Financial Sector Development Indicators and Economic Growth in Cameroon and South Africa

This study seeks to identify, compare and appreciate salient differences in the financial sector development and economic growth experiences of Cameroon and South Africa. A comparative study is often conducted in the early stages of development of a branch of science in order to help research to progress from the initial level of exploratory case studies to a more advanced level of general model invariance, such as causality. Furthermore, a comparative study can also help in understanding the root cause of the development and/or weakness of one system (economy). A comparison between the financial sectors of Cameroon and South Africa will help to identify whether or not the level and structure of a financial sector can explain differences in terms of the effects of the latter on economic growth. The paper first compares the economic growth experiences of Cameroon and South Africa and examines the development of their financial sector. This is to assist in understanding their economic situations, in order to acknowledge the experiences of the two countries, which may explain the nature of the development of their financial sectors. The paper then analyzes the further development of their financial sectors using various indicators of financial deepening. This is to evaluate how all the policies implemented in order to restore the economic situation in these countries have impacted on their financial sector, either in terms of the number of players (financial widening), or in terms of their efficiency (financial deepening). Implications and conclusion are then included. It has been suggested that in Cameroon, during the pre-reform period, the country as well as the financial sector, excelled the most, partly due to the discovery of oil in 1978. However, the mid 1980s economic shock experiences of Cameroon significantly affected the financial sector. Subsequent financial sector development policies of Cameroon have failed to improve the economic situation. In the post-reform period, the banking sector was unable to efficiently collect savings and allocate these to the economy, possibly because of the loss of confidence in the banking sector although few efforts were made to attract savings from the economy. Furthermore, real interest rate, which reflects the real cost of funds to the borrower and the real yield to the lender, was almost negative throughout the period under review, and did not attract savings, even when it was positive. For South Africa, throughout the period under review, there has been a trend of an increase in almost all the indicators of the financial sector development selected. Savings have been better mobilised and effectively allocated to the economy and the financial sector has done well since the liberalisation of the sector.     

Religion and Health in Early Childhood: Evidence from South Asia

This article studies early childhood health in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, focusing on inequalities in anthropometric outcomes by religious adherence. India and Nepal have Hindu majorities, while Bangladesh is predominantly Muslim. The results suggest that Muslim infants have an advantage over Hindu infants in height‐for‐age in India (for boys and girls) and in Bangladesh (for boys). However, this advantage disappears beyond 12 months of age, at which point Hindu children in all three countries are found to have significantly better anthropometric outcomes than Muslim children. We report tests that rule out mortality selection and undertake falsification and robustness exercises that confirm these findings. Further results suggest that exposure to Ramadan fasting in utero may lead to positive selection of Muslim male infants, partially explaining the Muslim infant health advantage, but this does not fully explain the shift from Muslim advantage in infancy to Hindu advantage in childhood in all three countries.     

Objective and Subjective Socioeconomic Status,Their Discrepancy,and Health: Evidence from East Asia

Social Indicators Research - This paper quantifies and analyses subjective quality of life in the EU countries as a multidimensional concept using subjective citizen satisfaction data on eight...     

Youth Migration Decisions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Satellite-Based Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

This article examines the implications of urban growth on youth migration decisions in Nigeria. We use night light intensity data combined with Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture data, as an indicator of urban growth and associated economic opportunities. Employing alternative econometric approaches that exploit the spatial and temporal differences in urban growth as proxied by night light intensity, we find that urban growth in potential migrant destinations encourages youth migration. We also find heterogeneous responses to urban growth among various groups of youth as well as varying responses to different types of migration. Broadly, women and those youth with more education are more likely to migrate, while those in households with livestock are less likely to migrate. Often, however, the effects are complex and varied. For example, land and physical asset ownership encourage temporary migration; but greater land ownership discourages permanent migration, while physical assets have insignificant effects. Our results from Nigeria show that policy makers concerned about rural–urban youth exodus should adopt a differentiated, in terms of targets, and multidimensional policy approach to reap the benefits of urbanization while avoiding its negative consequences.     

Health, widowhood, and family support in the North and South Pacific: a comparative study

This paper compares the impacts of health and widowhood on the level of support received by elderly women living in small island communities within the Philippines and Fiji. Using a theoretical perspective of ongoing reciprocal exchange as opposed to altruistic support within household economies, this paper reviews the impacts of disability and economic contributions on the level of support an elderly female receives. It is hypothesized that as the health of the widow declines her access to care will also diminish due to an inability to contribute to the household economies of the extended family. This paper extends existing work on health and family support of widowed females in the developing world by performing a cross-national comparative analysis as well as by explicitly testing the assumptions of altruism that are a central assumption of most models of long-term care in underdeveloped nations.     

