This book presents empirical evidence on manufacturing firm performance in Africa based on the World Bank Enterprise Survey and on a one-time quantitative survey conducted for the World Bank by Oxford University's Centre for the Study of African Economies. Because of their institutional environment, their labor productivity is low, and their labor costs also tend to be low. Key constraints to firm growth vary by country, by sector, and by firm size. But the binding constraints for most large formal firms in Africa are access to finance and to electricity. The binding constraints for small firms tend to be access to finance and competition from foreign firms. After controlling for differences in firm characteristics, geography, infrastructure, political and institutional factors, business environment, and finance, the authors show that African manufacturing actually has a conditional advantage in productivity and sales growth. Political and institutional factors (especially party monopoly), access to finance, and the nature of the business environment are key to explaining the disadvantage of African countries in firm performance relative to countries at similar levels of income in which firms perform better. The results of the new Oxford survey, which covers both formal and informal firms, shed light on manufacturing firm performance in Africa in relation to that in Asian countries such as China. The survey results suggest that, whatever the reasons for China's success relative to Africa, it is unlikely to be less regulation. Indeed, China seems to have more stringent registration requirements and labor laws. It is also unlikely to be corruption, lower labor or land costs, or social networks: Chinese firms report fewer links with banks and politicians and fewer business friends. There also are no strong differences across the countries in the rate at which individual firms innovate and invest. The dimensions along which Chinese firms are at an advantage appear to be finance, competition, information about innovations, and educational attainment. Asian workers and entrepreneurs have more schooling. Nonetheless, education is not a good predictor of how quickly production workers can become fully active in firm operations.

Soon after a casual relationship, Emma discovers that she has contracted genital herpes, a condition she had scarcely known to exist. Her father, Ernest, and new boyfriend, Sam, will soon join her in a struggle to cope with one of the forgotten diseases of our day. And while each will choose a different solution-one, counselling; another, medicine; the last, the law-all three will learn that their path to recovery is far from assured.

Moved by the pain he has witnessed amongst herpes sufferers and the people close to them, R. G. Clarke has crafted a novel about the heroic fight that millions of people wage every day, not just against a disease but also against the stigma that society willingly attaches to it. With a hint of mystery and the slightest dash of a thriller, "Stigma" will entertain as well as inform.

In this clear and concise text, Roger Clarke provides balanced and comprehensive coverage of the core topics in industrial economics.
Industrial Economics concentrates on the development of analytic principles in the subject, considering available statistical and descriptive evidence as appropriate. The text uses a non-mathematical approach as far as possible.