of productivity drivers which, so far, have been analyzed in isolation. It also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on productivity growth. Reading this book will help in reducing our ignorance on the most important driver of human well-being.

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Section: G L O B a L P R O D U C T I V I T Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies

Dieppe

2020

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“…When confined to urban destinations only, the deterrent effect of distance remains, but the attraction of wealth increases, with the strength of these effects in turn affected by the migrant's poverty (reduced attraction of wealth) and educational status (reduced deterrence of distance, increased attraction of wealth). With the closest cities on average much further away for most of the rural population than the closest towns and rural populations often poorer and less educated (Beegle and Christiaensen 2019), the finding that more rural-urban migrants end up in towns than in city, contributing in the aggregate more to poverty reduction than city migration, does not surprise in light of the regression findings. The importance of distance in understanding the decomposition results is also confirmed by the simulations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

When Distance Drives Destination, Towns Can Stimulate Development

Weerdt¹,

Christiaensen²,

Kanbur³

2021

Policy Research Working Papers

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While city migrants see their welfare increase much more than those moving to towns, many more rural-urban migrants end up in towns. This phenomenon, documented in detail in Kagera, Tanzania, begs the question why migrants move to seemingly suboptimal destinations. Using an 18-year panel of individuals from this region and information on the possible destinations from the census, this study documents, through dyadic regressions and controlling for individual heterogeneity, how the deterrence of further distance to cities (compared to towns) largely trumps the attraction from their promise of greater wealth, making towns more appealing destinations. Education mitigates these effects (lesser deterrence from distance; greater attraction from wealth), while poverty reduces the attraction of wealth, consistent with the notion of urban sorting. With about two thirds of the rural population in low-income countries living within two hours from a town, these findings underscore the importance of vibrant towns for inclusive development.When distance drives destination, towns can stimulate development *

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“…A narrow focus on youth undermines efforts to address the fundamental problems that affect Africans of all ages: risk, instability and a lack of protection. If this narrative can be used to stimulate and support strategic investment, and a fundamental rethink of the approach to training and skills, this would make the delivery of meaningful results more likely-for both young people and others (Beegle & Christiaensen, 2019).…”

Section: A Counter-narrativementioning

confidence: 99%

Africa’s “youth employment” crisis is actually a “missing jobs” crisis

Sumberg

Fox

Flynn

et al. 2021

Development Policy Review

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Motivation:The Sustainable Development Goals target decent work for all, including youth, by 2030. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), however, a "youth employment crisis" is now central to public and policy discourse. Consequently, the idea of "investing in youth" grows in importance, leading to a proliferation of interventions targeted to and specific to youth. Purpose: This article interrogates the framing of the problem as a "youth employment" crisis. Approach and Methods: The article brings together evidence from a range of sources and disciplines, indicates where the evidence supports the current policy orthodoxy and where it does not, and maps out an alternative framing. Five pillars of the dominant narrative about youth employment are identified: demography, violence and civil unrest, training and skills, rural economy and urban economy. Three critical dimensions of Africa's broader employment crisis are highlighted: economic risk, stability and protection. Findings:The dominant narrative about Africa's youth employment crisis foregrounds young people themselves, and strongly suggests that the crisis is all (and often only) about them. Little about the employment crisis, however, is youth-specific. The "it's all about the youth" framing ignores that young people are caught up in a broader "missing jobs crisis" that reflects fundamental structural constraints within African economies. In other words, the problem is with the economy, not the young people. Policy implications: The emphasis on youth-specific targeting and youthspecific interventions is largely misplaced. Instead of initiatives that only or specifically target youth, priority should be given to broader structural issues which have the potential to deliver better and larger results, for both young people and others. Reframing the problem from a youth employment crisis to a missing jobs crisis is a necessary first step. We provide a counter-narrative to support this shift.

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Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa

Cited by 125 publications

References 410 publications

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies

When Distance Drives Destination, Towns Can Stimulate Development

Africa’s “youth employment” crisis is actually a “missing jobs” crisis

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