经济增长、医疗保健体系与国民健康——基于1991--2006年中国数据的分析

中国存在经济快速增长与国民医疗保健状况改善缓慢的矛盾,甚至出现了“看病贵”、“看病难”的公共难题。在梳理已有相关研究成果的基础上．选定5岁以下婴儿死亡率等代理变量来分析国民健康、经济增长和医疗保健体系建设的关系,发现三个变量存在一个协整,长期关系稳定,脉冲分析发现经济增长在长期对国民健康水平有显著的正向作用．但在初期却存在恶化国民健康的可能。个人付费为主的医疗保健体系对国民健康水平有显著的促进作用．但医疗保健体系的不完善一定程度上降低了卫生支出对健康的促进作用。稳健性检验进一步证明了结论的正确性．而且发现单纯依靠增加卫生资源消费并无法增进国民健康。在分析结论的基础上,本文提出了促进经济发展、保护环境、完善城乡公共卫生保健等建议。     

Economic Growth and Social Cohesion: Evidence from the Organization of Islamic Conference Countries

This study contributes in the literature by investigating the impact of social cohesion on economic growth using a panel data of 44 OIC countries over the period 1986–2010. The study has employed a comprehensive measure of social cohesion that covers a large number of social indicators such as inequality, trust, terrorism, and social conflicts. Our study finds out that the growth effect of social cohesion is positive and significant in the Muslim world. Finding of the study are shown to be robust to different control variables, different specifications, econometric techniques and outliers.     

The Impact of Social and Economic Indicators on Maternal and Child Health

As early as 1985, Rosenfield and Maine began to look at what is called the maternal child field (MCH). More than two decades later, maternal and infant mortality is still among the worst performing health indicator in resource-poor countries and regions, and it has barely changed since 1990. Although three of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals aim at reducing child mortality, maternal mortality, and promoting gender equality, most literature in the field is either clinical or exclusively deals with women’s health problems. In this study, I proposed an empirical model that tests the impact of gender equality, women’s human rights, and maternity care on MCH with economic and political development as background factors. The proposed model was tested by using structural equation analysis. Data were obtained from 137 developing countries. The proposed model is partially supported by the data. Empirical findings demonstrate that gender equality has a pivotal role to play in the promotion of MCH. The relationship between MCH and maternity care is found to be strong and statistically significant. This finding may permit a probable verification given the current social conditions in some developing countries, particularly the neglect of many of women’s health needs and the assignment of their primary responsibilities in childrearing. The women’s human rights hypothesis is not supported by the data. It is perhaps that human rights instruments provide a legal discourse for political functions and social welfare issues, but that the legal approach alone does not necessarily provide a moral and social foundation to ensure the implementation of social welfare and human well-being, particularly maternal and child health in developing countries. The findings also indicate the importance of economic development in predicting maternity care. Finally, a positive and statistically significant relationship is found between economic development and gender equality. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Changes in Social Trust: Evidence from East German Migrants

Social Indicators Research - Using three waves of the Germany's individual-level panel data, this paper analyses whether there are any changes in the trust levels of East German migrants who...     

The Post-demographic Transition in East and South East Asia: Similarities and Contrasts with Europe

During the past 15 years spectacular changes in demographic behaviour have occurred in parts of east and south-east Asia. In this paper these changes are examined and contrasted with those that have taken place in parts of Europe at the corresponding period. Although it was to be expected that the Asian transitions would have been much shorter than in Europe, it is surprising that the transition in Asian countries has in many respects caught up with and even overtaken that in the European countries where it occurred much earlier.     

Social Capital and Health in China: Evidence from the Chinese General Social Survey 2010

Social Indicators Research - Empirical evidence regarding the relationship between social capital and health in China is relatively limited. This study aims to examine the impact of different types...     

Polygynists and Their Wives in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis of Five Demographic and Health Surveys

Differential polygyny in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia is investigated using individual-level Demographic and Health Surveys data. As well as contrasting polygynists' first wives with women in monogamous unions, the analysis distinguishes higher-order wives from first wives. This permits study of the determinants of the prevalence and intensity of polygyny respectively. Polygyny and other aspects of marriage interlock in very similar ways in all five countries. Individuals' experience of polygyny tends to reflect their luck in the marriage market rather than their socio-economic characteristics. While polygyny is less prevalent in urban areas, other socio-economic factors are important only in Kenya and Zambia, the two countries where less than 25 per cent of married women are in polygynous unions. The prevalence and intensity of polygyny are negatively associated. Thus, any drop in the prevalence of polygyny in Africa may be accompanied by a rise in the number of wives per polygynist.     

