College of Humanities

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The problems of translation from english into arabic: lexical and syntactic issues
(2015-03-23) Hidir, M.M.; Boasiako, A.A.
It is an undeniable fact that translation is a necessity in our lives. It has become a viable venture with the emergence of international trade, increased migration and globalization. The translator therefore plays a pivotal role as a bilingual or multi-lingual transmitter of cultures, concepts, and literary works by attempting to convey meaning from one language to another as accurately as possible. There is no doubt that, there are some problems in any translation process. Linguistic problems such as problems of ambiguity; problems that originate from structural and lexical differences between languages make it difficult for the student of translation. The differences in the syntax of Arabic and English are typical case regarding the problems in translating from Arabic to English. For example, in translating “the boy wrote a letter” into Arabic, it becomes كتب الولد رسالة "kataba al-waladu risaalatan" kataba is the verb, al-waladu is the subject and risaalatan is the object. Thus, the word order in Arabic normally is VSO contrary to English, the source language. Again, the cultural difference that exists between the two languages is another area which causes problems. This study however, will be limited to the lexical and syntactic difficulties that the students of Arabic at the Department of Modern Languages of the University of Ghana face in translating English texts into Arabic. The paper discusses the problems and offers some recommendations and solutions to the problems in translating from English into Arabic.
Consumer-Driven Sustainability? Issues in Turning Consumer Concern about Sustainability into Choices in the Marketplace
(2016-01-29) Grunert, K.G.
People are concerned about sustainability, but this concern is not necessarily mirrored in their choices when they go shopping. Different explanations have been brought forward for this apparent gap between attitude and behavior. One is that attitude and behavior stem from different roles – people are concerned about sustainability as a citizen, but as a consumer they have other concerns, like getting value for money and pleasing their family. Another explanation is that sustainability is a complex concept, and that people may have difficulties in evaluating whether something has been sustainably produced – in fact, some ways of production that people assume are not sustainable may in fact be good for the environment and for the future of mankind. The talk will address consumer perceptions of primary production (taking pig production as an example), consumer perception of technologies, and the impact that information about sustainability related issues can have on consumer choices in the marketplace.
Arabic Manuscripts Production and Distribution in Ghana: A Close Study of Jumucat's al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughrā
(2016-02-16) Hafiz, M.; Asunka, J.
This study focuses on a manuscript entitled 'al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughra' composed by Malam Jumu'at in 1939 on the occasion of the death of his teacher and brother, 'Ustādh Muḥammad Bāko, who was then the Chief Imam of Accra. The manuscript appears to be an original one, with no accession number, albeit, it is not clear whether it was handwritten by Jumu'at himself or by another scribe. It was found accidentally among the manuscripts photocopied and preserved at Herskovits library in Northwestern from the collection of Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, and therefore was sent back to IAS in 2007 by Dr. Andrea Brigaglia. In terms of content, the manuscript is quite similar to IAS/AR 195, but the hand-writings differ appreciably: IAS/AR 195 was collected from 'Ustādh Adam b. Uthman in Amakom Kumasi on October 5, 1963, while the manuscript under consideration was acquired from 'Ustādh Sacd 'Itan in Zango, Accra on July 7, 1971. The manuscript is written in thin central Sudanic script on a brownish white semi-thick paper with two sets of inks: local black ink and artificial blue ink. The black ink was used for writing the lines of the poem, while the blue ink was used for writing names of persons, places and dates cited in the poem, including the numerous marginal notes across the five folios. Overall, this manuscripts is by far more legible than IAS/AR/ 195. IAS/AR/ 195 has already been a subject of study by K.O. Odoom (1971) who sought to demonstrate the historical value of this manuscript, insisting it is unique in the sense that it is the only document by a Muslim scholar on pioneering Muslim communities in Accra. Far from this, this particular study seeks to explore this manuscript in order underscore some of the intricacies connected to manuscripts production in Ghana, ranging from the occasions that inspire the authorship of Arabic manuscripts, the choice of appropriate titles, mode and format of writing, the relevance of accompanying marginal notes, alterations in manuscripts by scribes, mode of distribution, and interconnectedness of manuscripts in terms of the subject matter they address
"My Gun is my Safety and Sign of Loyalty": Challenges of Micro Disarmament in Bawku,Ghana
(2016-03-03) Sowatey, E.
