Macroéconomie et politique en Afrique

Hibou, Béatrice; Samuel, Boris

doi:10.3917/polaf.124.0005

Cited by 23 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Finally, this study is an attempt to ethnographically study macro-economic practices, such as central banking (Appel 2017;Hibou and Samuel 2011;Riles 2018). It shows that paperwork can be an effective tool for adjusting forex flows, especially in smaller and weaker economies such as the CEMAC.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bureaucratic valves: paperwork as a contested tool in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzaville

Ning

2022

Africa

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Africanists have written much about interactions between multiple currencies in Africa, yet paperwork-based regulations that apply to these interactions remain less studied. Meanwhile, ethnographic studies of paperwork examine the roles of documents more in state administration than in commercial transactions. Based on ethnographic research with individuals and institutions involved in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzaville during a severe foreign exchange (forex) shortage from 2016 to 2021, this article argues that the participants in forex transactions manoeuvre paperwork to regulate the speed of the forex outflow – where paperwork functions as what I term ‘bureaucratic valves’. Responding to the outflow of forex caused by the oil price slump since 2015, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) required numerous documents from buyers of forex to justify their demand. This policy slowed down international money transfers because it took more effort to meet the paperwork requirements. Yet banks, money-transfer agencies and individuals in Congo subsequently developed their own paperwork-based mechanisms to cope with this change. These manoeuvres show that paperwork is a flexible and essential tool for adjusting transactions for different participants, especially in the money markets and in (central) banking in Africa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bureaucratic valves: paperwork as a contested tool in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzaville

Ning

2022

Africa

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“…Dans une perspective wébérienne d'un État moderne fondé sur une domination rationnelle légale (Weber, 1995), le chiffre produit par la statistique est un second instrument du pouvoir (Desrosières, 2000). La macro-économie étant « une pensée d'État », ces chiffres nous révèlent davantage sur le positionnement idéologique d'un gouvernement que sur une réalité objectivée (Hibou & Samuel, 2011). C'est particulièrement vrai dans les pays autoritaires où la statistique ne sert pas à soumettre les politiques publiques au principe d'efficacité (Ogien, 2010), mais soutient un point de vue idéologique (Blum & Mespoulet, 2003).…”

Section: L'information Reflet De L'idéologie Du Gouvernementunclassified

Entreprendre une enquête, conduire un business en Éthiopie : quand l’incertitude structure le travail de la chercheure en contexte autoritaire

Perrin-Joly

2020

Recherches qualitatives

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Comment réaliser une ethnographie dans un contexte autoritaire, dans un pays où la surveillance participe à un climat de méfiance, où les données se dérobent? Cet article s'appuie sur une ethnographie sur les entrepreneurs en Éthiopie. S'y installer a permis à la chercheure de faire de son expérience un aiguillon de la recherche. La surveillance, la faiblesse des informations et l'incertitude qui en découlent sont apparues autant comme des freins au travail de la chercheure que comme des révélateurs des conditions dans lesquelles les entrepreneurs étudiés travaillent. Entrer sur le terrain a nécessité de mettre à distance les institutions de contrôle et de surveillance, mais aussi d'adopter une posture de marginale sécante. Faute d'information fiable, l'analyse des rumeurs dont la circulation est amplifiée par le contexte autoritaire lui a ainsi permis

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“…The existence of numerical fictions or unreliable numbers in no way undermines the importance of a detailed political sociology of statistics. 103 Second, a sociopolitical and historical analysis of quantification practices must be supported by an appropriate analytical framework. Jerven passes with ease from a conventionalist reading of calculation methods (in his account of changing statistical techniques throughout history), to a realist interpretation of measurement, which he notably adopts to denounce "bad statistics" and to call for an "exact" history of economic changes in Africa.…”

Section: African Statistics and Historical Controversiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying Africa's Large Numbers

Samuel

2016

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales

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Morten Jerven's work offers a historical perspective on the techniques used by national administrations and international organizations to quantify and analyze the growth of African economies. In his view, the work of statisticians and economists has largely failed to account for national economic and social realities since the beginning of the structural adjustment period. The informalization of economies, the weakness of statistical institutions, and the lack of methodological rigor among international experts have led to the production of statistical fictions. Jerven's analysis calls into question the usual narratives produced by quantitative economic history, such as that of an African economic failure since 1960. It also opens a dialogue with the sociology of quantification, highlighting cases where growth calculations appear arbitrary. However, his methodology suffers from a number of weaknesses. While his earliest works were based on detailed national case studies, Jerven's recent analyses have focused on the critique of continent-wide discourses, in particular international comparisons and econometric studies of growth. His work has thus moved away from a careful ethnography of numbers toward a focus on the denunciation of global practices. This shift prevents the author from making precise reflections on the various roles of numbers in African societies, the multiple positions and modes of action that quantification engages, or the specific historical trajectories which calculations of African growth are supposed to represent.

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Macroéconomie et politique en Afrique

Cited by 23 publications

References 2 publications

Bureaucratic valves: paperwork as a contested tool in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzaville

Bureaucratic valves: paperwork as a contested tool in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzaville

Entreprendre une enquête, conduire un business en Éthiopie : quand l’incertitude structure le travail de la chercheure en contexte autoritaire

Studying Africa's Large Numbers

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