Bernard Gauthier

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at HEC Montréal

This paper investigates individuals' bypassing behavior in the health sector in Chad and the determinants of individuals' facility choice. We introduce a new way for measuring bypassing which uses the patients' own knowledge of alternative health providers available to them, instead of assuming perfect information as previously done. We analyze how...

In the public sector in developing countries, leakage of public resources could prove detrimental to users and affect the well-being of the population. In this paper, we empirically examine the importance of leakage of government resources in the health sector in Chad and its effects on medication mark-up. We make use of data collected in Chad as p...

This paper empirically examines the demand and supply sides of bribery using World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 18,005 firms in more than 75 developing countries. It assesses the determinants of firms’ bribe paying behavior and examine how bribe behavior affects two main sectors where corruption is rampant: taxation and government contracts. The...

This paper examines the capacity of the “15-year Free Education program” (FEP) funding formula in Thailand at reducing inequalities in resource allocation across primary and secondary schools and at narrowing learning outcomes inequalities. The analysis uses data from an education sector survey carried out in 2015-2016 covering 240 public schools,...

The need to devise alternative means of tracking income and expenditure in the health sector is much needed especially at the PHC level in Nigeria. One of the central issues identified by previous studies in Nigeria is governance challenges and the weakness of monitoring and accountability structures at the PHC facility and LGA levels. Given the ex...

With health outcomes worse than the average for African countries despite large investments in the health sector during the last decades, Nigeria’s Primary Health Care (PHC) services faces a number of significant challenges. Efficiency and equity concerns draw specific attention to PHC services as many of the most cost-effective preventive and cura...

Measuring nepotism in the public sector is challenging because of its elusive nature. This brief reviews methodologies developed to measure the extent of family connections in the public sector and introduces an innovative tool, the Kinship in Public Office indicator, that systematises these approaches. Using kinship connectivity as a proxy for the...

This article develops a simple framework to analyse the negotiation over bribe and tax payments during the tax collection process. We show that the larger the bribe a firm offers to a tax collector, the larger the tax rebate it gets. More particularly, we show that the negotiation over bribe and tax payments hinges on four other factors: firms’ off...

Do Tontines Improve Entrepreneurial Performance in Cameroon? Rotating Savings and Credit Associations known as tontines in Cameroon and elsewhere in French-speaking Africa are one of the most popular mechanisms to finance projects in countries where access to credit markets is constrained. In this study, we analyze the effect of participation to bu...

Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and Quantitative Service Delivery Surveys (QSDS) have become important tools for analyzing service delivery and public expenditures. The objective of this PETS/QSDS Guidebook is to assist practitioners in using these instruments and explaining to those who are considering undertaking PETS/QSDS why and how...

PETS and QSDS Guidebook. Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and Quantitative Service Delivery Surveys (QSDS) have become important tools for analyzing service delivery and public expenditures. The objective of this PETS/QSDS Guidebook is to assist practitioners in using these instruments and explaining to those who are considering undertaki...

This paper investigates the negotiation over bribe and tax payments during the tax collection process in poor countries. We build a simple model where tax officials and firms bargain over bribes to let firms evade part of their taxes. Using a unique dataset on Ugandan firms we test the predictions of the model. We find significant and robust effect...

Oil has been a curse for Cameroon, one of the potentially richest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. While the discovery of oil in 1977 and initial prudent management accentuated hopes, Cameroon has become an example of growth collapse. GDP contracted by 5% on average per year, a combined 27% over the 8-year period, dropping per capita income in 1993...

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In this paper, we examine bypassing of health centers by individuals in Chad and the determinants of individuals' facility choice. We analyze how bypassing decisions are influenced by differences in quality and prices among health providers among socioeconomic groups. We make use of data collected in Chad as part of a Health Facility Survey organiz...

This paper investigates the impacts of tax reforms implemented in Uganda in the mid-1990s on the prevalence of tax evasion and exemptions among firms, and their effects on the distribution and dispersion of tax burdens. Based on firm-level data collected from 243 firms, we observe that evasion and exemptions were widespread and that their prevalenc...

