Workshop

Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Aspects of Policy Interventions to Reduce the Burden of Unpaid Activities

Preliminary Program

8:00−9:00 a.m.	Registration
9:00−9:20 a.m.	WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS
	Ajit Zacharias, Levy Economics Institute Araba Forson, Ghana Statistical Service   KEYNOTE ADDRESS Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician
9:20–11:00 a.m.	SESSION 1: Improving Physical and Social Infrastructure: Rationale, Costs,
	and Macroeconomic Impacts
	CHAIR: Ahmed Makbel, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Tanzania Ajit Zacharias, Levy Economics Institute “Overview of Proposed Policy Interventions and Their Impacts” Michalis Nikiforos, Levy Economics Institute “Assessing the Macroeconomic Impacts of Expanding Physical and Social Infrastructure via a Structuralist Model” DISCUSSANTS: William Baah-Boateng, University of Ghana Abel Kinyondo, University of Dar es Salam
11:00–11:20 a.m.	Tea Break
11:20 a.m.−1:15 p.m.	SESSION 2: Impacts of the Policy Interventions on Time and Consumption
	Poverty
	CHAIR: Radhika Lal, UNDP Fernando Rios-Avilla, Levy Economics Institute “Direct Effects of Physical and Social Infrastructure Investments on Time and Consumption Poverty: Some Estimates for Ghana and Tanzania” Thomas Masterson, Levy Economics Institute “Microeconomic Modeling of the Total Impacts of  Infrastructure Investments on Time and Consumption Poverty” Discussants: Blandina Kilama, REPOA Charles Ackah, University of Ghana
1:15–2:15 p.m.	Lunch
2:15–3:20 p.m.	SESSION 3: Linkages between Infrastructure Deficits, Household Economic
	Well-Being,and Gender Disparities: Policymakers’ Perspectives
	CHAIR: Abena Oduro, University of Ghana Bernice Ofosu-Baadu, Ghana Statistical Service “Ghana” Ahmed Makbel, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Tanzania “Tanzania”      DISCUSSANTS: Francesca Pobee-Hayford, Frannan Field Support Services Azumi Mesuna, Action Aid, Ghana
3:20–3:45 p.m.	Tea break
3:45–5:00 p.m.	PANEL DISCUSSION: Social and Economic Policies in Tanzania and Ghana:
	Emerging Trends and Challenges
	CHAIR: William Baah-Boateng, University of Ghana Hilary Gbedemah, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women John C.  Anyanwu, African Development Bank Abena Oduro, University of Ghana Radhika Lal, UNDP Rebecca Nana Yaa Ayifah, University of Cape Coast
5:00–5:10 p.m.	CLOSING REMARKS
	Ajit Zacharias, Levy Economics Institute Bernice Ofosu-Baadu, Ghana Statistical Service

Participants

Charles Ackah is the director of the Centre for Social Policy Studies (CSPS) and a senior research fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), both at the University of Ghana. He is a development economist with research interests in the socioeconomic effects of trade and industrial policies, firm dynamics, employment and labor market issues, financial inclusion, and gender and women’s studies. Dr. Ackah holds a bachelor degree in economics from the University of Ghana, an MSc (economics) in public policy from the University of Hull, UK, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Nottingham, UK. Dr. Ackah is external research fellow at the Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade (CREDIT) based at the School of Economics, University of Nottingham, UK.

Samuel Kobina Annim assumed office as the government statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service on March 1, 2019. Annim is an associate professor of economics, with a specific concentration on micro development economics and applied microeconometrics at the Department of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in economics at the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), University of Ghana (Ghana), and University of Manchester (United Kingdom), respectively. Following the completion of his doctoral studies, Annim was engaged at the University of Manchester and University of Lancashire, both in the United Kingdom, in the respective capacities of research associate and post-doctoral research fellow. He has approximately 20 years of teaching experience in universities both in Ghana and abroad, and has more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports to his credit. His publications are available in academic outlets such as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of International Development, and the Oxford University Press. While at the University of Cape Coast, he contributed to a number of interventions including institutionalization of microfinance programs and a conference, the establishment of a data repository center, upgrading the status of the economics department to a school, and the development of a host of policies that promotes scholarship and research administration. His passion for scholarly work extends to data quality for development. Annim passionately supports national and global development agendas by providing professional service to the National Development Planning Commission, the National Statistical System in Ghana, and several international bodies.
 
