Fox, Louise

Person:
Fox, Louise

Office of the Chief Economist, Africa Region Department, World Bank

Fields of Specialization

Labor Economics (employment, measurement, policies); Economic Development (formal and informal sectors, institutions, planning and policy, data collection systems); Household Behavior and Family Economics, Welfare and Poverty; Sub-Saharan Africa

Departments

Office of the Chief Economist, Africa Region Department, World Bank

Last updated: January 31, 2023

Biography

Louise Fox is Lead Economist in the Africa Region, Her most recent research has been on the household enterprise sector in Sub-Saharan Africa – why these enterprises matter for jobs, growth, and poverty reduction. For the past ten years she has analyzed labor markets, employment and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa, and is coauthor of the regional report on youth employment. Prior to her current position, Dr. Fox spent more than 10 years working on issues of labor market adjustment, poverty and social protection in transition economies, including: China and Mongolia, the Baltic States, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Former Soviet Union. Before that she researched poverty, inequality and macroeconomic adjustment in Latin America. She has also published in the areas of employment creation, effectiveness of poverty reduction policies, pension reform, reform of child welfare systems, social protection, public expenditures in the social sectors and poverty reduction, female headed households and child welfare, stabilization policies and poverty reduction, the social costs of adjustment.

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 15

The Evidence Is In: How Should Youth Employment Programs in Low-Income Countries be Designed?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06) Kaul, Upaasna; Fox, Louise
Youth in many low-income countries are entering the labor force in unprecedented numbers, yet many struggle to secure rewarding livelihoods. This paper outlines the economic development challenges that constrain youth's transition into employment, and it parses the evidence on which programs and policies appear to speed that transition. It concludes that it may be time for a fundamental reassessment of approaches for addressing youth employment and the youth transition in low-income countries. Employment opportunities in low-income countries reflect the pace of economic and structural transformation. In designing strategies, policies, and programs to meet the entry-into-employment challenge for youth, the starting point is to diagnose the economy and current/future employment opportunities. Combined with the analysis of youth employment problems from a structural transformation perspective, evidence from rigorous evaluations of youth employment interventions provides new insight into which kinds of interventions are more likely to help youth succeed in certain contexts. The evidence reviewed here casts serious doubt on the efficacy and value of training interventions to help youth enter formal wage employment. The case is stronger for interventions that speed the transition to self-employment in farming or non-farm household enterprises. Support for development of transferable character skills and social integration among youth through positive youth development programs should be tested further for employment and earnings impacts, perhaps along with cash transfers to youth or access to finance. In reviewing the evidence on the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of youth employment impacts, the paper also notes the need for better measures of displacement and general equilibrium effects.
In the Mind, the Household, or the Market?: Concepts and Measurement of Women's Economic Empowerment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05) Romero, Carolina; Fox, Louise
The concept of empowerment is now widely used in several disciplines to characterize the states and social processes of individuals and communities. In economic development, the concept has come to mean women's power and agency in all economic domains and market-related interactions—earning, spending, and saving income; buying, owning, and selling assets; holding and inheriting wealth; starting and operating a business; acquiring a bank account or credit; and participating in or leading a union or other form of economic collective action. Measurement has lagged conceptualization. Most analytical research by economists, primarily involving impact evaluation, has measured empowerment as women's influence over household expenditures. This is a very narrow sliver of empowerment; not surprisingly, it is not well correlated with other economic or social outcomes. This paper suggests measuring empowerment in eight facets (a 4 x 2 matrix): (a) attitudes and (b) behaviors, in the domains of (i) transactions and markets; (ii) social interactions, including mobility and reproductive freedom; (iii) political and civic participation, including exercising legal rights; and (iv) psychology, including self-confidence and ability to seek mental health.
Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Washington, DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, 2014-01-27) Filmer, Deon; Fox, Louise; Brooks, Karen; Goyal, Aparajita; Mengistae, Taye; Premand, Patrick; Ringold, Dena; Sharma, Siddharth; Zorya, Sergiy
