IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v44y2015icp171-179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What drives national efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Danquah, Michael
  • Ouattara, Bazoumana

Abstract

In this paper, we use stochastic frontier analysis to examine whether differences in the transfer and absorption of technology help to explain cross-country differences in national efficiency levels in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1970–2010. We find that trade policy on openness, machinery imports, stock of R&D, landlockedness and quality of institutions play a significant and quantitatively important role in explaining the differences in efficiency scores in SSA. Human capital, however, has an insignificant effect on efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Danquah, Michael & Ouattara, Bazoumana, 2015. "What drives national efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 171-179.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:44:y:2015:i:c:p:171-179
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2014.10.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999314003745
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2014.10.019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhagwati, Jagdish N & Krueger, Anne O, 1973. "Exchange Control, Liberalization, and Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 419-427, May.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    3. Keller, Wolfgang, 2000. "Do Trade Patterns and Technology Flows Affect Productivity Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 17-47, January.
    4. Romain Wacziarg & Karen Horn Welch, 2008. "Trade Liberalization and Growth: New Evidence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 187-231, June.
    5. Anke E. Hoeffler, 2002. "The augmented Solow model and the African growth debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    6. Sachs, Jeffrey D & Warner, Andrew M, 1997. "Sources of Slow Growth in African Economies," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 6(3), pages 335-376, October.
    7. Bhagwati, Jagdish N, 1982. "Directly Unproductive, Profit-seeking (DUP) Activities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 988-1002, October.
    8. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    9. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    10. Krishna G. Iyer & Alicia N. Rambaldi & Kam Ki Tang, 2008. "Efficiency externalities of trade and alternative forms of foreign investment in OECD countries," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(6), pages 749-766.
    11. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Claire Lelarge & John Van Reenen & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2007. "Technology, Information, and the Decentralization of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1759-1799.
    12. Willam Greene, 2005. "Fixed and Random Effects in Stochastic Frontier Models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 7-32, January.
    13. Lichtenberg, Frank R. & Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno v., 1998. "International R&D spillovers: A comment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1483-1491, September.
    14. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Easterly, William R & Pack, Howard, 2003. "Low Investment Is Not the Constraint on African Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 547-571, April.
    15. John Luke Gallup & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew D. Mellinger, 1999. "Geography and Economic Development," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 22(2), pages 179-232, August.
    16. Reifschneider, David & Stevenson, Rodney, 1991. "Systematic Departures from the Frontier: A Framework for the Analysis of Firm Inefficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(3), pages 715-723, August.
    17. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    18. Griliches, Zvi, 1969. "Capital-Skill Complementarity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(4), pages 465-468, November.
    19. Prescott, Edward C, 1998. "Needed: A Theory of Total Factor Productivity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(3), pages 525-551, August.
    20. David E. Bloom & David Canning & Jaypee Sevilla, 2002. "Technological Diffusion, Conditional Convergence, and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 8713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Duffy, John & Papageorgiou, Chris, 2000. "A Cross-Country Empirical Investigation of the Aggregate Production Function Specification," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 87-120, March.
    22. John Luke Gallup & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Mellinger, 1999. "Geography and Economic Development," CID Working Papers 1, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    23. Bhagwati, Jagdish N. & Srinivasan, T. N., 1982. "The welfare consequences of directly-unproductive profit-seeking (DUP) lobbying activities : Price versus quantity distortions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1-2), pages 33-44, August.
    24. Camilla Mastromarco, 2008. "Foreign Capital And Efficiency In Developing Countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 351-374, October.
    25. Olu Ajakaiye & Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2011. "Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa: Introduction and Overview," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(suppl_3), pages -13, August.
    26. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Indicators 2012," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6014, December.
    27. Gallup, John L. & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Mellinger, Andrew, "undated". "Geography and Economic Development," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics geodata, Boston College Department of Economics.
    28. Rachel Griffith & Helen Simpson, 2004. "Characteristics of Foreign-Owned Firms in British Manufacturing," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 147-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Kneller, Richard & Andrew Stevens, Philip, 2003. "The specification of the aggregate production function in the presence of inefficiency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 223-226, November.
