Emmanuel Cleeve

How effective are fiscal incentives to attract FDI to Sub-Saharan Africa?

Given the role of foreign direct investment in the development process, one of the most important challenges facing Africa is how to attract foreign direct investment. A number of attempts have been made, but most have been unsuccessful because of various factors that work against the business environment for foreign investment. This paper analyses the impact of fiscal incentives, the most popular instrument, for attracting foreign investment to Sub-Saharan Africa. It uses cross-sectional time series data on 16 Sub-Saharan African countries, and an econometric model of three proxies of fiscal incentive, after controlling for traditional and other policy variables. The results show that traditional variables and government policies to attract foreign investment to Africa are important. Of the fiscal incentives, tax holidays seem to be the most significant. What could also be important are political and macroeconomic stability at the national and regional levels, property rights protection and other investment-supporting regulations and improvements in infrastructure and service support systems.

The Motives for Joint Ventures: A Transaction Costs Analysis of Japanese MNES in the UK

What factors determine the choice of Japanese companies between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries? In seeking to answer this question, this study employs data of Japenese foreign direct investment (FDI), through joint ventures, in the UK, not previously used. The main findings of the econometric work presented is that transaction costs are the principal consideration when Japanese firms choose between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries. Variables that hive featured prominently in studies relating to either US parents or for subsidiaries in the US do not appear to play a significant role. The European Union (EU) market appears to be the target of Japanese foreign direct investment in the UK. Copyright 1997 by Scottish Economic Society.

Tracking the Millennium Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reviews, assesses and evaluates the performance of sub‐Saharan African countries towards achieving the international development goals and targets set by the United Nations, UN Millennium Development Goals and the Agenda for Action of the 2nd Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Africas recent economic performance is a reflection of the policies it has pursued since the 1960s. It summarises the progress of sub‐Saharan African countries with a view to providing a clearer understanding of the constraints they face in reaching the goals, with a special focus on the economic, poverty, education, and health targets. The paper also outlines the urgency for action at the national, regional, and international levels. It also demonstrates that the economic and social recovery that Africa experienced in the late 1990s cannot be sustained unless there is progress towards the goals. Africas efforts alone cannot achieve the goals, it would require global support and understanding of the special needs of the region.

Introduction: Strategies for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Africa

Outlines the background and aims of the Millennium Development Goals. Presents a brief introduction to the articles in this special issue.

Innovation systems, research into use and development

This paper outlines the innovations systems approach of bringing research into use for the eradication of poverty in Africa. It describes the benefits that this approach can bring to the poor and that effective innovation process involves working with a wider range of actors, as it is important to strengthen all parts of this system, and to ensure that two-way communication between the actors balances the supply and demand to ensure that research evolves to meet the real needs of the practitioners. The Sierra Leone strategy outlines how potential research into use interventions in the country would be pursued in the period 2008-2011. Its overall purpose is to maximise the poverty-reducing impact of renewable natural resources research strategy and other research, and increase understanding of how the promotion and widespread use of research can contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth.

Can Sub-Saharan Africa Achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has come full circle to a position of promise four decades since most countries in the region attained political independence. At independence, there were great expectations of rapid economic and social progress. These were broadly realized in the 1960s, when production grew and real per capita incomes increased appreciably. After this initial period of growth, however, most economies stagnated in the 1970s and went into decline in the 1980s. Although a number of countries undertook far-reaching adjustment and reform programs with considerable success, the region’s aggregate economic performance remained disappointingly weak, with falling real incomes per capita and increasing poverty throughout the continent. Now, in the new millennium, renewed signs of economic progress and a broader com¬mitment to reform augur well for the future. These reform efforts need to be sustained, strengthened, and directed toward the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs) and targets.

Japanese Joint Ventures in the UK: Does Product Classification Matter?

This paper investigates the factors that determine the choice of Japanese companies between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries. This choice may very well depend on the product classification of the firm. This study extends a previous paper which dealt only with aggregate manufacturing. Here the sample size has been increased and manufacturing split into consumption goods and investment goods industries. Also, the service sector has been included in the analysis. The result of the analysis suggest that the choice is governed by transaction costs considerations and that product classification does matter in the ownership strategy of Japanese MNEs in the UK.