Nexus between inflation, income inequality, and economic growth in Ethiopia.

The relationship between inflation, income inequality, and economic growth is a subject of intense debate among economic researchers and policymakers. This study aims to analyze this relationship in Ethiopia using advanced statistical techniques such as VEC (vector error correction) model with Granger causality, and Johansen's cointegrated. The study covers the period from 1980 to 2022 and includes pre and post-estimation diagnosis tests to ensure the accuracy of the model. The results indicate the presence of a long-run relationship among inflation, income inequality, and economic growth, as confirmed by Johansen's cointegrated test. Additionally, the vector error correction model shows a strong long-run relationship between economic growth, income inequality, and inflation. In the short run, there is a significant association between income inequality and economic growth, as well as between inflation and economic growth. The Granger causality test reveals a bidirectional causality between economic growth and income inequality and between economic growth and inflation. However, there is a unidirectional causality from inflation to income inequality. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the government should implement various strategies and policies, including redistribution policies, social safety nets, promoting inclusive economic growth, coordinating effective monetary and fiscal policies, implementing progressive taxation, and reforming the labor market.

Status and determinants of saving behavior and intensity in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities of Afar regional state, Ethiopia.

Saving is a crucial tool for enhancing the livelihoods of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, but due to a number of factors, its status and intensity are still in their infancy. Because of this, the current state of saving practices, their causes, and the size of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are all examined in this study. A multi-stage sampling process was used to determine the 600 typical selected households. In order to assess the data, a double hurdle model was used. From the descriptive analysis result, only 35% of pastoral and agro-pastoral groups were savers. In comparison to their counterparts, households who have access to credit, are financially literate, engage in non-farm activities, cultivate crops in addition to livestock husbandry, use informal financial institutions, are educated, and wealthier are more likely to be savers and eager to save a larger amount of property. Households with more livestock and who live far away from formal financial institutions, on the other hand, are less likely to be savers and save only a small fraction of their income. Male-headed families are more likely to participate in saving decisions, whereas female-headed households must save more than their male counterparts once they have opted to save. Instead of relying on ineffective monetary policy (changing interest rates), any concerned bodies should emphasize mixed farming practices, establish financial institutions nearby to improve saving habits, provide non-farm training, and empower women in order to close the gap between savers and non-savers and mobilize resources to save and invest. Furthermore, raise awareness of financial institutions' products and services, as well as provide credit.

Effect of Covid-19 on households welfare in Afar Regional State, Ethiopia.

The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of COVID-19 on social welfare in the case of Afar regional, state, Ethiopia using panel data collected from a sample of 384 in Asyaita, Dubti Samara-Logia, and Awash town. Both descriptive statistics and econometric models were used to analyze the data. The descriptive analysis results revealed that the main source of income emanated from self-employment (81.67%), from the total households 70% of them were engaged in the service sector, due to COVID-19 the income trends of 81% of households decreased, increase expenditure on food & food items (13%) and service delivering (15%). After conducting necessary pre and post-estimation tests, the econometric model found that the three basic policy variables (number of COVID-19 victims, number of days with the COVID-19 disease and transportation ban) adversely affected the welfare of the society by lessening the income of households and growing their expenditures. Finally, considering regional experience, econometric and descriptive results, this study recommends that the government and the concerned policy maker should give more attention and subsidize the service sector, support those self-employee and daily laborers, make awareness to the society about COVID-19 epidemic, place an alternative mechanism to fill potential trade gaps.

The Impact of Community-Based Health Insurance on Household's Welfare in Chilga District, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia.

Household welfare is depleted by catastrophic health expenditure by forcing families to reduce the consumption of necessary goods and services, underutilization of health services, and of finally falling into the poverty trap. To mitigate such problem, the Government of Ethiopia launched CBHI schemes. Therefore, this study investigates the household welfare impact of Community based health insurance (CBHI) in the Chilga district. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 531 households (of which 356 were treated and 175 control groups). Probit and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to analyze the data. Probit model revealed the following: Level of education, access to credit, chronic disease, insurance premium, awareness, distance to health service, and health service waiting time are significant determinates for being insured in CBHI. The PSM method revealed that the insured households associated with visits increased by 2.6 times, reduced per-capita health expenditure by 17-14% points, increased the per-capita consumption of non-food items by 12-14% points, increased the per-capita consumption of food items by 12-13% points in a given matching algorithm compared to the counterparts. Therefore, CBHI has enhanced service utilization by reducing per-capita health expenditure and increasing consumption per-capita, in general, it improved household welfare. To this end, the results of this study suggested that the government (ministry of health) and concerned bodies (such as NGOs) should extend the coverage and accessibility of CBHI schemes, create aware to the society about CBHI, and subsidize premium costs of the poor.

Analysis of technical efficiency of smallholder tomato producers in Asaita district, Afar National Regional State, Ethiopia.

The tomato had nutritional, economic and health benefits to the societies, however, its production and productivity were low in developing countries and particularly in Ethiopia. This might be due to technical inefficiency caused by institutional, governmental, and farmers related factors. Therefore this study tried to investigate the factors that affecting technical efficiency and estimating the mean level of technical efficiency of tomato producers in Asaita district, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data sources were used; the primary data was collected from 267 tomato producers from the study area cross-sectional by using a multistage sampling technique. The single-stage stochastic frontier model and Cobb Douglas production function were applied and statistical significance was declared at 0.05. The maximum likelihood estimates of the stochastic frontier model showed that land, labor, tomato seed, and oxen have a significant effect on tomato output; and education, extension contact, training, and access to credit have a positive and significant effect on technical efficiency, whereas household size, off-farm income, livestock ownership, distance to market, and pesticides have a worthy and significant effect on technical efficiency; and also estimated mean technical efficiency of tomato producer in a study area was 80.9%. In a line with this, the responsible body should prioritize rural infrastructure development in areas such as education, marketplace, and farmer training centers; demonstrate access to credit and extension services; use the recommended amount of pesticides per hectare, and give more intension to mixed farming rather than animal husbandry exclusively.