The notion that lack of knowledge undermines the economic performance of African countries is deeply and widely held to be true. Yet evidence for the basis of that truth is few and far in-between. This paper first describes a production function approach to the creation of knowledge of African...

Are certain groups of unemployed individuals hurt less by unemployment than others? This paper is an attempt to test the hypothesis that non- pecuniary costs of unemployment may vary between societies with different unemployment rates. Using cross-sectional data from the SALDRU93 survey, we show...

Are happiness patterns structurally the same when comparing poor and rich countries? Using cross-sectional data from the SALDRU93 survey, we show that the relationships between subjective well-being and socioeconomic variables have a similar structure and is U-shaped in age in South Africa as in...

Three issues are addressed in this paper. First, we use both household and macro data to establish how fast per capita consumption and incomes grew in Ghana in the 1990s. Second, we ask how much of the rise in incomes was due to rises in the level of human capital and how much reflected...

This paper is the first of its kind to study quality of life responses of crime victims. Using cross-sectional data from the OHS97 survey of South Africa, we show that victims report significantly lower well-being than the non-victims, ceteris paribus. Happiness is lower for nonvictimized...

A flexible production function analysis is addressed to Namibia's data for the 1968-1992 period to test for evidence of structural problems in sectoral and sub-sectoral performance. The analysis found the primary sector to be characterized by constant returns to scale through the entire 25...

I outline four, and calculate two, broad indices of the diversity of technical capability of 14 African countries based on nine common descriptors of technical capability. I find technical capability to be heterogenous, and conclude that performance policies that ignore technical diversity of...

This short paper analyzes Namibia's data from 1968 to 1992 in order to determine the role of exports in economic growth. The analysis confirms the general importance of exports, but finds no discernible sign of accelerated growth because of it. There is some evidence supporting the political...

This abstract will be reformatted upon submission. You don't need to format for line-breaks here!!!!! This will be a new paragraph but you can't indent - sorry. Now remember the good old days of cards. Punched holes in The Journal of Economic Perspectives (Summer, 1999: 3-114) published a...

This essay develops a transcendental variable elasticity of substitution (Trans-VES) production function in which hypotheses concerning scale, output-input, and substitution, elasticities can be examined. The objective is to determine the impacts of domestic resources on the pattern of economic...