Dissertations / Theses: 'Ghana – Economic conditions'

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Heirman, Jonas Leo. "The impact of international actors on domestic agricultural policy : a comparison of cocoa and rice in Ghana." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:980ac41f-a591-4e23-ab16-deb6df121573.

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The global financial and food crisis of 2007 and 2008 was followed by a surge in foreign interest and investment in African agriculture. Renewed global interest in African agriculture was also accompanied by an increase in international efforts to influence domestic agricultural policies, including in Ghana. In the context of an increasingly globalised food regime and integrated commodity markets, this thesis answers the question: to what extent do international actors impact domestic agricultural policies in Ghana? Policy 'impact' is understood as the marked influence that international actors have on policy goals and the resources, institutions, and knowledge used for achieving them. This thesis compares case studies of cocoa and rice policy over two different periods in Ghana's recent history (1983-1995 and 2003-2012) to understand how international actors use their power and resources to impact agricultural policies. The comparison of cocoa and rice policy is used to address two gaps in existing literature by examining how the impact of international actors relates to: 1) the political economy for a specific crop; and 2) the interaction between actors at international, national and local levels. Findings from the comparative analysis are then used to test existing theories for how international actors influence government policy in Africa more generally. In particular, findings provide new insights into how the impact of international actors on African agricultural policies is strongly associated with the effect of policy decisions on the longer-term political economy for a particular crop.

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Lain, Jonathan. "Essays on self-employment in Africa." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8fe67edf-8aac-4de2-b6cd-e60115a95788.

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Informal sectors in developing countries provide a substantial pool of jobs for some of the world's poorest people. Self-employment comprises a large portion of the job opportunities available to individuals working in these sectors. This thesis is concerned with the factors that drive people to become self-employed and determine their welfare as an entrepreneur, with a special emphasis on differences between women and men. In Chapter 1, we explain the Ghanaian context to which this thesis relates and outline the contribution of each main chapter and the common themes. In Chapters 2 and 3, we examine the trade-off between domestic work, such as caring for children and household chores, and market work. In Chapter 2, we consider the extent to which individuals are able to substitute between these two tasks to adjust to short-run variation in domestic productivity brought about by outages in electricity. We find that self-employed workers adjust non-monotonically to changes in domestic productivity, initially increasing their levels of domestic work to preserve consumption levels, but then substituting towards market work when power outages become more severe. We show that this relationship is heterogeneous by sex, and build a model of time allocation to demonstrate the theoretical mechanisms behind these results. In Chapter 3 we examine whether the factors that drive occupational selection differ by sex. It is often argued that women choose jobs in self-employment because this allows them to balance income-generation with childcare and other domestic work. We test the plausibility of this claim and its implications for labour market outcomes. First, we use a simple model of occupational choice to clarify our ideas about which notions of 'job flexibility' are important for the Ghanaian context. Second, we examine whether differential selection forces between women and men may explain the raw sex earnings gaps that appear to persist in various sectors, using a multinomial logit model to adjust for non-random occupational selection. We find that controlling for selection substantially widens the earnings gap amongst the self-employed, but shrinks it for the wage-employed. Third, we interrogate our selection equations and show that domestic obligations increase women's likelihood of entering low-input self-employment jobs more than men. We assess the importance of endogeneity using a maximum simulated likelihood estimator to couch the idea that selection on observables can be used as a guide for selection on unobservables, focussing on the discrete choice made over occupation. In Chapter 4, we turn to theory to try and resolve some of the empirical puzzles that remain from Chapter 3. In particular, we attempt to reconcile the fact that female participation in self-employment is so high even when the average differences in potential earnings are large. To do this, we construct a search model, which allows for individual heterogeneity and participation in both self- and wage-employment, as well as discrimination against female workers in the wage sector. We numerically solve and simulate this model, using calibrations from the existing literature, to explain a set of stylised facts generated from a longitudinal dataset of workers in urban Ghana. We show that wage sector discrimination leads to average earnings gaps in \emph{all} sectors of the economy, even if the underlying ability distribution is the same for both sexes. We also conduct a series of experiments to examine how women and men may be affected differently by government policy. Finally, in Chapter 5 we connect our main findings to policy and make some suggestions for future work.

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Wassiuw, Abdul Rahaman. "Price change and households' welfare in Ghana (1991-2013)." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47400/.

