This paper validates a new set of behavioral measures for socioemotional skills across three Sub-Saharan African countries-Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Tanzania-and compares them to widely used self-reported measures. The behavioral measures demonstrate strong psychometric properties and are...

The interplay between energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions remains a central focus in economic, energy and environmental policy research. While often assumed to be symmetric, changes in energy consumption do not always produce uniform effects on economic growth and carbon...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces a confluence of critical challenges, including limited energy access, rapid urbanization, and the pursuit of inclusive economic growth, compounded by the global urgency of climate action. This study investigates the potential for SSA to transition toward renewable...

Positive affect and life evaluation are positively correlated in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but the relationship is much weaker than in Western countries, revealing a disconnect between how people feel and how they judge their lives. Using Gallup World Poll microdata (2013-2024) for 39 SSA and 27...

This study investigates the factors responsible for the poor performance of 67 electric utilities in 47 countries, using descriptive data from the World Bank, the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and national sources. The findings show that both cost-side...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic...

The political economy literature highlights the redistribution of resources to political support groups - often along regional or ethnic lines - as an axiom of political systems. In contrast to this dominant pattern, Kasara (2007) documents a puzzling result of discriminatory rent extraction by...

Can the exposure to civil war make people more motivated to pay taxes and (re)build the state? Our project examines this question in the context of Africa, a region where civil wars have frequently undermined state capacity. We move from the popular Tillian view of war-making as state-making to...

This study employs the panel quantile regression (QR) technique to evaluate whether globalization threshold conditions are essential for achieving effective economic growth, utilizing data from 47 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period from 2000 to 2021. The bootstrap simultaneous...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the spatial effect of regulatory regimes on the supply of electricity service in Sub-Saharan Africa. A spatial Durbin model (SDM) is used on data from 40 countries between 2000 and 2022. Our assessment focuses on how regulatory regimes affect energy losses,...

Access to electricity is important for delivering quality healthcare. This study explores innovative and comprehensive approaches to electrifying rural health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa by integrating renewable energy solutions and innovative financial mechanisms. It assesses funding...

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world's fragile and conflict-affected states, where weak institutions and social cohesion, governance failures, and economic instability trap millions in poverty. Some countries have transitioned out of extreme fragility by implementing sound...

Historical experience suggests that stabilizing debt across sub-Saharan Africa is still achievable in most cases, even though debt levels are elevated and vulnerabilities are high. Countries in the region, over recent decades, have often been able to consolidate (stabilize or reduce) their debt...

A hard-won recovery in sub-Saharan Africa has been overtaken by recent events. The sudden shift in the global outlook has clouded the region's short-term prospects and significantly compli¬cated policy making. After four years of crisis, sub-Saharan Africa's authorities had already faced a...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces growing climate vulnerability, with rising temperatures and extreme weather threatening agriculture, food security, and economic growth. These challenges worsen poverty, fiscal constraints, and limited human capital investment. To address these risks, SSA countries...

This paper takes stock of developments and policy issues related to digital payments innovations across sub-Saharan African (SSA), including central bank digital currency (CBDC), fast payments systems (FPS), mobile money, and crypto assets, which are now at the forefront of policymakers'...

This paper employs various empirical methods to test the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis in West and Central Africa, considering countries within the WAEMU, CEMAC, CFA, and ECOWAS currency zones and four possible numeraire currencies-U.S. dollar, euro, renminbi, and the CFA franc. Using...

This paper examines the current state of the gender digital skills divide in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), drawing on a broad set of data sources to assess disparities between men and women across key dimensions of digital readiness. The analysis explores differences in educational attainment,...

The rapid expansion of the digital economy in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) presents opportunities and challenges in addressing the gender digital skills divide. This report analyzes comprehensive, gender responsive policy approaches to bridge this gender divide and promote equitable access to...

"Making Refugee Self-Reliance Work: From Aid to Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa" advocates for the enhancement of refugee self-reliance as a strategic, humane, development approach to refugee assistance. Facilitating refugees' capacity to support themselves through gainful work not only upholds...

The objective of this paper is to contribute to the analysis of the relationship between banks and stock markets in sub-Saharan African countries and their impacts on economic growth. While the literature on this issue is abundant, our article focuses on disentangling the effects of banks and...

This paper assesses the causal relationship between central bank interest rate, inflation and GDP growth in Central African countries using a new leading-lagging method over the period 1990-2019. The results show a short-term relationship between the three variables, with strong evidence of...

Most African countries are grappling with long-term fiscal slippages and escalating debt burdens due to high levels of non-concessional and overcapitalized borrowing. At the same time, the continent is paradoxically deemed a net creditor to the rest of the world owing to excessive capital...

The CEMAC's economy lost momentum in 2023. The external position weakened, with the current account shifting to a deficit and foreign reserve accumulation slowing. While inflation continued to ease, it remained elevated. Available data indicate a deterioration in the underlying fiscal positions...