Scholars have long examined the effects of the illicit proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) on peace, security and development (Aning, 2005; Bah, 2004; Onuoha, 2012; Sowatey 2005). Policy interventions, both at national and supranational levels, include: cordon and search, 'voluntary surrender', weapons-for-development and weapons buy-back programmes. However, the implementation and effectiveness of such policies and interventions remain fraught with various challenges. Although Ghana has not experienced large scale/nationwide conflicts, there are concerns about the availability of illegal weapons: Bawku is a typical example. The security agencies, have over the years, largely relied on cordon and search to recover illicit weapons but this approach has not been successful! In 2014, the Minister of the Interior, (re)introduced a voluntary surrender and buy-back programme to retrieve illegal weapons in Bawku. However, this (second) attempt/programme appears not to have been successful (as some expected!). Using data from interviews with key actors in Bawku (between 2008 and 2016). This paper explains the challenges of micro disarmament. Specifically, the paper explores why the State’s voluntary and buy-back programmes have failed (and will likely continue to do so).
Altered Kiswahili Proverbs: The Role of Literary Writers and Blog Users
(2016-03-09) Omari, S; Dzahene-Quarshie, J.
Proverb is one of the important folklore genres in many parts of the world. In many societies proverbs are associated with certain characteristics: they are regarded as succinct fixed artistic forms, that are authoritative, encapsulating some general truth, wisdom and experience of the society and their creators are elders or anonymous. However, these characteristics are increasingly challenged today as the proverbs themselves get altered for various reasons. This paper, therefore, examines how Tanzania’s Kiswahili literary writers and blog users participate in the alteration and spread of Kiswahili proverbs. Data for this study were collected from literary works and websites. It is found that literary writers and blog users play significant role in the alteration and spread of altered proverbs. The paper reveals that the need to cope with today’s environment, change of worldview, political, economic and social phenomena are important factors in the alteration of proverbs. Other factors include the transition from socialism to a free economy, a shift from a single party to multi-party system, technological and scientific advancement, increasing neo-colonialism, globalization, and actions of political leaders, etc. It is also noted that altered proverbs are an important aspect of everyday conversation and are used in various media such as means of transport and mobile phones.
“And the Sea Met the Mountain”: Construction and Use of the Kwahu-Nkawkaw Transportation Systems in Gold Coast Ghana.
(2016-03-10) Yeboah, N.Y.M.; Ntewusu, S.
The fundamentals of most modern day transport systems were laid during the early decades of the 20th century. Kwahu in general and Nkawkaw in particular strongly identify with the situation. The positions of Kwahu meant that it was practically impossible to be ignored in the grand colonial capitalist design to exploit resources from the southern and forest zones of Gold Coast, so that by the 2nd decade of the 20th century the basic patterns of transportation systems (railway and roads) in Kwahu had been laid. This paper advances the argument that the creation of transportation systems in Kwahu was ultimately motivated by the need to explore the resources of Kwahu and beyond for oceanic transport, but also important to the colonial administration was what I refer to as “the strategic geographical location” of Kwahu, an impetus that significantly influenced the decision of the colonial administration as far as accessibility was concerned. The paper also explores into details the construction and benefits of transport systems (railway and road) in Kwahu with particular reference to Nkawkaw in the colonial era. Not only is it a historical piece, but also a placement of a historical development in modern transportation designs as the Kwahu-Nkawkaw road has assumed a position of much significance with regards to regional, long distance and transnational motor traffic.
Participatory Geographical Information System (PGIS) and drivers of Mangrove forests loss and their implications on the people’s livelihoods
(2016-03-10) Zahor, Z.K.; Codjoe, S.N.A.