John C. Anyanwu was, until recently, the lead research economist in the Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting & Research Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Prior to joining the AfDB, he was full professor of economics, University of Benin, Nigeria; economic adviser to resident representative, WHO, Nigeria; and consultant to the AfDB and the International Health Policy Program. Anyanwu holds a Ph.D and MSc in economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and economic development from the University of Houston-Victoria, USA. He has had training/executive education at the London School of Economics and Harvard University, and had been a visiting scholar at Cornell University. He was the editor of African Development Review, a quarterly journal of the AfDB, from 2007 to April 2019. He has presented papers at more than 130 conferences worldwide. Anyanwu has authored over 120 scholarly publications in international journals and authored or coauthored more than 36 book chapters and a number of books.
 
Rebecca Nana Yaa Ayifah is a lecturer at the Department of Applied Economics of the School of Economics, University of Cape Coast. She holds BA and MPhil degrees from the University of Ghana, as well as a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Her research is in the area of education, health, applied microeconometrics, and labor, with a special focus on impact evaluation of social protection programs, poverty and inequality, and gender issues. Prior to joining the University of Cape Coast, she worked with several organizations and institutions such as the International Labour Organization (the Understanding Children’s Work Project), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the University of Ghana.
 
William Baah-Boateng is associate professor and head of the department of economics, University of Ghana. He is also the director of International Institute for the Advanced Studies (IIAS) and editor of the Ghanaian Journal of Economics. He was Ela Bhat Visiting Professor at the University of Kassel in Germany. He was the long-term advisor to the Ghana Labour Ministry between 2007 and 2015 and a member of the Presidential Committee on Emoluments of Article 71 Office Holders of the 6th Government of the 4th Republic. He holds Ph.D. in economics and is alumnus of the University of Ghana and Harvard University in Massachusetts, USA. His research focuses on economics of labor and labor market institutions, labor migration, poverty analysis, economics of industry, and development economics generally. He has over 60 publications in the form of books, book chapters, articles in referred journals, working papers, and technical reports.

Araba M. M. Forson has worked at Ghana Statistical Service since 1987, starting as an assistant statistician and holding senior management positions at the Head Office of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for 15 years. She is currently a chief statistician and the acting deputy government statistician for operations. Prior to this appointment, she was director of the Regional Offices Directorate at Ghana Statistical Service. Over the past 28 years, Forson has dealt extensively with the compilation, analysis, and dissemination of socioeconomic data on Ghana, including economic statistics on industry, private sector businesses, construction, transport and communication, energy and water industries, external and distributive trade, agriculture, population, and housing. Her publications include Children and Adolescents in Sierra Leone (2017) and The Elderly in Ghana (2013; cowritten with Dr. Badasu).
 
Blandina Kilama has practical experience in research, training, and policy analysis. She is a senior researcher at REPOA, a Tanzanian think tank based in Dar es Salaam and the chief executive officer of the Economic Society of Tanzania. Her engagement in dialogues and publications locally and internationally are derived from her work in economic transformation, financial inclusion, sustainable development goals, women’s empowerment, and value chains in agriculture, nutrition, and poverty. Kilama is a joint program director of the five-year research program on “Tanzania as a future Petro State,” working on the component on data for policy making and public engagement. She is trained as an economist, and holds a Ph.D. from Leiden University, a Master’s (MPAID) from Harvard University, and her first degree from the University of Dar es Salaam.

Hilary Gbedemah is a lawyer, training specialist, human rights and gender-equality activist, and a gender consultant whose 44-year career in law has been in private legal practice, lecturing, legislative advocacy, policy development, economic empowerment, curriculum development, and mentoring. She is currently the chairperson of the UN Committee on the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Violence against Women (CEDAW); she has held multiple positions on the committee and has extensive experience in its thematic areas. She was chair of the Working Group on Inquiries under the Optional Protocol (which receives complaints on violations against states), and of the Working Group on Education for the committee’s General Recommendation 36. She was also the committee’s follow-up rapporteur. She is the rector of The Law Institute, Ghana’s premier vocational legal training facility, which provides training in paralegal studies, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, and human rights law, and offers capacity building for a wide range of organizations. She is also a senior adjunct fellow at Ghana’s Institute of Economic Affairs. Gbedemah holds an L.L.M. from Georgetown University, Washington DC; certifications in instructional techniques (Transport Canada), management (Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration), and organizational development.
 
