Browsing by Author "Desalegn Dawit"

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    Essays on Climate Change, Institutional Quality, Economic Growth, and Poverty Vulnerability: Macro–Micro Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa
    (A.A.U, 2025-06-22) Desalegn Dawit; Paul Nystedt
    Abstract This dissertation comprises empirical analyses of climate change’s effects on aggregate and sectoral economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, including an examination of how institutional quality may influence these effects. It also investigates how climate variability affects poverty vulnerability in Ethiopia. As part of this dissertation, the first paper uses panel data from 43 Sub-Saharan African countries (1970–2019) and employs fixed effects and seemingly unrelated regression models to examine climate change’s effects on aggregate and sectoral economic growth, finding that rising temperatures and reduced precipitation disproportionately affect agriculture, with vulnerable countries facing the greatest economic losses, while industry, manufacturing, and services exhibit resilience. Expanding upon this, the second paper employs System GMM and a long-run multiplier approach with panel data from 43 Sub-Saharan African countries (1996–2019) to explore how institutional quality conditions climate change’s effects on economic growth, revealing that stronger institutions enhance resilience but struggle to offset rising temperatures’ long-term impacts, while corruption and political instability worsen environmental degradation and economic challenges, emphasizing the need for integrated institutional reforms and climate adaptation strategies. Extending this analysis, the third paper examines climate variability’s impacts on poverty vulnerability in Ethiopia, using three-round micro-panel data from the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey (3,313 households) and climate data from the Ethiopian Meteorological Agency (2010–2016) with a two-level random coefficient model and fixed effects, finding that climate variability has a greater impact on poverty vulnerability than socioeconomic factors, particularly among rural households with larger families and higher dependency ratios. Thus, this dissertation recommends a multi-pronged policy framework for SSA: (1) boost agricultural resilience through climate-smart practices (e.g., drought-resistant crops, irrigation systems) to mitigate sectoral losses; (2) strengthen institutional quality via anti-corruption measures and governance reforms to curb environmental degradation and enhance long-term economic stability; and (3) implement targeted interventions in Ethiopia and similar SSA contexts, including climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable farming techniques (e.g., agroforestry), livelihood diversification (e.g., off-farm income), and expanded social protection (e.g., cash transfers, insurance schemes) to reduce poverty vulnerability and build household resilience. Key Words: Climate Change, Economic Growth, Institutional Quality, Poverty Vulnerability
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    Reference value Determination of CD4+ T-Lymphocyte in HIV Sero- Negative Ethiopian Pregnant Women
    (Addis Abeba University, 2009-07) Zewdie Taye; Worku Yesehak ; Chawla R ; Tsegaye Aster; Amogne Wondwossen; Desalegn Dawit; Deressa Wakgari
    In Ethiopia, reference intervals in clinical laboratories are commonly based on results obtained for western populations or from test kit manufacturers. The present cross sectional study aimed to establish reference interval for CD4+ T lymphocyte counts, in HIV sero-negative pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic at Yekatit 12 hospital. Flow cytometric analysis was performed to determine CD4+ and total T lymphocyte counts. Accordingly gestational ages between 4 and 38weeks (n=120) were used. Reference values obtained were 310-1185 cells/µl for Absolute CD4+ T cells count, 17.9-54.0% for CD4+ T cells percentage, 690-2540 cells/µl for absolute CD3+ T cells count, 55-84% for CD3+ T cells percentage, 952-2985 cells/ µl for absolute CD45 + lymphocyte count. The data revealed that CD4+ T cell percentage was stable throughout the pregnancy period while absolute CD4+ T cell count varies between trimesters indicating that CD4+ T cell percentage could be more reliable in the management of HIV infected pregnant women than the absolute value. In conclusion, T lymphocyte populations in pregnant women were different from non pregnant women. The clinical implication of these differences is the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV infected pregnant women.