Tanzania’s coastal communities, including the people of Zanzibar, largely depend on mangroves for fishing, wood for construction and for fuel. The increasing threat of mangroves disappearance due to anthropogenic and climate change factors would therefore affect the livelihood of coastal communities living in close proximity to the said forests. In the last decade, there has been a strong drive towards integrating Geographical Information System (GIS) into community-cantered initiatives, particularly to deal with spatial information gathering and forest planning. Despite the increased use of participatory GIS methods in the developed and developing world, little has been published in Africa on the innovation because of cost and low accuracy levels of PGIS compared with conventional GIS. Moreover, most studies conducted on PGIS and forest management have been at the national and regional levels. This situation demonstrates the need for local scale studies on PGIS and the contribution of anthropogenic and climatic factors on mangrove forest loss. A number of studies have been conducted in Zanzibar on GIS and PGIS and forest planning and management. Majority of the research activities have been focusing on farming strategies, landscape characterization and community stakeholders’ knowledge in landscape assessments. However, studies on mangrove forest loss have been few. Majority of these few studies conducted in Zanzibar have relied on conventional GIS and non-spatial participatory approaches. These techniques often show the status of the situation but such tools can hardly capture the reasons and the manner in which the situation occurs. Participatory GIS is highly needed to provide more precise information about all aspects of mangrove forests loss. Moreover, most PGIS studies conducted in Zanzibar, like in other developing countries, have only involved local communities during data collection. This approach has increased the many questions on the authenticity of PGIS output. This study therefore will involve local people in data processing and analysis, which is a new dimension in the PGIS application. In this research local knowledge will be collected through traditional public meeting, GPS transect walks and mapping exercise using the most recent digital geo-referenced aerial photographs (2015, 0.5m pixel size). Kernel density and hotspot techniques will be used to analyse information from community mapping while supervised classification technique will be used to analyse satellite images so as to inform on the status and trend of mangrove forest.
Trade of Analysis for Emission Reduction (The Case of the Ethiopia Sugar Corporation)
(2016-03-15) Kassa, E.
There is an emerging expansion in area and investment in the Ethiopia sugar production. As sugarcane area expands, the pre harvest burning which is practiced to remove the leaf from the steam is growing and this contributes to the increase in air pollution. Understanding environmental and economic impacts of this practice will help to develop economically feasible and environmental friendly production system. Thus, the study aims to identify the trade-offs between economy and environment with regard to the pre harvest burning as well as to suggest policy measure that will lead the ESC to have a contribution to fulfill some part of the INDC of Ethiopia.
Underutilized Indigenous Vegetables (UIVs) for Dietary Diversity: Implications for food security in the era of Climate Change in Southwest Nigeria
(2016-03-15) Abu, M.; Tanimonure, V.A.
With resurgence in the importance of Underutilized Indigenous Vegetables (UIVs) in human nutrition, income generation and adaptation to climate change in South west Nigeria through NiCanVeg project, there is need to empirically validate the impact of the project on the dietary diversity of the participants. A multistage sampling technique will be employed to select 120 participants and 120 non-participants in the study area. The study will use a well-structured questionnaire to elicit information from the respondents. The data collected will be analysed using descriptive statistics, dietary diversity score, propensity score matching and logit regression. The study envisaged better dietary diversity score among the participants.
Who is this ignorant soldier boy?: A postcolonial reading of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Sozaboy
(2016-03-17) Awelewa, A.; Amfo, N.A.
This paper is an attempt at a postcolonial reading of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s novel, Sozaboy, which in the author’s words is written in “’rotten English’, a mixture of Nigerian pidgin English, broken English and occasional flashes of good, even idiomatic English” (Author’s Note, Sozaboy, 1994). In this piece, I identify Saro-Wiwa’s novel as an indifferent account of the historical happening in Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. I also consider the characterization of Mene (herein referred to as Sozaboy) as a deliberate attempt to re-create history from the point of view of a partisan judge, the author. My reason for these strong views is foregrounded in the inherent and perennial struggle for relevance by perceived minority ethnic groups of Nigeria brought under the control of three main or dominant groups by a colonial fiat through Lord Lugard in 1914. The three major groups identified by their languages are: Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. Nigeria, being a country of as many as two hundred and fifty ethnic groups, is currently credited with a population of about 170 million people and regarded as the most populous black nation on earth. This paper also considers the role of colonization and the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta area of the country towards the end of colonial rule as major factors that contributed to the struggle for supremacy among the people of Nigeria in the early years of independence. It also examines the incursion of the military into governance of the newly-independent state as a catalyst for internal struggle, political instability, corruption, mutual hatred and wanton destruction of life and property that the new country witnessed in the early years, leading unavoidably to the civil war, otherwise known as Nigeria-Biafra War. I conclude that Sozaboy is not a true canon for the postcolonial rendition of Nigeria’s history, and if it must be considered for its “anti-war” flavours, there is need to make it walk alongside other ‘reliable’ fictional accounts of events of that era.