The Impact of the AIDS Pandemic on Health Services in Africa: Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys

We document the impact of the AIDS crisis on non-AIDS-related health services in 14 sub-Saharan African countries. Using multiple waves of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for each country, we examine antenatal care, birth deliveries, and rates of immunization for children born between 1988 and 2005. We find deterioration in nearly all these dimensions of health care over this period. The most recent DHS survey for each country collected data on HIV prevalence, which allows us to examine the association between HIV burden and health care. We find that erosion of health services is the largest in regions that have developed the highest rates of HIV. Regions of countries that have light AIDS burdens have witnessed small or no declines in health care, using the measures noted above, while those regions shouldering the heaviest burdens have seen the largest erosion in non-HIV-related health services for pregnant women and children. Using semiparametric techniques, we can date the beginning of the divergence in the use of antenatal care and in children’s immunizations between high- and low-HIV regions to the mid-1990s.     

An Econometric Analysis of the Relationship Between Millennium Development Goals,Economic Growth and Financial Development in South Africa

The relationship between financial development, economic growth and millennium development goals are unsettled in the literature. Using four indicators of financial development, this paper studies the link between the three variables in South Africa. In general, per capita income improves per capita spending on education in the short run. However, total domestic credit to GDP ratio decreases spending on education. There are highly significant long run relationships among the variables. Improving access to private sector credit and increasing per capita incomes are associated with improvement in health outcomes in South Africa. There are no short run nor long run relationships between household spending on clothes, economic growth and financial sector development. Improved private sector credit also improves household spending on food. In general, there are long run relationships between per capita spending on food, per capita income and financial sector development.

     

Son Preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from South and East Asian Immigrants to Canada

Preference for sons over daughters, evident in China's and South Asia's male sex ratios, is commonly rationalized by poverty and the need for old‐age support. In this article we study South and East Asian immigrants to Canada, a group for whom the economic imperative to select sons is largely absent. Analyzing the 2001 and 2006 censuses, 20 percent samples, we find clear evidence of extensive sex selection in favor of boys at higher parities among South and East Asian immigrants unless they are Christian or Muslim. The latter finding accords with the explicit prohibition against (female) infanticide—traditionally the main sex‐selection method—in these religions. Our findings point to a strong cultural component to both the preference for sons and the willingness to resort to induced abortion based on sex.     

空间相互作用与城市经济增长--来自长三角的证据

基于以往研究对空间相互作用方向性考虑不足的事实,文章以长三角133个县市为例,构建了融合新经济地理学与中心地理论的理论框架,将表征空间需求关联的总体市场潜能细分为来自同层级、高等级、低等级三个方向,利用空间计量模型估计了总体及不同方向的空间相互作用对长三角地区人均GDP增长与人口增长的效应。结果显示：在控制空间依赖导致的间接溢出效应等因素后,并未发现存在要素价格绝对调整或要素数量绝对调整的证据,总体市场潜能的提高同时促进了城市人均GDP增长与人口增长;就不同方向的空间相互作用而言,大城市的自身发展有利于中等城市的人均GDP增长,大城市之间、大城市对下级城市、小城市对上级城市形成了人口增长的良性互动格局,而中等城市之间以及中等城市对大城市的人口增长则表现为回流效应。     

储蓄投资行为及外部均衡中的人口结构效应——来自亚洲的经验证据

文章运用动态广义矩估计方法,分析亚洲人口年龄结构对储蓄率、投资率及经常账户的效应。结果发现:(1)人口结构对储蓄的效应存在,老年人口抚养比对储蓄率有显著负向影响,符合生命周期假说;(2)少儿抚养比与储蓄率无显著相关,少儿人口抚养质量与数量间存在替代效应;(3)老年人口抚养比效应对于外部均衡非常显著。老年化经济体对于经常账户逆差存在依赖,经常账户可以视为亚洲人口红利期高储蓄的国际缓存池和中转地。亚洲的经济增长、高储蓄与高顺差呈现梯队性的趋势,且与人口结构的变迁一致。这些发现可以从人口结构角度解释亚洲的高储蓄和高经常账户顺差及国际资本流动。所以,世界经济体应避免同周期的老年化,以保证经济的梯队发展和资源跨代跨国转移;同时,对于减少少儿人口来压缩社会负担的政策效果不能预期过高。