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Browsing Articles by Author "Bigsten, Arne"

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    Can Africa Reduce Poverty by Half by 2015?
    (Blackwell Publishing, 2007) Bigsten, Arne; Shimeles, Abebe
    This study uses simulations to explore the possibility of halving the percentage of people living in extreme poverty in Africa by 2015. It is shown that initial levels of inequality and per capita consumption determine the cumulative growth and inequality reductions required to achieve the target. The study finds that on average Africa only needs a relatively modest annual rate of growth in per capita household consumption to halve poverty by 2015 if inequality remains unchanged. The trade-off between growth and changes in inequality varies greatly among countries and their policy-choices are thus quite different. In some cases small changes in income-distribution can have a large effect on poverty, while in others a strong focus on growth is the only viable option.
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    Can Japan Make a Comeback?
    (Blackwell, 2005) Bigsten, Arne
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    Openness and wage inequality in Kenya, 1964–2000
    (Elsevier, 2006) Bigsten, Arne; Durevall, Dick
    This paper analyses the evolution of wage inequality in Kenya between 1964 and 2000. Our measure of wage inequality is the ratio of wages in manufacturing to wages in agriculture, which can be seen as an indicator of sectoral wage-inequality or as a proxy for skilled to unskilled wages. We find that changes in relative wages have primarily been driven by the degree of openness, while other factors such as the capital-labor ratio, educational attainment, relative labor-productivity, and the ratio between agricultural and manufacturing prices had no significant effect. We conclude that international market integration has reduced wage-inequality in Kenya.
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    Poverty Transition and Persistence in Ethiopia, 1994-2004
    (Elsevier, 2008) Bigsten, Arne; Shimeles, Abebe
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    What Have We Learned from a Decade of Manufacturing Enterprise Surveys in Africa?
    (Oxford University Press, 2006) Bigsten, Arne; Söderbom, Måns
    In the early 1990s the World Bank launched the Regional Program on Enterprise Development in several African countries, a key component of which was to collect data on manufacturing firms. The data sets built by these and subsequent enterprise surveys in Africa generated considerable research. This article surveys the research on the African business environment, focusing on risk, access to credit, labor, and infrastructure, and on how firms organize themselves and do business. It reviews the research on enterprise performance, including enterprise growth, investment, and exports. The article concludes with a discussion of policy lessons.