Stop Firing the Guns!: Conflict Mitigates the Positive Effect of FDI on Economic Growth.
(2016-03-18) Agbloyor, E.K.
This paper reexamines the relationship between FDI and economic growth in SSA. For the first time in this area of study, the paper examines this relationship after sifting out the effect of wars. We examine the empirical relations using a Two-Step SGMM estimator with orthogonal deviations, small sample size adjustments and robust standard errors. We find that in the full sample FDI does not exert any influence on economic growth. However, when we drop countries that have been affected by conflict, we see clearly in accordance with economic theory, that FDI has a positive influence on growth. In addition, alternative approaches using dummy variables to represent countries that have been plagued by conflict suggest that the effect of FDI on growth is lower in conflict affected countries. Finally, we find empirical support for what we term the ‘good boy’ hypothesis. Countries that have entered into war only once, exited war and never returned to war for a minimum of six years do not produce a negative interaction with FDI. These countries are now able to benefit from FDI. In essence, these countries have been ‘purged’ from the war tag. First, these results reveal the shortfalls of the many studies that have found a negative or no impact of FDI on growth. If countries want to grow and benefit from FDI, then they must strive to avoid violent conflicts! For countries that have already entered into war, avoiding a recurrence also pays significant dividends.
A Comparative Study of Emotion Lexicon in French and Ewe
(2016-03-31) Chachu, S.; Amuzu, E.
The grammar of sentiments has been widely studied in the French language and has even been the theme for journal articles for the 1995 edition of Langages. However, there exists very little on sentiment lexicon in Ewe. The only existing literature seem to be an article by Ameka (2002) on cultural scripting of body parts for emotions. Even then, this article only focused on jealousy and related emotions. Ameka's thesis on the Ewe language (1991) also devotes a section to predicates of emotion, linked to experiences and perception. Though ground-breaking and very instructive, they do not provide an in-depth/detailed description of the emotion lexicon in the language. This leaves a field which can be added to. This presentation, which is part of an ongoing project seeks to establish a list of emotion lexicon in Ewe similar to the list that has been established for French within the Lexical-Grammar framework for French. Secondly, it seeks to discover the differences in the local grammars of the two languages as far as expressing emotion is concerned. This project studies emotion lexicon in French and Ewe. It fulfills a double objective of firstly providing a comprehensive list of emotion lexicon in Ewe, and secondly, undertaking a semantic and syntactic comparison of constructions of emotion lexicon in the two languages. Specifically, the study looks at nominal constructions with emotion lexicon and verbal constructions with emotion lexicon to investigate how the world view is expressed through emotion lexicon and how this differs cross-linguistically. This project contributes to understanding the grammar of the ewe language which has been relatively less studied than the French language. This comparison between a western language and an African language also challenges certain assertions that have been made about emotion lexicon based solely on western languages and posits that emotion lexicon are language-specific and that there is not direct equivalence for all instances of emotion lexicon from French to Ewe.
International chiefs among the ewe astride the ghana-togo boundary: from political hegemony to ritual authority, 1914-2014
(2016-04-07) Adotey, E.; Eyoh, D.
An important feature of Africa’s international boundaries is how they cut across ethnic groups, communities and families. This paper analyses the consequences of the bisection of communities by colonial boundaries that have become the new territorial markers of political communities. The study argues that contrary to claims of the enduring or lasting legacy of European international political boundaries on concepts of space in sub-Saharan Africa, collective identities were not weakened by colonial boundaries and administration. Rather, they were transformed and reinvigorated through cultural practices such as rituals which sustained a sense of belonging to Ewe communities that straddled international boundaries. In Nyive, an Ewe community astride the Ghana-Togo boundary the international boundary has not prevented chiefs from performing recognized ritual chiefly functions across the boundary, thus describing themselves as ‘international chiefs.’ The paper however notes that relationships between the separated communities have changed, specifically from political hegemony to largely ritual practices. It shows the importance of cultural space in the reproduction of communal or collective identities across international boundaries
Drown the Female Child and Bring Home the Male: Interrogating Gender Tensions in Igbo Folktales
(2016-04-07) Udemmadu, T.; Diabah, G.
