This paper reviews the status of Agricultural Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa. It addresses the potential economic benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa and the effect biotechnology policies may have on growth, production and poverty reduction. The extent to which agricultural biotechnology will...

African economies are facing the critical challenge of raising the rate of GDP growth and sustaining high growth rates and thus meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The performance of agriculture is more paradoxical and African exports of industrial goods are dominated by mining and...

This paper studies the evolution of the foreign trade specialization in manufacturing sectors of South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt. These four countries, the so-called SANE, are recently viewed as Africa’s best chance of producing an economic bloc comparable to the BRIC economies of...

This paper examines the pattern of the labor market appraisal of workers’ schooling, focusing on the Northern regions of the country. The manufacturing industry is studied in particular since a large part of the economic activity is located in the North, relative to the rest of the country’s...

This paper estimates the returns to education in Guatemala, while attempting to account for self-employment and the presence of workers without monetary earnings in the economy, factors whose omission can potentially lead to sample selection bias. The analysis uses data from the Survey of Living...

Universities have come under increasing pressure to become key drivers of economic development in the age of the knowledge economy. Yet we know very little about the impact of university quality and scientific excellence on the probability of graduates finding jobs. This paper investigates the...

In this study we present the theoretical framework of the so called Mincerian equations used for modelling returns to education. Then, we construct a conceptual framework which allows us to answer the question “What happens to doctoral degree holders in the labour market?”. We analyse data...

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How...

In 1997, the French government put into effect a law that permanently exempted young French male citizens born after Jan 1, 1979 from mandatory military service while still requiring those born before that cutoff date to serve. This paper uses a regression discontinuity design to identify the...

An emerging body of literature examines the economic returns to quality of postsecondary education. This literature has predominantly focused on the returns to the most selective universities. However, less is known about the extent to which these gains are realized for the academically marginal...