Michel Tenikue

Number, Age Composition and School Achievements of Siblings in Two African Capital Cities

This paper uses biographical data from Dakar and Yaoundé, two large African cities, to study the link between number of siblings and school attainment. The data describe all fertility events experienced by parents and the number of siblings of each child over time. The average family size effect is estimated first. The family size effect at different ages is then estimated. The results show that, in Dakar, both the overall and age-specific effect of family size on education are negative and statistically significant. In Yaoundé, the overall effect is not significant, but negative effects at some schooling ages (between 14 and 17) are observed in this study. Finally, the negative impact of family size on school achievement seems to be driven more by elder siblings than by younger ones.

Small Businesses Performance in West African Border Regions: Do Social Networks Pay Off?

This paper studies the link between economic performance and social networks in West Africa. Using first-hand data collected on 358 small-scale traders in five border markets between Niger, Nigeria and Benin, we are particularly interested in testing whether the most well-connected actors of trade networks are also the most successful in terms of monthly sales and profit. The paper shows that the overall economic performance of traders is affected by the socio-professional position of the actors with whom they are connected. While social ties with local religious leaders have no effect on their business, support received from civil servants, politicians, and security authorities translates into economic performance. The paper also shows significant differences between countries, regions and marketplaces. Social connections developed with state representatives have a much greater effect on economic performances in Niger and Benin than in Nigeria, where average profit is much higher. Experience is more closely correlated with profit in the region where traders have developed re-export trade activities than where petty trade is the dominant form of business.

Social networks and small business performance in West African border regions

Abstract This paper studies the links between economic performance and social networks in West Africa. Using data collected on 358 small-scale traders in five border markets, we show that social networks can be simultaneously a resource which positively contributes to labour market outcomes and a social burden that has a negative economic impact. Testing the effect of social networks between small traders and three categories of actors, we find that the most well-connected actors are also the most successful in terms of monthly profit. The effects of social networks are, however, dependent on the type of persons with whom traders are connected. We show that support received from state representatives and politicians is converted into economic performance, while the impact of law enforcement officers on the monthly profits of traders is not significant. We also find that interacting with traditional religious leaders has a negative effect on economic performance. Our work has two implications: Firstly, collecting data on social networks remains challenging due to endogeneity. Secondly, network-enhancing policies should aim at improving both the internal connectivity of economic actors at the local level and their external connectivity with the rest of the world.