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Given the growing world population and income in emerging economies, increased demand for food and feed crops for the production of bio-fuels, and greater frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters in different parts of the world due to climate change, global food prices are expected to increase. Food importing developing countries are vulnerable to these price increases and associated price volatility as poor households would be the most severely affected. While there are extensive empirical studies on the effect of food price increases and volatility on household welfare in developed and developing countries, little is known about African countries. This thesis contributes to the literature on Africa, specifically Ghana using three waves of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS) to measure the effect of food price increases on household welfare between 1991 and 2013 and addressing the effect of price volatility with a measure of households’ willingness to pay for price stability. A number of contributions are made in this thesis. First, an application of both a parametric and non-parametric analysis to the GLSS shows that budget share equations require including a higher expenditure term to appropriately explain consumer behaviour; the non-linear Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System expenditure model is the best fit for the GLSS data. Second, an analysis of the consumption patterns of cereal and cereal products shows variation in consumption patterns across time and different groups of households. For example, bread is considered a necessity while maize was a luxury in 1991/92 and 1998/99 but a necessity in 2012/13, showing a case of where a commodity is a luxury at some point and a necessity at another time. Commodity groups such as root, tubers & plantain, meat, fish and oil & fat products are considered luxuries while bread & cereals are considered necessities. Third, welfare effects calculated for three periods of price changes show there are differences in magnitude for each period, and in all periods a higher proportion of poorer household food expenditure is needed to compensate for observed price increases than for non-poor households. However, within poorer households, we find that rural poor households suffered more from price increases than urban poor households. There are also significant regional differences in welfare effects across periods, with households in the Savannah zone suffering more from observed price changes in all periods. Finally, while the average rural household is a net producer of maize and millet but a net purchaser of rice, rural households are more price risk averse with respect to the price of rice. If substitution between the prices of maize, rice and millet are ignored, 13 per cent of income of the average rural household is required to stabilise prices of all three commodities. However, if substitution is allowed for, the average rural household will be willing to pay 9 per cent of income to stabilise the price of all three commodities at the same time. This suggests that ignoring substitution between prices lead to overestimation of household Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) to stabilise prices of maize, rice and millet in Ghana.

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Osei, Collins. "UK foreign direct investment in Ghana : determinants and implications." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2014. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/7562.

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The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relative significance of the determinants of UK foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ghana. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)'s World Investment Report in 2013, developing countries outperformed developed countries as recipients of FDI, and it is crucial that Ghana competes to increase its share in this positive trend. It is believed that Africa needs to target some countries and even some companies rather than adopt generic strategies if their promotional activities to attract FDI are to be effective. In Ghana's case, one of the priorities to increase its share of FDI and subsequently that of Africa could be to reverse the declining trend of inward FDI from the UK, which was Ghana's leading source of FDI until recently. By applying the OLI paradigm in the context of UK FDI to Ghana, the study provides a template of how FDI from a particular country may be attracted by analysing the determining factors from the perspective of companies already experienced in the market. This study adopted explanatory mixed research method in accordance with the pragmatic research philosophy. This enabled all the 286 contactable UK companies in Ghana to be reached through the survey method. Then based on the initial analysis of 101 usable responses in SPSS, representing 35 per cent response rate, eight sequential interviews were conducted through convenience sampling. The interviews were deductively analysed by manually categorising the responses according to the questions asked, in order to build explanations of the survey findings. Consistent with the OLI paradigm, the research revealed that all the surveyed companies possess ownership advantages such as strong brands, or the potential to develop strong brands, unique products, management and marketing know-how and transferrable experience from similar markets, all of which are crucial for successful investment in Ghana. However, for Ghana to retain UK companies in the country and attract more, favourable locational factors identified in the study need to be provided and nurtured. These include reliable infrastructure, enhanced market size, political stability and continuity, opportunities for agglomeration and a functioning regulatory framework which augment different degrees of internalisation, as the majority of the companies have preference for the wholly owned subsidiary entry mode. The study also found the effect of current tax incentives, formal institutions and informal ties in attracting and retaining FDI was insignificant. This research has made a unique contribution to the understanding of the determinants of FDI in a number of ways. In practice, the sample is unique as it excluded companies operating in traditional natural resources and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) according to the GIPC Act 478 of 1994. This makes the findings specific and relevant to GIPC and investment promotion agencies in Africa, regarding crucial factors to be highlighted and to abolish practices which do not add value to the country as the preferred investment destination for UK companies. Academically, this study fills a number of gaps in the literature. First, it was unique in examining the variables to be considered in retaining as well as attracting FDI, as the majority of studies on determinants of FDI focus more on attraction and less on retention of existing companies, despite the crucial role existing companies play in agglomeration, urbanisation, brand development and other benefits of FDI. The framework developed from this study may also be adopted or modified for future studies. Methodologically, another contribution is the application of explanatory mixed research methods to empirically study the determinants of FDI in Ghana.

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Attakora, Joseph. "Protectionism as a policy strategy in Ghana 1957-66." Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/91077.