This project seeks to interrogate variegated gender representations, gender identities and ascribed gender roles in Igbo folktales with a view to arguing that oral tradition as a miniaturized depository of wisdom and knowledge for a people without established literary tradition, may have laid the foundation for the existence and sustenance of lopsided gender relations in the society. Although many of the folktales have gender definitive contents, no critical study has investigated gender relations in these tales. A few of the tales have been documented by ethnographers and creative writers while a large number of the tales are still in their oral forms. Using qualitative methods of field and library research, the work will advance beyond the anthropological, cultural and sociological study of folktales to critically analyze gender relations among the characters in the tales and identify characteristics, classifications and interactions that promote gender inequality.
"Heroes and Homelands; the Heritage Quest in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon"
(2016-04-13) Chandler, M.A.; Quarshie, J.D.
This presentation explores the vital relationship between the iconic protagonists of two canonical literary texts, one Spanish and the other African American, and a notion of "heritage" as a transformative motivation for the novels' characters. While more than four hundred years and very distinct cultural contexts separate Miguel de Cervantes' classic, Don Quixote de to Mancha from African-American novelist, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, both texts share in common the age-old leitmotif of the quest as the guiding force for each novel's respective heroes, Don Quixote and Macon Dead Ill (also known as Milkman). This presentation argues and intends to illustrate that the growth, development, and ultimate fate of both Don Quixote and Milkman come either as a result or at the expense of an awakened 'self' discovered in the Spanish and African "roots" of each respective questing hero. The Spanish cultural backdrop of Don Quixote and the African American cultural milieu that situates Song of Solomon are illustrated by each novelist to underscore the relevance of cultural space and landscape to the heritage quest.
The Dynamics of Women’s Autonomy in Household Decision-Making in Ghana, the Role of Religion
(2016-04-14) Fuseini, K.; Dodoo, N.D.
The present study explored the dynamics of women’s autonomy in household decision-making in Ghana, the role of religion. This study employed a qualitative approach to explore these dynamics among women and men who were in marital unions/living together. The data was collected between December 2014 and January 2015 in two purposively selected towns of Accra (southern Ghana) and Tamale (Northern Ghana), utilising the thematic analysis approach. The results showed no marked religious and regional differences in the dynamics of household decision-making. Religion reinforced the long-standing patriarchal norms of household decision-making. According to these norms and beliefs, men are heads of households and are supposed to lead and be in control of household decision-making. Men insist on maintaining the status quo in household decision-making and justify it using cultural and religious prescriptions. On the other hand, women as subordinates do not contest the power structures of household decision-making, suggesting that they need to be submissive and defer to their husbands in household decision-making as prescribed by culture and especially religion. Nevertheless, women played active roles in the household decision-making process. In some cases, women’s influence may be subtle but very efficient, which men acknowledged. Indeed, ‘men are the heads of households and expected to lead decision-making; however, women are the necks, and when the neck turns the head will follow’. The study showed the importance of cultural and especially religious ideals in the dynamics of household decision-making as well as the influence of women in household decision-making.
‘The World Beyond the Horizon”
(2016-04-15) Nellis, J.
In recent decades the world has been transformed by unprecedented economic and political developments. A new world order is shaping up with the establishment of new markets and growth opportunities. The globalisation of trade and finance has driven fundamental changes across the world alongside the rapid development of some emerging economies. Globalisation has also brought about an increasing interdependence between nations, institutions and people. In tandem, we are witnessing major social trends including, for example, the ageing of populations in the most developed economies. This contrasts sharply with the rapid growth of populations, urbanisation and educational investment in many developing countries. Innovations in technology have connected people in radically new ways. We all now have access to an almost infinite volume and range of information and knowledge. At little or no cost. The internet has killed distance! The world is becoming ever more diverse and complex – and riskier. This makes it increasingly challenging for everyone to respond appropriately. This presentation will explore this rapidly changing landscape beyond the horizon by identifying and highlighting the impact of some of the most significant trends and the implications for society, government and business.
Affectivity and Metaphors in Kiswahili
(2016-04-20) Quarshie, J.D.; Twerefou, I.C.