Sub-Saharan Africa has just experienced one of the best decades of growth since the 1960s. Between 2000 and 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than 4.5 percent a year on average, compared to around 2 percent in the prior 20 years (World Bank various years). In 2012, the region's GDP growth was estimated at 4.7 percent- 5.8 percent if South Africa is excluded (World Bank 2013). About one-quarter of countries in the region grew at 7 percent or better, and several African countries are among the fastest growing in the world. Medium-term growth prospects remain strong and should be supported by a rebounding global economy. The challenge of youth employment in Africa may appear daunting, yet Africa's vibrant youth represent an enormous opportunity, particularly now, when populations in much of the world are aging rapidly. Youth not only need jobs, but also create them. Africa's growing labor force can be an asset in the global marketplace. Realizing this brighter vision for Africa's future, however, will require a clearer understanding of how to benefit from this asset. Meeting the youth employment challenge in all its dimensions, demographic, economic, and social, and understanding the forces that created the challenge, can open potential pathways toward a better life for young people and better prospects for the countries where they live. The report examines obstacles faced by households and firms in meeting the youth employment challenge. It focuses primarily on productivity, in agriculture, in nonfarm household enterprises (HEs), and in the modern wage sector, because productivity is the key to higher earnings as well as to more stable, less vulnerable, livelihoods. To respond to the policy makers' dilemma, the report identifies specific areas where government intervention can reduce those obstacles to productivity for households and firms, leading to brighter employment prospects for youth, their parents, and their own children.
Education Reform in Mozambique : Lessons and Challenges
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012) Santibañez, Lucrecia; Fox, Louise; Nguyen, Vy; André, Pierre
The report opens with a brief description of the conceptual framework that guided the analysis as well as the data used. The next chapter presents the analysis of changes in household behavior and educational outcomes related to the implementation of the reforms, at both the primary and secondary levels. The descriptive nature of this analysis does not allow for inferences regarding the effects of the reforms on enrollment and demand for education. The following chapter presents the results of an econometric impact analysis of the reforms to quantify the magnitude of the effects on enrollment. In considering priorities for the future, the Government is paying increasing attention to the impact of the investments in education on growth, jobs, and poverty reduction, as measured by increased earnings from employment, and particularly by improving opportunities for the labor force to move to higher productivity activities and livelihoods. The next chapter presents the results on the changing structure of employment in Mozambique between 2003 and 2008, the impacts of education on employment opportunities, and the implications of these changes for education policy. The final chapter integrates the education and labor force analyses and provides strategic recommendations as Mozambique continues to improve educational outcomes, particularly for those population groups that have had the most difficulty entering and remaining in school.
Attacking Africa's Poverty : Experience from the Ground
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006) Liebenthal, Robert B.; Fox, Louise M.
By all measures, poverty in Africa as a whole has increased and deepened. But in fact, Africa contains a number of undocumented success stories of poverty reduction. This book presents case studies of thirteen of these success stories, giving grounds for some real hope, and providing useful learning for all policymakers, governments, businesses, service providers, non-governmental organizations, and donors. Case studies are drawn from the experiences of Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Kenya, Botswana, Mauritania, Tanzania, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, and Ghana.
Household Enterprises in Mozambique : Key to Poverty Reduction but Not on the Development Agenda?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-08) Sohnesen, Thomas Pave; Fox, Louise
Household enterprises -- usually one-person-operated tiny informal enterprises -- are a rapidly growing source of employment in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in lower-income countries. Household enterprises tend to operate with limited interest or support from governments. This is the case in Mozambique, where neither the poverty reduction strategy nor small and medium enterprise development policies include household enterprises. Using multiple household surveys, including a recent panel data set, this paper identifies the characteristics of the sector and its development during the period in which Mozambique experienced rapid economic growth. The analysis finds that household enterprises in Mozambique are associated with higher household consumption, lower rural poverty, as well as upward mobility, particularly for rural and poorly educated households. But if the Mozambican government wants to tap this potential, it will need a different strategy than one designed to support small and medium enterprises, because creation and survival in this sector seems to depend on a set of factors related to the human capital in the household and development in the location, not the soft business environment constraints, such as licensing and permitting and corruption, which are cited by larger business.
Different Dreams, Same Bed : Collecting, Using, and Interpreting Employment Statistics in Sub-Saharan Africa--The Case of Uganda
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-05) Pimhidzai, Obert; Fox, Louise