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The primary purpose of this thesis is to discuss the protectionist policy of the first Republic of Ghana (1957-66). In particular it attempts to evaluate the performance of the key sectors of the economy under the policy using empirical and statistical data for the period and shortly thereafter. Such discussion is of paramount importance since it provides an insight into what future developmental and growth strategy needs to be adopted for Ghana. While avoiding the social, political and ideological discussions of the policy, the thesis provides an insight into the political atmosphere at the time and the ideological inclinations of the Leaders. The thesis begins by looking at the salient features of the economy of Ghana before independence. It then gives a brief background of protectionism in Ghana and the philosophy that led to its adoption. How the policy was implemented is also discussed. A theoretical background of the effects of protection and a sector by sector analysis and evaluation of the effects of protectionism in Ghana forms the substance of the thesis. While the focus of the discussion is on the first government of Ghana and its protectionist policy, an attempt is made to look at subsequent governments and their deviation, if any, from protectionism. An assessment of the policy arrived at the conclusion that while the leaders had been nationalistic about the policy, their adoption and implementation of the policy was nothing less than an economic blunder.
M.A.

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Donani, Yao-Martin. "Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2014. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37127/.

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This thesis is concerned with developing a framework for the sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Ghana, for local industry. The interest here is on manufacturing and production technologies. Drawing on the work of Clemens and Dalrymple (2005), a three step approach emerged as an overarching methodology leading to the construction of the Ghana manufacturing of technology model (GMTM). The work of Sagasti (1992) provided the framework for its construction. The aim here is to investigate to understand what factors account for the state of technology drawback in Ghana, so as to be able to explain them. A multidisciplinary approach was therefore required and employed. Owing to the human and cultural understanding required here, a mixed-research approach involving ethnography, grounded theory and case-study was found to be most suitable. This involved data from two rural communities, expanding to the urban areas where government officials, policy makers and heads of institutions were interviewed. The corpus of data was analysed using grounded theory and a case study of the shea butter industry provided further insights. The findings, among other things, suggest that Ghana has no focused framework for technology manufacturing for local industry. The study noted that the cultural and ethnic division in traditional Ghana, inhibits knowledge and cultural exchange, hence, affecting the deployment and advancement of traditional technologies in the "closed" societies. This division is reflected in the formal Ghanaian sector, which side-lines the traditional sector from development and industrialisation decision making. Government Officials and policy makers were found to be vague on technology development for local industry, but were focused on developing high-techs, like nano-technologies and science parks. The study sees this as misplaced priority. The technology drive will require a business model, which falls outside the scope here, hence left for future work. A new concept of development engineering emerges from the study.

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Axel, Adam. "Manifestations of Corruption: A Comparative Analysis of Ghana and Nigeria." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2006. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1201.

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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.
Bachelors
Sciences
Political Science

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Serra, Gerardo. "From scattered data to ideological education : economics, statistics and the state in Ghana, 1948-1966." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3188/.

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This thesis analyses the contribution of economics and statistics in the transformation of Ghana from colonial dependency to socialist one-party state. The narrative begins in 1948, extending through the years of decolonization, and ends in 1966, when the first postcolonial government led by Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup d’état. Drawing on insights from political economy, the history of economics and the sociology of science, the study is constructed as a series of microhistories of public institutions, social scientists, statistical enquiries and development plans. In the period under consideration economics and statistics underwent a radical transformation in their political use. This transformation is epitomised by the two extremes mentioned in the title: the ‘scattered data’ of 1950s household budget surveys were expression of the limited will and capacity of the colonial state to exercise control over different areas of the country. In contrast, the 1960s dream of a monolithic one-party state led the political rulers to use Marxist-Leninist political economy as a cornerstone of the ideological education aiming at creating the ideal citizen of the socialist regime. Based on research in British and Ghanaian archives, the study claims that economists and statisticians provided important cognitive tools to imagine competing alternatives to the postcolonial nation state, finding its most extreme version in the attempt to fashion a new type of economics supporting Nkrumah’s dream of a Pan-African political and economic union. At a more general level, the thesis provides a step towards a deeper incorporation of Sub-Saharan Africa in the history of economics and statistics, by depicting it not simply as an importer of ideas and scientific practices, but as a site in which the interaction of local and foreign political and scientific visions turned economics and statistics into powerful tools of social engineering. These tools created new spaces for political support and dissent, and shifted the boundaries between the possible and the utopian.

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Yeboah, Eric Henry. "Microfinance in rural Ghana : a view from below." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2010. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1189/.

