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El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies

Many of Africa’s economies are mineral based. Their sustainability and their macroeconomic vulnerability to market fluctuations are accordingly matters of direct concern. This thesis asks how much of the proceeds of mining in such countries can be safely spent each year. Using El Serafy’s approach t...

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Main Author: Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
Other Authors: Leiman, Anthony
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Economics 2019
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access_status_str Open Access
author Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
author2 Leiman, Anthony
author_browse Leiman, Anthony
Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
author_facet Leiman, Anthony
Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
author_sort Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
collection Thesis
description Many of Africa’s economies are mineral based. Their sustainability and their macroeconomic vulnerability to market fluctuations are accordingly matters of direct concern. This thesis asks how much of the proceeds of mining in such countries can be safely spent each year. Using El Serafy’s approach to the ‘proper’ definition of National Income, it recomputes Net Domestic Product in 11 mineral-based African economies and tests for their macroeconomic sustainability. The study finds a disturbingly poor level of sustainability in several of them; with aggregate expenditures in excess of the levels posited under efficient resource rent management given the El Serafy User cost approach. The study estimates the budget deficit and national debt as a proportion of net national product adjusted for mineral resource depletion in each country and evaluates the outcome by comparison with standard ‘rules of thumb’ concerning ‘acceptable’ fiscal deficits and national debt levels. The outcome reveals that using GDP as an anchor as opposed to an ‘appropriate’ measure that adjust for mineral resource depletion by policy-makers may lead to the implementation of sub-optimal economic policies which are detrimental for sustainable income growth and development. The findings from the study therefore highlight the need for more efficient resource management as well as the development of a ’properly defined‘ national income which corrects for resource depletion to inform sustainable fiscal policy.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
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publisher School of Economics
publisherStr School of Economics
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29720 El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain Leiman, Anthony national income, El-Serafy User cost, sustainability, mineral resources Many of Africa’s economies are mineral based. Their sustainability and their macroeconomic vulnerability to market fluctuations are accordingly matters of direct concern. This thesis asks how much of the proceeds of mining in such countries can be safely spent each year. Using El Serafy’s approach to the ‘proper’ definition of National Income, it recomputes Net Domestic Product in 11 mineral-based African economies and tests for their macroeconomic sustainability. The study finds a disturbingly poor level of sustainability in several of them; with aggregate expenditures in excess of the levels posited under efficient resource rent management given the El Serafy User cost approach. The study estimates the budget deficit and national debt as a proportion of net national product adjusted for mineral resource depletion in each country and evaluates the outcome by comparison with standard ‘rules of thumb’ concerning ‘acceptable’ fiscal deficits and national debt levels. The outcome reveals that using GDP as an anchor as opposed to an ‘appropriate’ measure that adjust for mineral resource depletion by policy-makers may lead to the implementation of sub-optimal economic policies which are detrimental for sustainable income growth and development. The findings from the study therefore highlight the need for more efficient resource management as well as the development of a ’properly defined‘ national income which corrects for resource depletion to inform sustainable fiscal policy. 2019-02-22T07:30:38Z 2019-02-22T07:30:38Z 2018 2019-02-22T05:59:57Z Master Thesis Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29720 eng application/pdf School of Economics Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle national income, El-Serafy User cost, sustainability, mineral resources
Moussi, Sopp Louis Romain
El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
thesis_degree_str Master's
title El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
title_full El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
title_fullStr El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
title_full_unstemmed El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
title_short El Serafy User costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in Africa's mineral rich economies
title_sort el serafy user costs and their implications for macroeconomic policy in africa s mineral rich economies
topic national income, El-Serafy User cost, sustainability, mineral resources
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29720
work_keys_str_mv AT moussisopplouisromain elserafyusercostsandtheirimplicationsformacroeconomicpolicyinafricasmineralricheconomies