Louise Fox

Louise's childhood was a living nightmare. Repeatedly sexually abused by her mother's out-of-control boyfriend, the little five year old was surrounded by evil. Louise was beaten with leather belts, starved and neglected, as the family suffered at the hands of both their mother and her partner. Finally, her tormentor was arrested. But her mother stood by him and Louise was dragged to prison visits every week, forced to sit on her abuser's knee and tell him how much she loved him and wanted him to come home. The horror continued when her mother found a new partner even worse than the last. Within months he was assaulting and eventually raping Louise. Taken into care, Louise ended up addicted to drugs and selling her body. But the birth of her child saw Louise vow to turn her life around - and that is just what she did. She broke free, and MUMMY, MAKE IT STOP, is the true story of a brave spirit that refused to be crushed.

Mummy, Make it Stop

Ana Maria Oviedo

The authors use firm-level survey data from the manufacturing sector in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries to explore the links between labor market regulations and net job creation. A first look at firm characteristics, perceptions, and the dynamics of employment at the firm level suggests that labor regulations are not the main "binding constraint" on job creation. Other issues seem more important at this level of development. The analysis estimates the determinants of net job creation incorporating the legal origin of the country as a proxy for regulation. The findings show that, after controlling for other firm-level characteristics, legal origin is uncorrelated with net job creation in the short run.

Institutions and Labor Market Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Using recent matched employer-employee data from the manufacturing sector in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, the authors analyze how the supply of skills and legal origin of the country affect the wage setting process. The wage analysis yields three main findings. First, increasing returns to education, especially for older workers, suggest that the expansion of education in Africa has reduced returns to education for entrants in the labor market. Second, age effects matter not just for returns to education, but also for the wage setting process more generally. In particular, in civil-law countries, returns to seniority are rewarded only after a certain age. Third, workers exercise some power in the wage setting process but their influence varies by linguistic group. In common-law countries, union presence benefits all workers equally, not just members, whereas in civil-law countries, only older members enjoy higher wages. The authors also contrast wage premia with relative marginal productivities for different age, occupation, and education categories. The findings show that in general, older, highly educated, and highly ranked workers receive wage premia that do not reflect a higher relative marginal productivity.

Are Skills Rewarded in Sub-Saharan Africa? Determinants of Wages and Productivity in the Manufacturing Sector

Deon Filmer

"The series is sponsored by the Agence Francaise de Developpement and the World Bank."

Louise Fox

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