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The thesis investigates, from a contextual and user perspective, the implementation processes of microfinance interventions and the effect of the implementation processes on households and businesses. The thesis’ central argument is that microfinance discourse has neglected the perspective of microfinance users and this can negatively affect microfinance interventions as development tools. The study examines two microfinance interventions, Nsoatreman Women Empowerment Programme and Sinapi Aba Trust, in Nsoatre, a rural community in Ghana. Data for the study is from secondary sources, 26 interviews and 100 questionnaires. The study was guided by the philosophical ideas underlying the Sustainable Livelihood Approach and the Interpretive Approach. Using qualitative, cross-tabulations and ordinal logistic regression, the analysis found that the microfinance institutions studied essentially employ top-down approaches and that the perception of microfinance as non-paternalistic is not supported by this study. The mode of group formation has significant ramifications on subsequent group activities and peer monitoring played a limited role in mitigating moral hazard. Service users exhibited noticeable lack of knowledge on intervention activities. Microfinance interventions contribute to household consumption more than it does to household asset accumulation. Poorer service users reported more household and business benefits. The findings suggest a reappraisal of the design of microfinance interventions, especially in rural areas.

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Antwi, Ardakwah Yaw. "Urban land markets in Sub-Saharan Africa : a quantitative study of Accra Ghana." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2000. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2504.

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The existing body of knowledge attributes to informal land transactions in sub-Saharan African cities observed problems in city neighbourhoods. However, the dearth of empirically insightful studies of how this eventuates continues to leave a vacuum in terms of practical solutions. But it is commonly held that bureaucratic intervention offers a way out. Substantial resources, often backed by donor agencies, are therefore being spent in revamping bureaux and governmental bodies in a bid to solving the problems. This thesis sets as its central aim to identify and establish the costs to agents of the real causes of the problems. It also aims to assess the economic impact of formal policy measures on agents and recommends feasible approaches to market regulations. To address the objectives insights from property rights, transactions costs and public choice economics are brought to bear. Based on a survey of market participants of sampled informal neighbourhoods in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, it employs regression and discriminant analyses to analyse the data generated. In the process helpful insights are gained. It has been possible to put some figures to the extent of costs that lead agents to operate in ways that eventually translate into the problems commonly witnessed. The study finds that actual costs to market participants of government activities are too high to be of any benefit. These costs mainly derive from rent-seeking behaviour which extensive bureaucratic intervention of transactions in urban residential lands bring about. On the basis of the results of the regression analysis, arguments implying inefficiency of informal land markets, specifically relating to the arbitrary nature of prices, are refuted. The futility of the use of compulsory purchase powers to create residential neighbourhoods also emerges from the results of the discriminant analysis. Similarly, efficiency' enhancing bureaucratic interventions in the informal market lead to the diversion of real resources into wasteful rent-seeking expenditures. The sum of these wasteful diversions of resources explains a great deal of the haphazard developments that have come to characterise many neighbourhoods of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Market led regulation emerges as the needed focus of future land policy and management strategy. But to work the study calls for the removal of unwarranted market interventions extant at the present moment and the reorganisation of bureaux to be responsible in ways that would induce them to operate efficiently.

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Simpson, Samuel Nana Yaw. "Public sector reform and disclosure practices of state-owned enterprises : the case of Ghana." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2014. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/4902/.

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This thesis examines the disclosure practices of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the impact of reform programmes in the SOE sector on such practices. The study stems from evidence of poor performance of SOEs attributed to the dearth of information disclosure, hence, the introduction of reform programmes to address these problems. Based on multiple case design with data gathered from three large SOEs and key policy makers in the SOE sector of Ghana, the findings show that the disclosure relationships, objectives, and media are generally the same across all SOEs. There are however some notable variations from the both within-case and cross-case analyses, with respect to the generic sections, volume and disclosure types in their respective annual reports. There are also differences in relation to the processes of producing their disclosure media. With regards to the impact of reform programmes, the study found both sector-wide and industry specific reform programmes, driven and underpinned by institutional forces and tenets of agency theory. These programmes have among other things, increased the numbers of disclosure media, stakeholders or principals that SOEs must disclose to, expanded the nature of disclosure (managerial, program, procedures, and financial) and types of disclosure relationships (diagonal).

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Pfister, Mike. "The unification of Africa: a goal or a dream?" Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2000. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/202.

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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.
Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Political Science

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Boampong, Owusu. "Market imperfections and the effectiveness of subcontracting and informal institutions in export market transactions in Ghana." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2010. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1105/.

