Contenu du sommaire : 13ème Conférence internationale de l'AFD sur le développement – « Inégalités et lien social »

The paper first documents the evolution of consumption inequality in 29 Sub-Saharan African countries over 1991-2011 on the basis of a new dataset accounting for over 80% of the population and GDP of the region. The study identifies a trend bifurcation, with 17 countries showing a decline in inequality and 12 an increase. Second, the paper aims at identifying the determinants of the observed inequality divergence by means of a theoretical discussion, summary review of the literature, and multivariate regression analysis. The results indicate that the main cause of such changes were shifts in output structure among sectors characterized by different levels of inequality. Within-sector inequality linked to skill-biased technical change significantly affected inequality in urban areas, but a lack of data did not make it possible to assess the impact of rising land concentration. Income redistribution by means of tax-and-transfers was limited, except in Southern Africa. As for the impact of international variables: an increase in the international prices of oil/metals and cash crops affected inequality by raising the value added shares of mining and agriculture. Remittances were found to be equalizing, while FDIs were un-equalizing and ODA non-significant. A decline in the incidence of HIV-AIDS and conflict intensity reduced inequality in a limited but statistically significant way.JEL Codes: C33, E26, J11, O11, Q15.

The objective of this study is to analyze the role of school in inequalities in access to the Cameroonian labor market. Inequalities are captured by the influence of parents' status in accessing different sectors of the labor market. The data used comes from the Enquête sur l'Emploi et le Secteur Informel (EESI 1 and 2) conducted in 2005 and 2010. The estimation of structural equation models and log linear models shows that, on the whole, schools contribute to reduce inequalities. However, between 2005 and 2010, this role of the school decreased. In the most solicited sector, particularly the public sector, the schools are struggling to reduce inequalities of access because the influence of parents increases with time and level of education. For the attention of policy-makers, we suggest developing policies that aim to reduce the growing influence of parents in this solicited sector.

The objective of this article is to assess the distributive impact of private transfers received by households in Senegal using data from the Senegal Poverty Monitoring Survey of 2011. This assessment is based on the comparison of the distribution of disposable income compared to that of counterfactual income in the absence of transfers. This counterfactual income is constructed according to two scenarios. The results of the first scenario, assuming that private transfers received have no effect on household behavior, indicate that private transfers are equalizing as disposable income is more egalitarian than counterfactual income excluding transfers. The equalizing effect of private transfers appears to be mainly driven by domestic private transfers. Lifting the assumption that transfers are exogenous, the second scenario suggests that the indirect effect of private transfers is potentially very significant and even more equalizing than the direct effect. While the literature rather emphasizes the distributive impact of international transfers, the results obtained here highlight the important role that private domestic transfers might play in reducing income inequality.

The Greek economic crisis resulted in a decline in household disposable income by more than 40%. Even though all population groups lost income in absolute terms, some were substantially more severely hit by the crisis. The paper examines the effect of the crisis on the population shares, the mean incomes and the level of poverty of various population groups using SILC data for the period 2007-2016. The population is partitioned according to four criteria: socioeconomic group of the household head, presence of unemployed individuals in the household, age of the population member and household type. When “anchored” poverty lines and distribution-sensitive poverty indices are employed, the level of poverty rises to incredibly high levels. When the poverty lines used are “relative”, the poverty rate does not change substantially but when distribution-sensitive indices are used the increase in poverty is very substantial. The most interesting results are related to the changes in the structure of poverty. The crisis was associated with a very substantial increase in unemployment. Unemployment protection in Greece was inadequate while there was no “benefit of last resort”. As a result, the relative position of households with unemployed members (and, especially, with unemployed heads) deteriorated sharply, while their contribution to aggregate poverty skyrocketed. Unlike what is often claimed in the Greek public discourse, the relative position of pensioner-headed households improved, although they also experienced a considerable decline in their living standards.JEL Codes: D31, I31, I32.

Over the past decade a growing body of work has begun to engage with the task of rethinking development finance for the 21st century. In a field dominated by innovative finance and sector- specific proposals, this paper sets out to consider the case for a more structured system of international fiscal allocations: Global Public Investment. The core characteristics of Global Public Investment are its potential to enhance the supply of public goods, services and infrastructure globally, through raising each year a nominal, fixed portion of national income as GPI funds and re-allocating those marked funds on a per-capita or other needs-indexed basis. In such a scheme all countries would pay in according to ability and receive according to need and all would have a fair share in negotiating contributions and priority-setting alike. The paper begins by overviewing four historical dynamics presently bringing the seven-decades old system of ODA to an end and examines whether GPI represents a feasible means of addressing the problem of “the end of aid” (Severino and Ray, 2009). It then considers what such a system of structured international public finance would focus on before turning to examine some of the critiques and challenges that any form of statutory international public finance must address. The second half of the paper outlines how a system of GPI might possibly work in practice before turning, finally, to consider the centrality of social cohesion to this vision. The potential role of GPI in enhancing social cohesion is considered in relation to increased cooperation, democratic engagement, and social productivity.JEL Codes: B52, F02, F35, F38, F55, H39, H4.