Employment and earnings statistics are the key link between the size and structure of economic growth and the welfare of households, which is the ultimate goal of development policy, so it is important to monitor employment outcomes consistently. A cursory review of employment data for low-income Sub-Saharan African countries shows both large gaps and improbable variation within countries over time and among countries, suggesting that low quality data are routinely reported by national statistics offices. Unfortunately, policies are formed and projects developed and implemented on the basis of these statistics. Therefore, errors of measurement could be having profound implications on the strategic priorities and policies of a country. This paper explains the improbable results observed by using data from Uganda, where the labor module contains variation both within and across surveys, to show the sensitivity of employment outcomes to survey methodology. It finds that estimates of employment outcomes are unreliable if the questionnaire did not use screening questions, as labor force participation will be underestimated. Likewise, surveys that use a seven-day recall period underestimate or potentially misrepresent employment outcomes, owing to seasonality and multiple jobs. Common multivariate analysis applied on household survey data will be affected, as the errors in measurement in the dependent and independent variables will be correlated. Corrections to reduce measurement bias in existing data are tested with the survey data; none are found to be completely satisfactory. The paper concludes that there is a knowledge gap about employment outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa that will continue unless collection techniques improve.
The Household Enterprise Sector in Tanzania : Why It Matters and Who Cares
(2011-11-01) Kweka, Josaphat; Fox, Louise
The household enterprise sector has a significant role in the Tanzanian economy. It employs a larger share of the urban labor force than wage employment, and is increasingly seen as an alternative to agriculture as a source of additional income for rural and urban households. The sector is uniquely placed within the informal sector, where it represents both conditions of informal employment and informal enterprise. This paper presents a case study on Tanzania using a mixed approach by combining both quantitative and qualitative analysis to examine the important role of household enterprises in the labor force of Tanzania, and to identify key factors that influence their productivity. Household enterprise owners are similar to typical labor force participants although primary education appears to be the minimum qualification for household enterprise operators to be successful. Access to location matters -- good, secure location in a marketplace or industrial cluster raises earnings - and access to transport and electricity is found to have a significant effect on earnings as well. In large urban areas, the biggest constraint faced by household enterprises is the lack of access to secure workspace to run the small business. Although lack of credit is a problem across all enterprises in Tanzania, household enterprises are more vulnerable because they are largely left out of the financial sector either as savers or borrowers. Although HEs are part of the livelihood strategies of over half of households in Tanzania, they are ignored in the current development policy frameworks, which emphasize formalization, not productivity. Tanzania has a large number of programs and projects for informal enterprises, but there is no set of policies and program interventions targeted at the household enterprise sector. This gap exacerbates the vulnerability of household enterprises, and reduces their productivity.
Household Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa : Why They Matter for Growth, Jobs, and Livelihoods
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-08) Sohnesen, Thomas Pave; Fox, Louise
Despite 40 percent of households relying on household enterprises (non-farm enterprises operated by a single individual or with the help of family members) as an income source, household enterprises are usually ignored in low-income Sub-Saharan-African development strategies. Yet analysis of eight countries shows that although the fast growing economies generated new private non-farm wage jobs at high rates, household enterprises generated most new jobs outside agriculture. Owing to the small size of the non-farm wage job sector, this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This analysis of enterprises and their owners shows that although it is a heterogeneous sector within countries, there are many similarities across countries, indicating that cross-country learning is possible. For labor force participants who want to use their skills and energy to create a non-farm income source for themselves and their families, household enterprises offer a good opportunity even if they remain small. The paper finds that given household human capital and location, household enterprise earnings have the same marginal effect on consumption as private wage and salary employment. The authors argue that household enterprises should be seen as part of an integrated job and development strategy.
Is Informality Welfare-Enhancing Structural Transformation? Evidence from Uganda
(2011-10-01) Pimhidzai, Obert; Fox, Louise
While Africa's recent decade of growth and poverty reduction performance has been lauded, concern has been expressed regarding the structure of this growth. In particular, questions have been raised about whether the growth is based on a commodities boom, or whether it is the beginning of a structural transformation that will lift workers from low-productivity jobs into higher-productivity ones. Macro evidence has suggested that the structural transformation has not started. But macro analysis misses the evidence that the process of transformation has started, because this process begins at the household level. Household livelihoods do not move from ones based on subsistence farming and household level economic activities into livelihoods based on individual wage and salary employment away from the household in one leap -- this process takes generations. The intermediate step is the productive informal sector. It is income gains at the household level in this sector that fuel productivity increases, savings, and investment in human capital in this sector. Ensuring that most households are able to diversify their livelihoods into the non-farm sector through productive informality not only increases growth, but also allows the majority of the population to share in the growth process. This paper illustrates this point with the case of Uganda which followed this path and experienced two decades of sustained growth and poverty reduction.