    30. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    31. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    32. Jörg MAYER, 2001. "Technology Diffusion, Human Capital And Economic Growth In Developing Countries," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 154, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    33. Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2011. "Contribution of Higher Education to Economic Development: A Survey of International Evidence," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(suppl_3), pages -49, August.
    34. Barry P. Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 2003. "The Empirics of Growth: An Update," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 34(2), pages 113-206.
    35. Chris Milner & Thomas Weyman–Jones, 2003. "Relative National Efficiency and Country Size: Evidence for Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, February.
    36. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
    37. Jerzmanowski, Michal, 2007. "Total factor productivity differences: Appropriate technology vs. efficiency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 2080-2110, November.
    38. Gallup, John & Sachs, Jeffrey, 1999. "Geography and Economic Development," Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) Papers 294434, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.
    39. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    40. Gallup, J.L. & Sachs, J.D. & Mullinger, A., 1999. "Geography and Economic Development," Papers 1, Chicago - Graduate School of Business.
    41. Arvind Subramanian, 2009. "The Mauritian Success Story and its Lessons," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-36, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    42. Cameron, Gavin & Proudman, James & Redding, Stephen, 2005. "Technological convergence, R&D, trade and productivity growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 775-807, April.
    43. Christopoulos, Dimitris K., 2007. "Explaining country's efficiency performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 224-235, March.
    44. Richard Kneller, 2005. "Frontier Technology, Absorptive Capacity and Distance," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(1), pages 1-23, February.
    45. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    46. Kodde, David A & Palm, Franz C, 1986. "Wald Criteria for Jointly Testing Equality and Inequality Restriction s," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(5), pages 1243-1248, September.
    47. Jonathan Temple, 1999. "The New Growth Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 112-156, March.
    48. Richard Kneller & Philip Andrew Stevens, 2006. "Frontier Technology and Absorptive Capacity: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(1), pages 1-21, February.
    49. K. Kalirajan, 1981. "An Econometric Analysis of Yield Variability in Paddy Production," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 29(3), pages 283-294, November.
    50. Peter Howitt, 2000. "Endogenous Growth and Cross-Country Income Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 829-846, September.
    51. Mr. Brou E Aka & Mr. Bernardin Akitoby & Mr. Amor Tahari & Mr. Dhaneshwar Ghura, 2004. "Sources of Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2004/176, International Monetary Fund.
    52. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2009. "Understanding the African Growth Record: The Importance of Policy Syndromes and Governance," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2009-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    53. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    54. Hoeffler, Anke E, 2002. "The Augmented Solow Model and the African Growth Debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Danquah, Michael, 2018. "Technology transfer, adoption of technology and the efficiency of nations: Empirical evidence from sub Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 175-182.
    2. Michael Danquah & Bazoumana Ouattara & Peter Quartey, 2018. "Technology Transfer and National Efficiency: Does Absorptive Capacity Matter?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 162-174, June.
    3. Danquah, Michael & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2017. "Assessing the relationships between human capital, innovation and technology adoption: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 24-33.
    4. Twerefou, Daniel Kwabena & Abeney, Jacob Opantu, 2020. "Efficiency of household electricity consumption in Ghana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Gideon Ndubuisi & Solomon Owusu, 2023. "Trade for catch-up: examining how global value chains participation affects productive efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 195-215, April.
    6. Glass, Anthony J. & Kenjegalieva, Karligash & Ajayi, Victor & Adetutu, Morakinyo & Sickles, Robin C., 2016. "Relative Winners and Losers from Efficiency Spillovers in Africa with Policy Implications for Regional Integration," Working Papers 16-003, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    7. Michael Danquah & Kunal Sen, 2022. "Informal institutions, transaction risk, and firm productivity in Myanmar," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1721-1737, March.
    8. Osabutey, Ellis L.C. & Croucher, Richard, 2018. "Intermediate institutions and technology transfer in developing countries: The case of the construction industry in Ghana," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 154-163.
