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Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa
Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2017.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1867613510618316801 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Bittencourt, Manoel |
| author_browse | Bittencourt, Manoel |
| author_facet | Bittencourt, Manoel |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2017. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110188 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:18.025Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110188 Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa Bittencourt, Manoel carolyn.chisadza@up.ac.za Chisadza, Carolyn Democracy Fertility Conflict Globalisation Sub Saharan Africa Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2017. Modernisation encourages changes in economic and political development. This research studies modernisation processes in the sub-Saharan African region which are linked to political and economic development over the past 50 years. The Örst paper investigates the determinants of democracy using Lipsetís (1959) modernisation hypothesis. We Önd that previous empirical works that focus on income per capita as the main indicator for economic development may have understated the e§ects of other determinants such as education, urbanisation and industrialisation which are equally important in the process of development. We reÖne the methodological approach by using principle component analysis to create an íeconomic development íindex that combines the common factors in income per capita, education, urbanisation and industrialisation. We Önd robust results for the modernisation hypothesis in sub-Saharan Africa unlike previous works. The second paper investigates the fertility transition following several hypothesis put forward in literature as triggering fertility declines. The results indicate that in the absence of technological advancement, income per capita and infant mortality signiÖcantly lower fertility rates. However, when we introduce technology through instrumental variables, the macro-evidence places the region in a transitional phase from a Malthusian to a late Post-Malthusian period with education and industrialisation playing a signiÖcant role in contributing to the changes in fertility decisions. Further evidence from female education lowering fertility rates validates the results that the region is modernising and slowly abandoning traditional views about the role of women in societies. The third paper investigates the historical processes described by Pinker (2011) as reducing conáict. These include the paciÖcation and civilising processes, the humanitarian and rights revolutions, and the long periods of peace after World War II and the Cold War. We view these processes as encompassing globalisation, and hypothesise that globalisation and all it entails has created incentives that increase the opportunity cost of conáict. We Önd robust results for the pacifying e§ects of globalisation on conáict, even with the inclusion of commonly used conáict determinants such as income per capita, education, resource rents and democracy. Despite the delays that are associated with a transitioning phase, the evidence from the three papers indicates a modernising region that is progressing towards higher levels of economic and political development. Economics PhD (Economics) 2026-05-15T17:26:36Z 2026-05-15T17:26:36Z 17/02/07 2017 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110188 en application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Democracy Fertility Conflict Globalisation Sub Saharan Africa Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | Essays on political economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | essays on political economy in sub saharan africa |
| topic | Democracy Fertility Conflict Globalisation Sub Saharan Africa |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110188 |