This paper examines the impact of trade and fiscal reforms and of the 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc on enterprise development in Chad and Gabon. These reforms provide a natural experiment to assess the impact of trade liberalization in countries with a small and backward manufacturing sector. The empirical analysis is based on a new panel data...

In this paper we investigate if the predictions of three different models of capital adjustment costs are consistent with the observed investment patterns among manufacturing firms in five African countries. We document a high frequency of zero investment episodes, which is consistent with both fixed adjustment costs and irreversibility and inconsi...

The paper investigates the conflict that arises between the government, its bureaucrats and businesses in the tax collection process. We examine the effect of fiscal policy and corruption control mechanisms on the prevalence of tax evasion and corruption behaviour, and their impact on firm growth and social welfare. We first model a situation where...

The paper investigates the conflict that arises between the government, its bureaucrats and businesses in the tax collection process. We examine the effect of fiscal policy and corruption control mechanisms on the prevalence of tax evasion and corruption behaviour, and their impact on firm growth and social welfare. We first model a situation where...

We use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to investigate whether exporting impacts on efficiency, and whether efficient firms self-select into the export market. Based on simultaneous estimation of a production function and an export regression, our preferred results indicate significant efficiency gains fr...

Agglomeration economies and regional growth in the european union context Using a model similar to the one developed by GLAESER et al. (1992) and HENDERSON et al. (1995), this article aims to explain the growth of regions in Europe by using a set of variables allowing to take into account the industrial structure, the economies of agglomeration and...

We investigate the question of whether firms in Africa's manufacturing sector are credit constrained. The fact that few firms obtain credit is not sufficient to prove constraints, since certain firms may not have a demand for credit while others may be refused credit as part of profit maximising behaviour by banks. To investigate this question, we...

Empirical work in labor economics has focused on rent sharing as an explanation for the observed correlation between wages and profitability. The alternative explanation of risk sharing between workers and employers has not been tested. Using a unique panel data set for four African countries, we find strong evidence of risk sharing. Workers in eff...

After decades of high trade restrictions, fiscal distortions and currency overvaluation, Cameroon implemented important commercial and fiscal policy reforms. Almost simultaneously, a major CFA devaluation cut the international price of Cameroon's currency in half. This paper examines the effects of these reforms on the incentive structure faced by...

This paper examines the impact of the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994 and of trade and fiscal reforms on enterprise development in Chad and Gabon. These reforms provide a natural experiment to assess the impact of trade liberalisation in countries with a small and backward manufacturing sector. The empirical analysis is based on a new panel da...

After decades of high trade restrictions, fiscal distortions, and currency overvaluation, Cameroon implemented important commercial and fiscal policy reforms in 1994. Almost simultaneously, a major devaluation cut the international price of Cameroon's currency in half. This article examines the effects of those reforms on the incentive structure fa...

This paper examines the prevalence of tax exemptions and evasion among businesses in Uganda, how they translate into actual tax burdens for firms of different sizes, and how the tax administration attempts to ensure compliance. Despite tax reforms undertaken in 1995--97 to increase the efficiency and equity of the tax system and its administration,...

Cet article évalue dans quelle mesure l’intégration économique européenne renforce ou atténue les différentiels de croissance entre les régions. En se basant sur les nouvelles théories du commerce international (Krugman et Helpman, 1985, Grossman et Helpman, 1990, 1991 et 1995, Krugman, 1991), de la « géographie économique » (Krugman et Venables, 1...

After decades of heavy trade restrictions, fiscal distortions, and currency overvaluation, Cameroon implemented important commercial and fiscal policy reforms. Almost simultaneously, a major CFA devaluation cut the international price of Cameroon's currency in half. The authors examine the effects of these reforms on the incentive structure that ma...

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to estimate the effect of exporting on efficiency. Measures of firm-level efficiency using stochastic production frontier models are constructed for the period 1992 to 1995. We find that there are large efficiency gains from exporting both i...

Abstract: We investigate the question whether firms in the manufacturing sector in Africa are credit constrained. The fact that few firms obtain credit is not sufficient to prove constraints, since certain firms may not have a demand for credit while others may be refused credit as part of profit maximising behaviour by banks. To investigate this q...

