Ndongo Sylla

The CFA franc was established in 1945 as a colonial currency. As such, its rationale was to transfer economic surpluses from the French colonies in West and Central Africa to the metropolis. Despite formal decolonisation, this currency shared by 14 countries still performs the same function and remains under the political control of the French government. Recently, the CFA franc has been increasingly challenged by a growing number of African intellectuals and Pan-Africanist social movements demanding its abolition. The objective of this article is to derive lessons about African monetary integration, building on this special but heuristic case. Following a brief history of the CFA franc currency arrangement and a description of its economic shortcomings, this article discusses the options for moving out of the monetary status quo. The author argues that, in the current circumstances, a system of solidary national currencies is the best way forward for African monetary integration. N...

One of the central premises of the literature on financialisation is that we have been living in a new era of capitalism, characterised by a historical shift in the finance-production nexus. Finance has expanded to a disproportionate economic size and, more importantly, has divorced from productive economic pursuits. In this paper, we explore these claims of ‘expansion’ and ‘divorce’ based on a longue durée analysis of the link between finance and production in Senegal and Ghana. As such, we de-centre the dominant approach to financialisation. Seen from the South, we argue that although there has been expansion of financial motives and practices the ‘divorce’ between the financial and the productive economy cannot be considered a new empirical phenomenon having occurred during the last decades and even less an epochal shift of the capitalist system. The tendency for finance to neglect the needs of the domestic productive sector has been the structural operation of finance in many pa...

One of the central premises of the literature on financialisation is that we have been living in a new era of capitalism, characterised by a historical shift in the finance-production nexus. Finance has begun to behave ‘abnormally’ towards production. It has expanded to a disproportionate economic size and, more importantly, has divorced from ‘legitimate’ economic pursuits. In this paper we explore these claims of ‘expansion’ and ‘divorce’. We argue that although there has been expansion of financial motives and practices the ‘divorce’ between the financial and the productive economy cannot be considered a new empirical phenomenon having occurred during the last decades and even less an epochal shift of the capitalist system. The neglect of the needs of a self-centered economy has been the ‘normal’ and structural operation of finance in most of the former European colonies in the Global South during the last 150 years. We provide evidence to that effect with a longue durée study of ...

Resume. Le concept de chomage «standard» est souvent critique parce qu'il omet de nombreuses personnes classees comme travaillant ou inactives, alors qu'elles sont de fait dans une situation equivalant au chomage. L'auteur examine les limites de ce concept dans les pays en developpement. Il commence par les problemes methodologiques et statistiques associes a la definition type du taux de chomage, puis s'interroge sur sa signification lorsque l'emploi est tres heterogene. Il montre ensuite que ce taux tend a sous-estimer l'exces d'offre de travail et qu'il est un mauvais indicateur du deficit de travail decent. Il conclut sur les limites de ce taux en tant que guide de la politique economique.

Resumen. La definicion estadistica «estandar» de desempleo suele criticarse porque excluye a muchas personas, consideradas ocupadas o inactivas, cuya situacion es comparable en realidad a la de desempleo. El autor analiza los problemas metodologicos y estadisticos asociados a esta definicion, asi como su inadecuacion a los paises en desarrollo, donde el empleo es muy heterogeneo. Demuestra ademas que la tasa de desempleo tiende a subestimar el excedente de oferta de mano de obra y es un mal indicador del deficit de trabajo decente. Por ultimo, destaca sus limites en tanto que orientador de la politica economica.