Abel Kinyondo is principal research fellow at REPOA and senior lecturer at the University of Dar as Salaam (DUCE). Previously he worked as a director of strategic research at REPOA and head of the Economics and Geography Department at the University of Dar Es Salaam. He has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme. He holds a Ph.D. from Monash University (Australia), a distinction in Master of Art (economics) degree from the University of Botswana, and a first-class economics degree from the University of Namibia. Dr. Kinyondo has over 10 years of research experience, having published in internationally reputable journals such as in the Oxford Development Studies, Politics & Policy, Extractive Industries and Society, World Affairs, African Development Review, and Parliamentary Affairs. He has also led several teams of experts in formulating various socioeconomic policies, regulations, and codes of ethics in Tanzania and beyond. Dr. Kinyondo currently investigates issues pertaining to tourism, gender, enterprise development, employment, industrialization, and natural resources management as well as governance.
 
Radhika Lal currently serves as economic advisor with UNDP for Ghana and the Gambia. Previously she served as the strategic planning advisor for the UN country team in South Africa; co-coordinator of the Employment, Social Protection and Development Innovation at the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) in Brazil; and as senior policy advisor with UNDP’s Poverty Group in New York. She is a political economist by training, and her experience covers both middle-income and developing countries. Her policy advisory work and research encompasses: macro- and meso-level policies for inclusive and sustainable growth, including a focus on public employment programs; the intersections of economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development; information and communication technologies for development; development innovation; development planning and finance; and data for development, including a focus on policy issues related to national statistical systems (open data and interoperability).
 
Ahmed M. Makbel is a public servant currently working with the Prime Minister’s Office-Labour Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability since July 2015 in the area of labor market information. He has also worked with other government institutions such as Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children (1998–2004); Constitutional Review Commission (2012–14); President’s Office—Public Service Management (2014); and Ministry of East African cooperation (2014–015). Makbel worked with the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics for more than 26 years from 1988 to 2014. His main areas of work experience at the Bureau of Statistics include survey design, data processing and analysis, demography, sampling, household budget surveys, national panel surveys, poverty measurement and analysis, and time-use statistics. He has also experience in information and communication technology, project planning and management, result-based management, monitoring and evaluation, and gender analysis. Ahmed has contributed to statistical reports and coauthored papers in journals. He has also facilitated a number of statistical services for local and international organizations, especially in the area of time-use surveys. He holds a BSc in mathematics and statistics, an MA in demography, and an MA in development studies.
 
Thomas Masterson is director of applied micromodeling and a research scholar in the Levy Economics Institute’s Distribution of Income and Wealth program. He has worked extensively on the Levy Institute Measure of Well-being (LIMEW), an alternative, household-based measure that reflects the resources the household can command for facilitating current consumption or acquiring physical or financial assets. With other Levy scholars, Masterson was also involved in developing the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty (LIMTIP), and has contributed to estimating the LIMTIP for countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. He has also taken a lead role in developing the Levy Institute Microsimulation Model, which he is currently extending in order to assess the inequality impacts of carbon regulation. Masterson’s specific research interests include the distribution of land, income, and wealth. He has published articles in the Eastern Economic Journal, The Review of Income and Wealth, and World Development, and is the co-editor of Solidarity Economy I: Building Alternatives for People and Planet—Papers and Reports from the 2009 U.S. Forum on the Solidarity Economy, 2010. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 
Azumi Mesuna works as a project manager for the Promoting Opportunities for Women Empowerment and Rights (POWER) Project at ActionAid Ghana. The project supports over 6,000 women farmers in Ghana to reduce women’s unpaid care work burden and food insecurity. She has 10 years’ work experience on gender, governance, livelihoods, sexual reproductive health rights, and advocacy. She is recognized for supporting women’s empowerment and holds an MA in governance and development from the University of Cape Coast.
 
Michalis Nikiforos is a research scholar working in the State of the US and World Economies program. He works on the Institute’s stock-flow consistent macroeconomic model for the US economy and contributed to the recent construction of a similar model for Greece. He has coauthored several policy reports on the prospects of the US and European economies. His research interests include macroeconomic theory and policy, the distribution of income, the theory of economic fluctuations, political economy, and the economics of monetary union. He has published papers in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, the Review of Radical Political Economics, the Review of Keynesian Economics, and Metroeconomica; various other papers have appeared in the Levy Economics Institute Working Paper Series. Nikiforos holds a BA in economics and an M.Sc. in economic theory from the Athens University of Economics and Business, and an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research.
 
