In this hybrid research seminar on Thursday 31 October 2024 at 12:00 - 13:00 CET, Dr. Emmanuel Mensah (Utrecht University) will present the findings from his co-authored paper 'The Role of Exports for Income and Jobs in Sub-Saharan African Countries: New Evidence using the Africa Supply and Use Tables Database'.
Abstract from the paper:
This paper examines the role of exports for income and jobs in sub-Saharan African countries. It introduces the Africa Supply and Use Tables (ASUT) database, which provides annual data on the production structure of eleven countries from 1990 to 2019. For each country, official supply and use tables are benchmarked to national accounts and trade data that reflect production and usage by 20 sectors. Using input-output techniques, we provide a demand side analysis of structural change in Africa. Our analysis show that domestic demand predominantly accounts for the structural change patterns in Africa. However, for services, foreign demand accounts for increasing share of value added. Job contents of exports is mostly accounted for by agricultural and services exports. Our result is consistent with emerging literature which emphasizes services as important sources of growth in Africa, India, and China.
About the speaker:
Emmanuel B. Mensah is Assistant Professor at Utrecht University School of Economics. His research focuses on Macro-development, specializing in the economics and measurement of structural change. He obtained his Ph.D. from UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University and MSc from University of London. He has published in journals such as World Bank Economic Review and IMF Economic Review on Structural change and Industrialization in Africa. Emmanuel’s research has appeared in key media outlets such as The Economist. Emmanuel has consulted for several international organizations, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, and British International Investments, on structural change, industrialization, and global value chains in Africa.
The Zoom link to join the seminar online can be found here. This event is open to the public; all who are interested in this topic are very welcome to join the seminar, and there is also the opportunity to ask our speaker questions at the end of his presentation.
For any queries related to our UNU-MERIT Seminar Series, please contact Sneha Marydas and Cecilia Seri by sending an email to seminars@merit.unu.edu.