This paper revisits the syntax of inalienable possessions in Swahili. It further interrogates the internal relationships between the constituents of affective (intimate possession) constructions in Swahili. The privileged treatment of constructions of inalienable possession is a relatively cross linguistic phenomenon. In Swahili, several construction types in which inalienability is grammatically represented have been identified. In a particular construction type which involves “a person affected (patient) and a part of the body or other thing intimately connected with them (property), featuring as two independent arguments of the verb rather than components of a single noun phrase” (Dzahene-Quarshie 2010) such as Akili imemruka ‘He is out of his mind’ the intimate possession often occurs as the subject of a typically intransitive verb and its owner as a direct object of the verb marked in the verb by an object prefix. Often the intimate possession and the verb constitute collocations. That is there is a concomitant co-occurrence of certain intimate possessions with certain verbs. Contextually, these constructions often occur in the narrative continuum and express abstract phenomena such as emotions and various states of mind. Using data drawn from various sources and a descriptive approach, the paper aims to establish that some affective constructions are metaphoric in that, often there is no direct correlation between the intimate possession and the corresponding verb in terms of semantic mapping. This demonstrates that beyond the established characteristics of affective constructions in the literature, they are also often metaphoric in terms of meaning.
“Let me get my stuffs.” Pluralization, mass and countability in African varieties of English
(2016-04-21) Mohr, S.; Amfo, N.A.
This lecture explores a phenomenon that has not only been controversially discussed in linguistics, but also in philosophy and psychology. A semantic-ontological mass-count distinction seems to be universal in all humans (Massam 2012), distinguishing between non-individuated mass entities such as liquids, and individuated objects such as cars or chairs. Further, psycholinguistic research has recently emphasized the importance of yet another category called “object-mass” items or “collectives” (Barner & Snedeker 2005; Li et al. 2009; Inagaki 2014). These are also central in the current project. While the semantic mass-count distinction seems to be universal, its linguistic representation varies considerably across different languages. This causes difficulties in the acquisition and use of mass nouns in English by non-native speakers. In standard usage, English mass nouns cannot be pluralized (*furnitures), combined with indefinite determiners (*a furniture), or with numerals (*three furnitures). However, in many L2 Englishes of Asia and Africa these forms have been reported to be abundant (Baskaran 2008; Schmied 2006, 2008; Mesthrie & Bhatt 2008; Kortmann & Lunkenheimer 2013). Huber (2012) even suggests “plural mass nouns” to be a typically African English feature. Drawing on the electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English, corpus data and psycholinguistic experiments, results from the current project show that the feature is not diagnostic of African Englishes and generally less frequent than anticipated (Mohr 2015 a, b; 2016). Moreover, certain (semantic) patterns can be found in the corpus data, although the use of plural mass nouns had generally been attributed to overgeneralization and simplification strategies in acquisition (Mesthrie & Bhatt 2008; Sharma 2012). Further, important differences between the African varieties under scrutiny (Kenyan, Tanzanian, Nigerian, Ghanaian and Tswana English) can be observed. In the lecture, the results from the corpus study will be presented, and an outlook on most recent results from fieldwork in spring 2016 will be provided.
Firm Productivity in the Presence of Binding Fiscal Constraints in Africa
(2016-04-22) Bokpin, G.
We examine two key questions in this paper. First, we investigate the implications of fiscal indiscipline or otherwise on firm productivity in Africa. Fiscal policy is known to boost growth by altering work and investment incentives, promoting human capital accumulation, and enhancing total factor productivity at the micro-level (IMF, 2015). Many factors have been studied in explaining total factor productivity in Africa or its sub-regions but the role of fiscal policy in explaining firm productivity remains understudied. Yet fiscal policy is considered a binding constraint in Africa. Fiscal indiscipline is known to crowd-out the private sector and seriously undermines private sector leadership in ensuring all inclusive, broad-based growth. We measure firm-level total factor productivity using a Cobb-Douglas production function, when we regress on firm characteristics and fiscal policy indicators. In estimations with controls for country and year fixed effects, we find results that suggests firms reporting finance as a severe obstacle have relatively lower productivity levels, productivity declined with age, and audited firms are more productive than those not audited. The level of government debt to GDP, we found, had significant implications for the relation between access to finance severity and firm productivity. Fiscal Indiscipline (in its various forms) severely constraints firm productivity. The implications are that fiscal mismanagement has implications for firm-level productivity.

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