    9. Di Giorgio, L. & Filippini, M. & Masiero, G., 2015. "Structural and managerial cost differences in nonprofit nursing homes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 289-298.
    10. Bournakis, Ioannis & Rizov, Marian & Christopoulos, Dimitris, 2021. "Revisiting the Economic Performance and Institutions Debate in SSA Countries: The Role of Legal Origins in the Context of Ethnic Heterogeneity," MPRA Paper 106557, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bournakis, Ioannis & Rizov, Marian & Christopoulos, Dimitris, 2023. "Revisiting the effect of institutions on the economic performance of SSA countries: Do legal origins matter in the context of ethnic heterogeneity?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. Edziah, Bless Kofi & Sun, Huaping & Adom, Philip Kofi & Wang, Feng & Agyemang, Andrew Osei, 2022. "The role of exogenous technological factors and renewable energy in carbon dioxide emission reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1418-1428.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Danquah, Michael, 2018. "Technology transfer, adoption of technology and the efficiency of nations: Empirical evidence from sub Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 175-182.
    2. Michael Danquah & Bazoumana Ouattara & Peter Quartey, 2018. "Technology Transfer and National Efficiency: Does Absorptive Capacity Matter?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 162-174, June.
    3. Michael Danquah and Bazoumana Ouattara, 2018. "Comparison of Stochastic Frontier Approaches for Estimating National Efficiency: An Application to Sub-Saharan African Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 119-142, September.
    4. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    5. Oleg Badunenko & Daniel Henderson & Romain Houssa, 2014. "Significant drivers of growth in Africa," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 339-354, December.
    6. Schünemann, Johannes & Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus, 2018. "Health and Economic Growth: Reconciling the Micro and Macro Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181554, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Mastromarco, Camilla & Ghosh, Sucharita, 2009. "Foreign Capital, Human Capital, and Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 489-502, February.
    8. Camilla Mastromarco, 2008. "Foreign Capital And Efficiency In Developing Countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 351-374, October.
    9. W. A. Naudé, 2004. "The effects of policy, institutions and geography on economic growth in Africa: an econometric study based on cross-section and panel data," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(6), pages 821-849.
    10. Romain Houssa & Oleg Badunenko & Daniel J. Henderson, 2010. "Explaining African Growth Performance: A Production-Frontier Approach," Working Papers 1013, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    11. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Ketterer, Tobias, 2016. "Institutions vs. ‘First-Nature’ Geography – What Drives Economic Growth in Europe’s Regions?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11322, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Danquah, Michael & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2017. "Assessing the relationships between human capital, innovation and technology adoption: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 24-33.
    13. Mateo Salazar, 2017. "The Effects of Climate on Output per Worker: Evidence from the Manufacturing Industry in Colombia," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 79(2), August.
    14. Nikolaev, Boris & Boudreaux, Christopher & Salahodjaev, Rauf, 2017. "Are individualistic societies less equal? Evidence from the parasite stress theory of values," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 30-49.
    15. Arazmuradov, Annageldy & Martini, Gianmaria & Scotti, Davide, 2014. "Determinants of total factor productivity in former Soviet Union economies: A stochastic frontier approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 115-135.
    16. Chen, Guo, 2013. "Health costs, factor productivity and foreign direct investment flows," Master's Theses and Plan B Papers 157717, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    17. Tobias D. Ketterer & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2018. "Institutions vs. ‘first‐nature’ geography: What drives economic growth in Europe's regions?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(S1), pages 25-62, March.
    18. Olivier Parent & Abdallah Zouache, 2009. "Geographical Features vs. Institutional Factors: New Perspectives on The Growth of Africa and Middle-East," Working Papers 490, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2009.
    19. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2013. "The history augmented Solow model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 134-149.
    20. Arvanitidis, Paschalis & Petrakos, George & Pavleas, Sotiris, 2007. "Determinants of economic growth: the experts’ view," Papers DYNREG20, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:44:y:2015:i:c:p:171-179. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.