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The study set out to explore how small exporting firms coordinate production functions and the extent to which the chosen path of institutional arrangements enable them to reduce market imperfections, access resources, meet export market requirements and succeed in the export market. The literature posits that in the absence of effective state institutions, informal and private institutional arrangements tend to govern market transactions. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these arrangements in supporting distant and expanding trade transactions, especially, in Africa. Using the Ghanaian craft export sector as a case, the study showed that the small-scale exporters rely predominantly on informal institutions and subcontracting ties in their export transactions. Yet these informal and subcontractual relations remain inadequate coordination mechanisms for engendering greater export success. Under conditions of market imperfections and endemic opportunism, the informal trade arrangements and loose arm’s length subcontracting relations only enable the small firms to achieve imperfect results even in modestly complex and expanding trade transactions. Notwithstanding, informal subcontractual ties potentially offer the platform for the small enterprises to succeed in the export market given improvements in the socio-cultural and the microeconomic environments. The emergence of “in-house contracting” in the industry is linked to the move by some of the exporters to reduce transaction costs and meet quality standards. By this arrangement, the entrepreneur has some level of control (albeit less rigid) necessary to reduce transaction costs, meet quality requirements, and flexibly adjust to fluctuations in export market demands. The in-house exporter maintains multiple informal and trust building relationships with segmented buyers and subcontractors to keep the production system operational.

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Twum-Danso, Afua Oppong. "Searching for a middleground in children’s rights : the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Ghana." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2008. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/453/.

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The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, is the world’s most widely and rapidly ratified international convention. Although it was hoped that the Convention would have an enormously positive impact on all children, this has not happened in many parts of the world for a variety of reasons, including its western bias, which has, hitherto, dominated the debate on children’s rights. However, this universality vs. relativity dichotomy does not help us to protect children on the ground. Hence, it is necessary to move beyond the binary debate relating to the universality and relativity of children’s rights and engage with children’s local realities, which illustrate that there is, indeed, a middle ground in which people live their lives that may facilitate dialogue on children’s rights with local communities. In order to identify this middle ground the thesis focused on eliciting the perceptions of adults and children in two local communities in Accra, Ghana, the first country to ratify the Convention in February 1990, on children’s rights, constructing childhood and the socialization of children and their implications for the implementation of the Convention. Special attention is given to Article 12, which has caused controversy in countries around the world.

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Pettersson, Fredrik. "Mineral policies and the Ghanaian economy /." Luleå, 2002. http://epubl.luth.se/1404-5508/2002/070.

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Nti, Frank Kyekyeku. "Climate change vulnerability and coping mechanisms among farming communities in Northern Ghana." Thesis, Kansas State University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/15116.

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Master of Science
Department of Agricultural Economics
Andrew Barkley
This study examines the effect of extreme climatic conditions (drought, flood, and bushfires) on the livelihood of households in the Bawku West district of Ghana. The research identified the mechanisms with which households cope in such situations, and analyzed factors influencing the adoption of coping strategies for flood, coping strategies for drought, and coping strategies for bushfires. Data for the study were collected in selected villages across the district in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 extreme climatic events (a prolonged drought period followed by an erratic rainfall). A binary logit regression (BLR) model was then specified to estimate factors that influence the adoption of a given coping mechanisms. Results from the BLR model indicate that literacy level, membership with an FBO, household income, and location of households had positive and significant impacts on adaptation to drought. Similarly, source of seeds for planting, membership with an FBO, household income, and farm size had positive significant influence on adaptation to flood. Adaption to bushfire was positively influenced by radio ownership, seed source and income. The main effect of these climatic extreme events on households included destruction of crops, livestock and buildings; food and water shortage; poor yield or harvest and limited fields for livestock grazing. Therefore, government policies should be geared towards creating revenue generating channels and in strengthening institutions that provide access to farm credit, readily available improve seeds and extension. Additionally, policies that expedite information dissemination through radio and other public media will enhance households’ adaptive capacity.

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Gianola, Elizabeth C. "La securisation financiere, le developpement socio-economique et la force du droit : le cas des economies ouest-africaines de plantation (la cote d'ivoire, le ghana et le mali)." Paris 1, 1998. http://www.theses.fr/1998PA010266.

