Client: USAID

Year Completed: 2002

 

The EAGER project was designed to accelerate economic growth and equity in Sub-Saharan Africa and build applied research capacity by effectively applying research results to public policy initiatives.  Research topics were demand-driven, chosen by policymakers from the public and private sectors. 

 

IBI provided research and analysis on all studies carried out under this project, and co-authored several of them.  The following studies were completed by IBI:

 

• Bringing Down Barriers to Trade: The Experience of Trade Policy Reform

 

• Tanzania Precious Minerals Marketing: Study of current marketing patterns for gold and gemstones produced by Tanzania's estimated 550,000 artisanal miners found that they were contributing at least ten times current estimates to GDP, but that most materials were exported through Kenya. Recommended modified tax incentive structure, balancing large-scale formal mining with artisanal, and marketing improvements.

 

• Ghana Cross-Border Trade: Socioeconomic study of cross-border trade: incentives and effects.

 

• Foreign and Local Investment: Kenya, Uganda and Mauritius: Econometric study of the relationship between foreign and local investment based on international financial databases and case studies in Kenya, Uganda, and Mauritius. The purpose is to examine which leads the other under what circumstances, and explore synergies and trade-offs.

 

• The WTO/GATS and liberalization of financial services in Africa: Written before the financial crisis in Asia, this study noted the opportunities offered by globalization and computerization of financial services, but also warned of the risks for developing countries of rapid capital inflows and outflows.

 

• Fixing African Economies: Policy Research for Development (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004): Book includes case studies from 6 African countries on the impact of research on their policy making process.