Abstract.The "standard" unemployment rate is often criticized for omitting large numbers of people who are classified as employed or as not economically inactive, when in fact their situation amounts to unemployment. The author discusses the limitations of this standard definition for developing countries. After reviewing the methodological and statistical problems posed by the standard rate, he looks at the reality behind the words in contexts where the labour market is highly segmented. He shows that the standard unemployment rate underestimates excess labour supply and is a poor indicator of the Decent Work deficit, and considers its limitations in guiding economic policy.The unemployment rate is widely used as an indicator of labour absorption problems, wasted human resources, labour market performance, success of economic policies, and even the risks of inflationary tensions.1 Despite such broad appeal, however, it is a controversial and much criticized concept. Indeed, unemployment figures everywhere are hotly debated.This article considers the limitations of the "standard" - or "open" - unemployment rate in developing countries. It starts by reviewing the methodological and statistical problems associated with the standard rate, going on to look at the reality behind the words in contexts where the labour market is highly segmented. After showing how the standard unemployment rate underestimates excess labour supply and is a poor indicator of the Decent Work deficit, the discussion turns to its limitations in guiding economic policy.Methodological and statistical problemsOne of the main criticisms levelled at the standard unemployment rate is that it is only a meaningful indicator of excess labour supply in contexts where most employment is in fact full-time and protected wage employment. In other contexts, "time-related underemployment" (persons working fewer hours than they would like) and "inadequate employment situations" (in terms of income, occupational skills, and excessive hours of work) can be more meaningful than "unemployment" in the sense of being without work.2The ILO definition of unemployment, and its limitationsIn paragraph 10 of the resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment,3 adopted by the Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, the "unemployed" are defined as all persons who, during the reference period, met the following three criteria:* were without work;* were available for paid employment or self-employment;* were seeking work.The resolution specifies that in countries - such as developing countries - where "the conventional means of seeking work are of limited relevance, where the labour market is largely unorganised or of limited scope, where labour absorption is, at the time, inadequate or where the labour force is largely self-employed", the standard definition of unemployment may be applied by relaxing the third criterion: that of seeking work.The unemployment rate is thus defined as the number of unemployed persons who match the above criteria, divided by the economically active population. This is hereafter referred to as the standard, or open, unemployment rate.This standardized approach has the major disadvantage, however, of painting only a partial, and thus biased, picture of excess labour supply in the labour market. First, it does not classify as unemployed those persons who are "not economically active" but who would be willing to work if they were offered a job. Second, it is based on an overly broad concept of employment, in which people working very few hours and earning very little are not classified as unemployed, despite the fact that their situation is basically one of unemployment. While these statistical problems are not specific to developing countries, they are more marked in the developing world. …

Abstract:Senegal's status as a leading democracy on the African continent is a contested one, challenged in new ways in each election and yet maintained over time through high levels of citizen participation and vigorous competition. The February 2019 presidential elections was no exception. With the benefit of incumbency advantages, Macky Sall won in the first round against a narrowed set of competitors. His victory reflects three major trends in sub-Saharan Africa today: the politicization and delegitimation of institutions of electoral administration, the rising popularity of "youth" candidates, and the drive toward postelection executive centralization.

The CFA franc was established in 1945 as a colonial currency. As such, its rationale was to transfer economic surpluses from the French colonies in West and Central Africa to the metropolis. Despite formal decolonisation, this currency shared by 14 countries still performs the same function and remains under the political control of the French government. Recently, the CFA franc has been increasingly challenged by a growing number of African intellectuals and Pan-Africanist social movements demanding its abolition. The objective of this article is to derive lessons about African monetary integration, building on this special but heuristic case. Following a brief history of the CFA franc currency arrangement and a description of its economic shortcomings, this article discusses the options for moving out of the monetary status quo. The author argues that, in the current circumstances, a system of solidary national currencies is the best way forward for African monetary integration.

Ndongo Samba Sylla argues that the CFA franc - officially created on 26 December 1945 by a decree of General de Gaulle - used across much of Africa today is a colonial relic. For those hoping to export competitive products, obtain affordable credit, work for the integration of continental trade, or fight for an Africa free from imperialist control, the CFA franc is an anachronism demanding orderly and methodical elimination

This paper focuses on the most neglected case of monetary dependency: the CFA franc. This currency arrangement was born in 1945, during the colonial era, but it still operates in the same ways more than 70 years later in fourteen countries in Africa, mostly former French colonies. Engaging with the seminal African scholarship by Joseph Pouemi on internal and external monetary repression and the emergent literature on "financial subordination," we introduce the notion of the "chain of monetary dependency," consisting of an external and an internal part. We argue that the CFA franc provides an extreme but paradigmatic example of this chain. The CFA franc is paradigmatic because of the very strong external repression of monetary and financial policy through US dollar and euro dependence. Internally, the CFA franc arrangement radicalizes the constraints imposed on all central bank policies and bank-firm relations in the Global South and makes it more difficult to pur...