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Face a la croissance rapide de la population des pays africains, a la marginalisation de leurs economies sur les marches mondiaux et au besoin d'une meilleure productivite de la terre, il y a un besoin urgent de repondre au dilemme de la securisation fonciere. Cette etude, qui porte sur les economies de plantation en afrique de l'ouest (cote d'ivoire, ghana, mali), decrit la securisation fonciere comme une construction socio-culturelle qui implique un processus qui contribue a la reproduction sociale en satisfaisant les besoins de securite minimale de subsistance, de securite contre la violence et de securite institutionnelle. Ceci implique 1) un processus de formalisation de certains droits fonciers individuels et communautaires essentiels au developpement pour reduire les conflits fonciers et 2) un developpement socio-economique: un ensemble de mecanismes qui aspire a reunir le marche, l'etat et la societe dans une structure sociale plus large ou la societe se developpe en parallele avec l'economie, ce dernier phenomene ne determinant pas le premier. Concue en tant que construction juridique, la securisation fonciere dans le contexte ouest-africain se limite a un choix entre deux methodes d'approche: le modele des "property rights" et le modele patrimonial. Les implications du choix de l'un de ces modeles implique le choix d'un systeme juridique et transporte dans son sillage un projet de societe qui determine une certaine forme de relation etat-societe-marche, une certaine structure institutionnelle et un certain type de redistribution des droits et des obligations entre les differents partenaires sociaux. En bref, il constitue une force
In face of africa's rapid population growth, the marginalization of african economies and the need for improved land productivity, there is an every increasing need to respond to the land tenure dilemna. This study, which pertains to the plantation economies of west africa (ivory coast, ghana, mali), interprets tenure security first as a socio-cultural construction which implies a process which contributes to social reproduction by satisfying certain security needs (basic subsistence, security against violence and institutional security). This implies 1) a process of fomialization of certain individual and community tenure rights essential to development to the extent they reduce tenure conflicts and 2) a socio-economic development. As a legal construction, tenure security in the west african context is reduced to a choice between two legal models: the property rights model and the patrimonial model. The choice of one of these models implies the choice of a legal system and transports in its wake a societal project which is determinative of a certain state-society-market relation, of a certain institutional structure and of a certain type of redistribution of rights and obligations. In this sense the choice of a legal model constitutes a force

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Afrane, Samuel K. "The integration of housing and economic activites: a case study of low-income settlements in Kumasi, Ghana." Thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/1983.

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This dissertation is concerned with the appropriateness of the conventional urban land use segregation concept which separates people's residence from their place of work. The empirical research is focused on the creative processes by which households in four low income settlements in Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, integrate their economic survival strategies into the design and use of their housing. The study analyses the extent to which income, settlement type (i.e., informal or government built estates) and location (i.e., inner-city or periphery) have influenced the emergence of neighbourhood enterprises in four low-income settlements. It also examines the kinds of impact the enterprises have had on family income, employment generation, the use of housing space and the functional linkages of the enterprise with the urban economy. The study covered 1,289 enterprises in the four settlements dealing with informal and semi-formal activities; home-based and non home-based businesses; goods- and service-oriented activities; and enterprises which serviced the neighbourhood market and businesses with market outlets outside the city. The enterprises operated as family businesses functionally integrated into the day to day activities of the family. On average, each enterprise employed about three persons. About half of the employed persons surveyed were involved in neighbourhood enterprises. Women constituted 64 per cent of the total workforce and 63 per cent of the entrepreneurs. Higher concentration of the enterprises was observed in settlements with relatively lower income; those close to the city centre; and those with greater flexibility in development processes. Housing development processes manifested a gradual progression from mainly domestic land use to increasingly complex and integrated activities. In sum, the study revealed that although municipal policies pursue the goal of separating where people live and work, housing practices in the communities reflected an integration of residence and work. The study establishes that for the poor, a house is not just a shell but a place where people live, work and struggle for survival. Based on these findings and insights from the case studies and the literature review, the dissertation suggests that there may be a need for: (a) a shift from the conventional land use segregation planning concept to a more holistic perception of the urban system and the organic integration of its functions; and (b) an evolutionary housing and neighbourhood development approach which is culturally appropriate and economically supportive to the survival of the family. The study also suggests that since the problem of poor housing and infrastructure in these communities is primarily due to the question of unequal access to government resources, future improvements in the communities will depend largely on the residents' ability to organise into a strong political force that will lobby for increased municipal funding for the neighbourhoods. These suggestions will provide the framework for the implementation of an integrated neighbourhood development program in the communities focusing on housing improvements, low-cost infrastructure schemes and employment generation through strong local action and effective involvement of relevant actors in the private and public sectors. The dissertation concludes that the enterprises are thriving not only because they fulfil essential neighbourhood demands, but also because of benign neglect on the part of the elite groups who control the city. Although the evidence from the study suggests that the future survival of the neighbourhood enterprises is reasonably assured, their future economic advancement, depends largely on the support and disposition of the city authorities in Kumasi. Perhaps, if similar studies are undertaken in other cities in Ghana and the developing world, the trends noted in this dissertation may be generalised.

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Vickers, Katherine Elise. "Ghanaian women, creating economic security : an analysis of gender, development, and power in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1957/28424.

