In 1991 the Ethiopian Revolution Democratic Front (EPRDF) toppled the old ‘socialist’ regime that had ruled the country for seventeen years. In contrast to the previous policy regime of hard control, EPRDF initiated a wide range of reforms that covered not only the tax system but also the...

The differences between mainstream and 'heterodox' theories and policies have become increasingly blurred, and this dynamic has also affected heterodox analyses of development. Being trapped by the primacy of the statistics-based methodological imperative, much heterodox thinking on development...

Debt among African nations is a widespread and pervasive problem particularly among developing nations. Debt has significant, profound and long-lasting consequences for the social, economic and political development of African nations. All too often poorer nations have been forced to set aside...

In this paper we use a behavioural approach to studying household consumption behaviour in Malawi. In particular we are interested to know whether households use mental accounting when consuming different categories of good. It is useful for assessing the impact of remittances on household...

In the late 1990s, as economists looked back the development period in Africa since 1970s, they put forward the notion “African growth tragedy” , meaning that Africa's poor growth and resulting low income is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial...

It has repeatedly been claimed that institutions play an important, and decisive role in economic development. Many studies have analyzed the effect of formal institution on financial development while informal institutions have received less attention. With this paper, we contribute to the...

Since 1950s, most African nations have gained independence from their colonial powers. Fortunately, independence has brought many changes to these nations and these include multi-party democratic government and western education systems. Unfortunately, the Africa's economy is the least developed...

As secularism is increasing and religious diversity is regaining momentum worldwide, it is important to understand how systemic religious differences have influenced financial development in Africa. To this end, this study seeks to investigate the impact of religiosity on financial development...

This paper develops a model positing a nonlinear relationship between public investment and growth. The model is then applied to a panel of African countries using nonlinear estimating procedures. The growth-maximizing level of public investment is estimated at about 10 percent of GDP based on...