This article discusses Samir Amin’s intellectual and activist contribution to the political economy of decolonisation in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on his fight from 1969 to 1975 for the monetary sovereignty of West African countries using the CFA franc, a colonial currency that survived independence. Amin was an advisor to Niger’s President Hamani Diori alongside whom he fought to end monetary colonialism. As an alternative to the CFA franc, Amin recommended an ambitious economic integration for the West Africa region based on mutually supportive national currencies. Although his proposal would meet opposition from France, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, his economic case against the CFA franc is still relevant. With regard to the ongoing protests against the CFA franc, it is important to recall a major teaching from Amin: although monetary autonomy is necessary for economic development in peripheral countries, without a delinking strategy its effects will be limited.

Cette presente recherche porte sur les inegalites de genre sur le marche du travail senegalais durant la decennie 1990 (1992-2002). Par cette expression, il faut entendre les inegalites entre hommes et femmes en (i) termes d’acces a l’emploi remunere ; (ii) d’opportunites d’emplois (segregation de l’emploi) (iii) de conditions de travail ; et (iv) de remunerations. Notre hypothese de depart est que la prise en compte des specificites des marches du travail des pays en developpement est un prealable pour toute etude des inegalites de statut economique entre hommes et femmes. En effet, compares aux marches du travail des pays developpes, ceux des pays en developpement se caracterisent par la grande heterogeneite des relations d’emploi. Or, l’inegale repartition des hommes et des femmes a travers les differents statuts et secteurs institutionnels est l’une des facettes les plus importantes des inegalites de genre dans ce type de contexte. Elle implique d’emblee une segmentation de l’em...

Esgrimido constantemente para elogiar los prometedores rendimientos de numerosas economias africanas, el concepto de “pais emergente” ofrece una etiqueta para aquellos que se pliegan a los dogmas neoliberales y a las exigencias del Fondo Monetario Internacional y del Banco Mundial. Pero, ante todo, no logra ocultar lo ilusorio de un progreso del que solo se beneficia una minoria.

One of the central premises of the literature on financialisation is that we have been living in a new era of capitalism, characterised by a historical shift in the finance-production nexus. Finance has begun to behave 'abnormally' towards production. It has expanded to a disproportionate economic size and, more importantly, has divorced from 'legitimate' economic pursuits. In this paper we explore these claims of 'expansion' and 'divorce'. We argue that although there has been expansion of financial motives and practices the 'divorce' between the financial and the productive economy cannot be considered a new empirical phenomenon having occurred during the last decades and even less an epochal shift of the capitalist system. The neglect of the needs of a self-centered economy has been the 'normal' and structural operation of finance in most of the former European colonies in the Global South during the last 150 years. We provide evide...

Ndèye is a young woman who is employed as a domestic worker in Dakar. Like most domestic workers, she is not a native of the capital of Senegal. Having lost her parents at a young age, she was raised by her aunt who is also her guardian. Like many other young women, Ndèye migrated to the capital city for work. Her income helps to support her two brothers under the care of her aunt. Given their low wages-generally below the minimum wage (around EUR 84 per month)-domestic workers cannot afford to rent a single room. They often share crowded accommodations with several others From informal worker to African legal subject: thinking through... https://www.africaportal.org/features/informal-worker-african-le...

The financialization debate has not paid enough attention to the African continent. The continent’s populations and governments have found creative ways of dealing with the capitalist world market and political power relations since decolonization in the late 1950s. However, several forms of structural dependence and subordination persist. We ask in this article how the global process of financialization has unfolded across the continent and what it means for relations of dependence. We understand financialization as the global expansion of financial practices, and, in particular, the financial sector, that followed the end of the Bretton Woods era. We consider to what extent it has occurred at all in the four case study countries of Mauritius, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa. The empirical analysis of aggregate country data shows that financialization is, at best, an uneven and patchy process on the continent, not a general structural shift in the way capital accumulation is orga...

The financialization debate has not paid enough attention to the African continent. The continent’s populations and governments have found creative ways of dealing with the capitalist world market and political power relations since decolonization in the late 1950s. However, several forms of structural dependence and subordination persist. We ask in this article how the global process of financialization has unfolded across the continent and what it means for relations of dependence. We understand financialization as the global expansion of financial practices, and, in particular, the financial sector, that followed the end of the Bretton Woods era. We consider to what extent it has occurred at all in the four case study countries of Mauritius, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa. The empirical analysis of aggregate country data shows that financialization is, at best, an uneven and patchy process on the continent, not a general structural shift in the way capital accumulation is orga...