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In June 1999, I was a volunteer for a United States non-governmental organization, Crossroads Africa. I joined six other American women traveling to Ghana, West Africa to participate in a collaborative program designed by the Ghana Red Cross Society and Crossroads Africa. Specifically our group was assigned to work on a Women in Development (WID) project with three rural women's collectives, "Mothers Clubs," assisting them with income-generating projects in the Volta Region of Ghana. The projects varied among the villages. hi village one, Anfoeta Tsebi, the women extracted oil from palm fruit and kernels. They sold palm oil at regional markets and used the oil domestically to make stews and soap for washing. In village two, Heffi, Mothers Club members baked bread and processed gari from cassava yarns. In village three, Anyirawase, the women made batiks, tie-dye, beadwork, and woven mats from corn husks. My research objective was to evaluate the role that gender, the WID design, and power played in each project. I also sought to use my observations and the voices of African women to assess the successes and failures of the collaborative program of the Ghana Red Cross and Crossroads Africa. I used participant observation to gather this information. The sample was inclusive of project participants. I found that the womens' collectives provided positive networks of support for members. The women taught our Crossroads volunteers about how they were creating change. The collectives also showed how successful development depends on improving the quality of life for individuals. The women gained skills in leadership and health education, while they improved their economic situation. Women were becoming collectively empowered through their role as active agents for change in their communities. Their hard work, dedication, and widespread recognition of their accomplishments contributed to group empowerment. My findings suggest that the primary obstacles to project success were lack of resources and time and physical exhaustion from an increased workload Poor preparation and training for Crossroads volunteers and their ideological fragmentation prevented effective assistance and collaboration with the Mothers Clubs. One of my recommendations for future improvements is to integrate men into the development process to play a constructive role and minimize their opportunity for unwanted interference. Another recommendation is to encourage Ghana Red Cross leaders to hold seminars for women from different villages to allow for an exchange of knowledge about development projects. Finally, recommend that Crossroads Africa and Ghana Red Cross leaders make a greater effort to collaborate and improve preparation and training for participants.
Graduation date: 2001

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Antwi, Emmanuel. "Modeling and Forecasting Ghana's Inflation Rate Under Threshold Models." Diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11602/963.

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MSc (Statistics)
Department of Statistics
Over the years researchers have been modeling inflation rate in Ghana using linear models such as Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) and Moving Average (MA). Empirical research however, has shown that financial data, such as inflation rate, does not follow linear patterns. This study seeks to model and forecast inflation in Ghana using nonlinear models and to establish the existence of nonlinear patterns in the monthly rates of inflation between the period January 1981 to August 2016 as obtained from Ghana Statistical Service. Nonlinearity tests were conducted using Keenan and Tsay tests, and based on the results, we rejected the null hypothesis of linearity of monthly rates of inflation. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) was performed to test for the presence of stationarity. The test rejected the null Hypothesis of unit root at 5% significant level, and hence we can conclude that the rate of inflation was stationary over the period under consideration. The data were transformed by taking the logarithms to follow nornal distribution, which is a desirable characteristic feature in most time series. Monthly rates of inflation were modeled using threshold models and their fitness and forecasting performance were compared with Autoregressive (AR ) models. Two Threshold models: Self-Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR) and Logistic Smooth Threshold Autoregressive (LSTAR) models, and two linear models: AR(1) and AR(2), were employed and fitted to the data. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) were used to assess each of the fitted models such that the model with the minimum value of AIC and BIC, was judged the best model. Additionally, the fitted models were compared according to their forecasting performance using a criterion called mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The model with the minimum MAPE emerged as the best forecast model and then the model was used to forecast monthly inflation rates for the year 2017. The rationale for choosing this type of model is contingent on the behaviour of the time-series data. Also with the history of inflation modeling and forecasting, nonlinear models have proven to perform better than linear models. The study found that the SETAR and LSTAR models fit the data best. The simple AR models however, out-performed the nonlinear models in terms of forecasting. Lastly, looking at the upward trend of the out-sample forecasts, it can be predicted that Ghana would experience double digit inflation in 2017. This would have several impacts on many aspects of the economy and could erode the economic gains i made in the year 2016. Our study has important policy implications for the Central Bank of Ghana which can use the data to put in place coherent monetary and fiscal policies that would put the anticipated increase in inflation under control.

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Owusu-Sekyere, Bernard Nyarko. "Is the HIPC initiative of benefit to the people of Northern Ghana? : a theological reflection." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1940.

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The HIPC debt relief initiative is a controversial IMF/World Bank program. This thesis examines whether the HIPC initiative in Ghana is "pro-poor". The concept of the "poor" and what this means for pubic policy is discussed in the framework of the biblical concept of shalom, that is the promotion of human wellbeing, within the context of Northern Ghana. To enable a fair assessment of the HIPC program in Northern Ghana, a review of Ghana's debt crisis is provided alongside a brief economic history. The origin of the debt crisis is traced to the first republic. A review of HIPC is undertaken from the perspectives of both theory and its practical implication. In the implementation process, particularly in Northern Ghana, the research identifies a number of infrastructural projects being accomplished by the HIPC funds and evaluates their usefulness and relevance. The thesis argues that there are three strengths to HIPC in Northern Ghana, namely, political accountability, social participation and infrastructure development; and that there are six weakness, namely, dependency syndrome, cultural relevance, ethnic conflict, adult capability development, personnel provision and economic distribution. It concludes that problem of human development that has been lacking in Ghana's economic policies, and the crisis of skilled personnel could undermine the provisions of HIPC in Northern Ghana to contribute meaningfully to shalom, or some measure of real development in people's life.
Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

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Salifu, Adam. "How effective are farmer-based organisations in Ghana's smallholder agriculture?" Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:34889.

