The purpose of this study is to assess the nexus between governance and renewable energy consumption in sub-Saharan Africa. The focus is on 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with data from 1996 to 2016. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions. It is apparent from the findings that political and institutional governance are negatively related to the consumption of renewable energy in the sampled countries. The unexpected findings are clarified and policy implications are discussed in the light of sustainable development goals. This study extends the extant literature by assessing how political governance (consisting of political stability and "voice & accountability") and institutional governance (entailing the rule of law and corruption-control) affect the consumption of renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa.
This study investigates the relevance of inclusive education in moderating the effect of good governance on female economic inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. First, inclusive tertiary education modulates: (i) government effectiveness to induce a positive net effect on female labour force participation; (ii) political stability and corruption-control to induce negative net effects on female unemployment; (iii) government effectiveness for a positive net effect on female unemployment and (iv) regulation quality and the rule of law for positive net impacts on female employment. Second, inclusive secondary education moderates: (i) corruption-control for a positive net effect on female labour force participation; (ii) "voice and accountability", government effectiveness and corruption-control for negative net impacts on female unemployment; (iii) the rule of law for a positive net effect on female unemployment; (iv) "voice and accountability†, government effectiveness and corruption-control for positive net effects on female employment. Policy implications are discussed. Inclusive education thresholds for complementary policy policies are also computed and discussed. At these thresholds, inclusive education becomes a necessary but not a sufficient condition to complement governance in order to promote female economic inclusion.
This paper investigates the debt-growth nexus by testing both the impact of aggregate public debt on economic growth and the relative impact of domestic and foreign public debt on economic growth using South Africa as the case study—from 1970 to 2017. Based on the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique, the findings reveal that the impact of aggregated public debt on economic growth in South Africa is statistically significant and negative, both in the short run and in the long run. The results further reveal that domestic public debt and economic growth have a statistically significant and positive relationship in the short run only. Furthermore, foreign public debt has a statistically significant and negative relationship with economic growth but only in the long run. Therefore, the study recommends the government to manage effectively its debt and to finance long-term high-returning productive investments that should translate into economic growth. Finally, the study cautions the country against growing public debt, predominantly foreign debt, to finance its increasing recurrent expenditure needs.
By applying the autoregressive distributed lag approach, this article investigates the dynamic impact of public debt service on economic growth in South Africa, covering the period from 1970 to 2017. In the recent past, alarming bells have already started sounding about the country's high debt/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio amid chronic low GDP growth. The article seeks to contribute to the debate that limiting the proportion of public debt service payments to gross national product can achieve economic growth by freeing domestic resources. The empirical findings of the study show that there is no statistically significant relationship between public debt service and economic growth in South Africa, irrespective of whether the estimations are done in the long run or in the short run. Policy implications are discussed.
AbstractThis paper examines the nexus between governance and education quality in a panel of 49 sub‐Saharan African countries over the 2000–2012 period. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regression (QR) are employed as estimation strategies. The following findings are established. First, from the OLS, governance variables are negatively correlated with poor education quality. Second, with regards to QR, about half of the governance dynamics are not significantly correlated with poor education quality in the lowest quantile of poor education quality. With the exception of corruption control, the other governance dynamics are negatively correlated with poor education quality in a non‐monotonic pattern.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of credit access in modulating governance for gender-inclusive education in 42 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with data spanning the period 2004–2014.Design/methodology/approachThe generalized method of moments is used as empirical strategy.FindingsThe following findings are established: First, credit access modulates government effectiveness and the rule of law to induce positive net effects on inclusive "primary and secondary education." Second, credit access also moderates political stability and the rule of law for overall net positive effects on inclusive secondary education. Third, credit access complements government effectiveness to engender an overall positive impact on inclusive tertiary education.Originality/valuePolicy implications are discussed with emphasis on sustainable development goals.
PurposeThis paper aims to assess whether official development assistance (ODA) or foreign aid has been effective in reducing extreme poverty; test whether the type and source of aid matter; and examine whether political or economic freedom enhances aid effectiveness in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses recent dynamic panel estimation techniques (system generalised method of moments), including those methods which deal with endogeneity by controlling for simultaneity and unobserved heterogeneity.FindingsThe main findings of the study are: firstly, foreign aid does have a statistically significant poverty reduction effect and the results are consistent across all the three extreme poverty proxies. Secondly, the disaggregation of aid by source and type shows that total aid, grant and bilateral aid are more likely to reduce poverty. Thirdly, political freedom might not be an effective channel through which aid impacts extreme poverty, but aid is more effective in an environment where there is respect for freedom of enterprise.Research limitations/implicationsAs with most cross-country aid–growth–poverty dynamic panel data studies, the challenges of establishing robust causality and accounting for the unobserved country-specific heterogeneity remain apparent. However, given the data availability constraints, generalised method of moments is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the most robust empirical strategy when T < N. Future research could explore possibilities of individual country analysis, disaggregating countries by income and also examining the direction of causality between foreign aid, poverty and democracy.Practical implicationsThe policy implications are that the development partners should continue to focus on poverty reduction as the main objective for ODA; aid allocation should be focused on channels which have more poverty-reduction effect, such as per capita income and economic freedom; and aid recipient countries should also focus on reducing inequality.Social implicationsThe main social implications from this study is that it is possible to reduce poverty through ODA. Second, to enhance the effectiveness of foreign aid, ODA allocation should be focussed on channels, which have more poverty-reduction effect, and the host countries should have economic freedom.Originality/valueThis paper makes a further contribution to the aid effectiveness literature, especially the channels through which foreign aid affects poverty.
Abstract This paper explores the causality between public debt, public debt service and economic growth in South Africa covering the period 1970 – 2017. The study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and the multivariate Granger-causality test. The empirical results indicate that there is unidirectional causality from economic growth to public debt, but only in the short run. However, the study fails to establish any causality between public debt service and economic growth, both in the short run and long run. In line with the empirical evidence, the study concludes that it is economic growth that drives public debt in South Africa, and that the causal relationship between public debt and economic growth is sensitive to the timeframe considered. The paper recommends policymakers in South Africa to consider growth-enhancing policies in the short run, since poor economic performances may lead to high public debt levels.
PurposeThis study investigates the role of financial access in moderating the effect of governance on insurance consumption in 42 sub-Saharan African countries using data for the period 2004–2014.Design/methodology/approachTwo life insurance indicators are used, notably: life insurance and non-life insurance. Six governance measurements are also used, namely: political stability, 'voice and accountability', government effectiveness, regulation quality, corruption-control and the rule of law. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Least Squares Dummy Variable Corrected (LSDVC) estimators.FindingsEstimations from the LSDVC are not significant while the following main findings are established from the GMM. First, financial access promotes life insurance through channels of political stability, 'voice and accountability', government effectiveness, the rule of law and corruption-control. Second, financial access also stimulates non-life insurance via governance mechanisms of political stability, 'voice and accountability', government effectiveness, regulation quality, the rule of law and corruption-control.Originality/valueThis research complements the sparse literature on insurance promotion in Africa by engaging the hitherto unexplored role of financial access through governance channels.
This research assesses the importance of credit access in modulating governance for gender inclusive education in 42 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with data spanning the period 2004- 2014. The Generalized Method of Moments is employed as empirical strategy. The following findings are established. First, credit access modulates government effectiveness and the rule of law to induce positive net effects on inclusive "primary and secondary education". Second, credit access also moderates political stability and the rule of law for overall net positive effects on inclusive secondary education. Third, credit access complements government effectiveness to engender an overall positive impact on inclusive tertiary education. Policy implications are discussed with emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals.
