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Abstract: Striking the proper balance between allocating resources into service delivery for low income which benefits society, and moonlighting elsewhere for additional income, is a challenge. A model is developed for how this balance is struck. When the moonlighting production function is concave, common with good governmental monitoring, an internal equilibrium exists. Otherwise either service delivery or moonlighting arises. The model is applied to teachers and healthcare workers within education and healthcare. Survey data from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Senegal show classroom absence for teachers at 29–52.5 per cent, and facility absence for healthcare workers 20–46 per cent. The model is calibrated against the empirics to assess and quantify the factors driving such results. The factors are the shape of the moonlighting production function which governs alternatives to service delivery, the unit cost of service delivery relative to moonlighting for teachers and healthcare workers, and the salaries for service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any election may result in six possible situations. The incumbent or challenger may win according to the official results. If the incumbent wins, he may remain in power, or a standoff or coalition may ensue. In contrast, if the challenger wins, he may become the new incumbent, or a standoff or coalition may ensue. Using a database of all presidential and legislative elections in Africa over the period 1960-2010, we found the following distribution of election outcomes: the incumbent wins with no contestation 63.9 per cent, coalition 6.4 per cent, and standoff 1.2 per cent. The incumbent loses and accepts defeat 15.9 per cent, coalition 12.3 per cent, and standoff 0.3 per cent. We have then tested empirically 22 hypotheses on the determinants of election outcomes in Africa using a discrete-choice multinomial logit model. We study the impact of the shape of the economy, the provision of public goods, education, social diversity, number of years in power of the incumbent, whether the incumbent is a military official or not, the strength of the opposition, natural resource endowment, colonial origins of the country, and whether the election is presidential or legislative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have presented the patterns of inequality, growth and income inequality in the MENA region. Using a cross-sectional time series data of MENA countries for the period 1985-2009, we have also investigated the effect of income inequality on key societal development, namely economic growth and poverty, in the region. Our empirical results show that income inequality reduces economic growth and increases poverty in the region. Other factors having significant negative effect on economic growth in the MENA region include previous growth rate, exchange rate, government consumption expenditure or government burden, initial per capita GDP, inflation and primary education. On the other hand, variables positively and significantly associated with MENA's economic growth are domestic investment rate, urbanization, infrastructure development, and mineral rent as a percentage of GDP. In addition, apart from income inequality, other factors increasing poverty in the region are foreign direct investment, population growth, inflation rate, and the attainment of only primary education. Poverty-reducing variables in the region include domestic investment, trade openness, exchange rate, income per capita, and oil rents as a percentage of GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the evolution of competition and efficiency of the banking sector in South Africa using firm-level data for the period 1999-2008. We adopt a three-step estimation approach. First, we measure efficiency using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology. Second, we use the Panzar-Rosse approach to derive the H-statistic for competitive conditions in banking. In the third stage, we take into account the role of managerial ability in competition by re-estimating the Panzar-Rosse model, with the DEA efficiency scores as an explanatory variable. Overall, the results show that although average efficiency was trending upwards over the period, the number of efficient banks was falling. Also, it is found that for the period 1999-2008, the structure of the South African banking industry was characterized by monopolistic competition. This result may reflect domination by five large banks, which together account for over 85 per cent of total banking assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]