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Recent years have witnessed renewed interest in farmer-based organisations (FBOs) as important local institutions for promoting smallholder agriculture and improving rural livelihoods. Many believe that the establishment of FBOs would, amongst other things, strengthen the ability of smallholder farmers to access agricultural services such as extension services and inputs, as well as reduce their risks and transaction costs of accessing these services. This thesis examines the extent to which FBOs improve smallholder farmers’ access to extension services, inputs and credit in Ghana. Central to this thesis is to understand whether, and to what extent, smallholder farmers’ participation in FBOs improves their access to extension services, inputs and credit, with special attention to understanding the factors that shape their performance in this process. The study employs a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. The data collection involved structured questionnaires to 240 smallholder farmers; semi-structure interviews with 90 smallholder farmers, 12 government officials and four NGO officials. It also used a variety of secondary sources, such as documentation from FBOs, survey data, and project data from government agencies and NGOs. The data analysis utilised both quantitative and qualitative approaches, namely descriptive and inferential statistics, thematic analysis and descriptions. The analysis in the thesis shows that while smallholder farmers’ participation in FBOs improves their access to extension services, inputs and credit, their access to these services is on a limited basis. The thesis argues that the limited roles that FBOs play in improving smallholder farmers’ access to extension services, inputs and credit relate largely to their governance and management structure and their internal collective capabilities, as well as the smallholder farmers’ motivations for participating in the FBOs. The study argues that when external institutions (e.g. government and NGOs) do not invest in building FBOs’ organisational structure and leadership capacities, the results are FBOs that are passive and have weak leadership with regard to mobilising their members for the purpose of accessing agricultural services. Contrary to the empirical and theoretical arguments that FBOs and related organisations with homogenous and small memberships should have a positive collective outcome, this thesis argues that collective activities will remain limited in FBOs if their leaders do not have the experience and skills to mobilise their members for such activities. Developing sound organisational structures, such as suitable rules and regulations, would contribute to ensuring that FBOs invest time and resources into collective activities, such investment is a significant factor in their success. (ACCESS RESTRICTED TO ABSTRACT ONLY)

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Kodj, Grace Dede. "The role of women in poverty reduction in Ghana." Diss., 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/27560.

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Various governments in post-independent Ghana have attempted to alleviate poverty among the citizenry. In furtherance of this, several poverty reduction strategies have been employed with different results. Even though the rate of poverty has fallen over the years, it is still high at 21,4% (Molini and Paci, 2015) with women unfortunately bearing most of the brunt of this (National Development Planning Commission, 2012). This dissertation looks at filling the gap in information by exploring the role women can play in poverty reduction, using Ghana as a case study. In doing that, the study analyses poverty and the underlying reasons for endemic poverty among Ghanaians. The objective of this study was to contextualize and make a dimension of poverty broadly in Africa and Ghana in particular. It also sought to critique the current policy alleviation policies and programmes, in relation to various factors contributing to endemic poverty among Ghanaian women, with the aim of identifying the roles that women can play in poverty reduction and making recommendations. In this regard, a descriptive research design coupled with qualitative research methodological technique was employed, where relevant publications in the form of government reports, journals, textbooks and internet were used to collect data. Inferences were extracted based on the requirements of the research topic. The study found that women play an important role in food production, trade, and business. It also emerged from the study that there are numerous factors inimical to the reduction of poverty among women in Ghana. They included their inability to negotiate labour matters; a lack of, or limited education; patriarchal culture or customs; and economic sabotage. In addressing the aforementioned factors, the study recommended that in its pre-assessment of NGOs, government tailor their intervention to synchronize with the development strategies to alleviate poverty among women. It also advised educational awareness and public-public partnerships in the establishment of schools targeted most especially at women for empowerment purposes. Finally, there was an emphasis on advocacy for the reservation of land exclusively for women through land reforms.
Public Administration and Management
M. Admin. (Public Administration)

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Owusu, Erasmus Larbi. "Financial liberalisation and economic growth in ECOWAS countries." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6032.

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The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue.
Economic Sciences
D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)

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Owusu, Erasmus Labri. "Finacial liberalisation and sustainable economic growth in ECOWAS countries." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6032.

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The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue.
Economic Sciences
D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Ghana – Economic conditions'

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