Abena Oduro is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and director of the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa at the University of Ghana, Legon. Her current research is in the areas of gender and assets, gender and enterprise development, poverty, inequality and vulnerability analysis, gender responsive budgeting, and employment and labor markets in low-income countries. She is an associate editor of Feminist Economics and is one of the coeditors of the journal’s special issue on engendering economic policy in Africa, published in 2015.
 
Bernice Serwah Ofosu-Baadu is a principal statistician at Ghana Statistical Service currently in charge of collection, compilation, analysis, and publication of agriculture and environment statistics. She was previously in charge of national accounts statistics and coordinates the Gender Statistics Working Group.  She received her MA in economic policy management from the University of Ghana, Legon in 2004.  She has been part of the coordinating team designing survey instruments, training enumerators, and undertaking data analysis, as well as writing reports of household and establishment surveys and censuses, including the Ghana Time Use Survey, the Ghana Living Standard Survey, and the on-going Ghana Census of Agriculture. She implemented the IMF/Department for International Development’s Enhanced Data Dissemination Initiative Project (EDDI) module on quarterly national accounts and the International Comparison Programme (ICP) of African Development Bank/World Bank. She was a member of the defunct Kampala City Group on Gender Statistics. Her published papers include “The Long-Run Effects of Fiscal Deficits on Economic Growth in Ghana 1970–2000,” which has since been published by the World Bank, and an article titled “Do Statistics Matter.” Her unpublished reports include “Allocation of Agriculture Output over the Quarters in Quarterly National Accounts in Ghana” and “Assessing the Impact of Gender on Macroeconomic Policies in Ghana.”
 
Francesca Pobee-Hayford has a first and second degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University of Ghana, respectively. She is currently working as a consultant women’s economic empowerment advisor in the Frannan Field Support Services office, a Canada-funded project in Ghana. Previously she consulted for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as a gender and social inclusion specialist. Prior to this, Pobee-Hayford worked within the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection as the acting director of the Department of Gender. She spearheaded and contributed to many initiatives, such as gender responsive budgeting, the passage of a domestic violence law, and setting up the secretariat. She has also worked for the Ministry of Health. Currently, she is working on the women’s economic empowerment landscape in Ghana to inform Canada’s programing in Ghana.  
 
Fernando Rios-Avila is a research scholar working on the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being under the Distribution of Income and Wealth program. His research interests include labor economics, applied microeconomics, development economics, and poverty and inequality. As a doctoral candidate at Georgia State University, Rios-Avila worked as a graduate research assistant to Felix Rioja, and interned in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, working under the supervision of Julie L. Hotchkiss. He formerly served as a researcher at the Social and Economic Policy Unit (UDAPE)—a government advisory unit and public policy think tank in La Paz, Bolivia—on issues of development, impact evaluation, and social expenditure, with an emphasis on children's welfare. His research has been published in The Review of Income and Wealth, Industrial Relations, Southern Economic Journal, Applied Economics Letters, Stata Journal, and Business and Economics Research. Rios-Avila holds a Licenciatura in economics from the Universidad Católica Boliviana, La Paz; an advanced studies program certificate in international economics and policy research from Kiel University; and a Ph.D. in economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
 
Ajit Zacharias is a senior scholar and director of the Institute’s Distribution of Income and Wealth program. His research primarily focuses on the theory, measurement, and analysis of economic well-being and deprivation. Along with other Levy scholars, Zacharias has developed alternative measures of economic welfare and deprivation. The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) offers a framework that accounts for how changes in labor markets, wealth accumulation, government spending and taxes, and household production shape the economic determinants of standard of living. Levy scholars have utilized the LIMEW to track trends in economic inequality and well-being in the United States. The Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty is aimed at revealing the nexus between income poverty and unpaid work. This measure has been applied to the study of poverty in several Latin American countries, Turkey, South Korea, Tanzania, and Ghana. His recent publications include “Time and Income Poverty in the City of Buenos Aires” (with R. Antonopoulos, V. Esquivel, and T. Masterson), in Rachel Connelly and Ebru Kongar, eds., Gender and Time Use in a Global Context: The Economics of Employment and Unpaid Labor (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and “The Measurement of Time and Income Poverty,” in I. Hirway, ed., Mainstreaming Unpaid Work: Time-use Data in Developing Policies (Oxford University Press, 2017). Zacharias holds an MA from the University of Bombay and a Ph.D. from The New School for Social Research.