Firm level data for the manufacturing sector in Africa, presented in this paper, shows very low levels of investment. The importance of profit effects on investment is investigated using a flexible accelerator, a specification based on the Euler equation and a simple generalisation of these specificiations. There are controls for firm fixed effects...

This paper examines dynamic patterns of investment in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, assessing the consistency of those patterns with different adjustment cost structures. Using survey data on manufactured firms, we document the importance of zero investment episodes and lumpy investment. The proportion of firms experiencing large inv...

Macro policy has changed the real exchange rates for African countries dramatically in the 1990s. In this paper the possible impact of macroeconomic policy on firms in the manufacturing sector is considered based on a panel survey of such firms in Cameroon. Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe. The data show that most large African manufacturing firms do expo...

This article examines the contractual practices of African manufacturing firms using survey data collected in Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d'lvoire, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Descriptive statistics and econometric results are presented. They show that contractual flexibility is pervasive and that relational contracting is the norm between manufacture...

In this paper two sets of issues are addressed using panel data from the manufacturing sector of five African countries. First, how high are the returns to human relative to physical capital. Second, what is the relative importance of technology and endowments of human and physical capital in determining differences in earnings and productivity acr...

This paper examines the contractual practices of African manufacturing firms using survey data collected in Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Descriptive statistics and econometric results are presented. They show that contractual flexibility is pervasive and that relational contracting is the norm between manufactu...

The administration of tax statutes materially determines their economic effects. A survey of Cameroonian businesses, a country seemingly typical of its economic level, demonstrates widespread erosion of the tax bases paid by businesses through exemptions and evasion. Businesses seem willing to provide information on these potentially confidential a...

This article assesses the impact of the CFAF devaluation on industrial enterprises in Cameroon. Using detailed survey data spanning the 1992-95 period, the article documents and interprets firms' reactions to the devaluation in terms of adjustments in output, factor usage, market orientation and productivity. The article shows that the CFAF devalua...

Firm level data for the manufacturing sector in Africa, presented in this paper, shows very low levels of investment. The importance of profit effects on investment is investigated using a flexible accelerator, a specification based on the Euler equation and a simple generalisation of these specificia-tions. There are controls for firm fixed effect...

Cet article évalue l'impact de la dévaluation du franc CFA sur les entreprises industrielles au Cameroun. Utilisant des données rassemblées au cours d'enquêtes détaillées effectuées au cours de la période 1992-1995, l'article montre et interprète les réactions des entreprises à la dévaluation en termes d'ajustements de la production et des facteurs...

This article assesses the performance of small-scale manufacturing enterprises during the process of structural adjustment in Cameroon. It seeks to determine whether all segments of the industrial sector have been similarly affected by down-scaling, or whether some categories have adapted better to the liberalization of trade and regulatory paramet...

This article assesses the impact of the CFAF devaluation on industrial enterprises in Cameroon. Using detailed survey data spanning the 1992-95 period, the article documents and interprets firms' reactions to the devaluation in terms of adjustments in output, factor usage, market orientation and productivity. The article shows that the CFAF devalua...

This article presents some of the findings of a large panel study, conducted form 1992 to 1994. The article focuses on the generic strategies that appear to attract Cameroonian firms and the relationship between strategy and performance.

In this paper, we use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to estimate the effect of exporting on efficiency. Measures of firm-level efficiency using stochastic production frontier models are constructed for the period 1992 to 1995. The results of both random effects and time-variant productivity models revea...

Achieving Millennium Development Goals in Africa requires a quantum leap in access to and quality of services. To this end, better diagnosis and understanding of both failures and successes in service delivery is crucial. In this paper, we review micro-level approaches to the study of service delivery. We focus on two types of service provider surv...

Résumé -La mise en place des programmes d'ajustement structurel en Afrique subsaharienne a entraîné d'importants changements dans la stratégie d'industrialisation et l'environnement politique et économique des entreprises africaines. Les données d'une enquête menée auprès d'entreprises manufacturières en milieu urbain au Cameroun indiquent que les...