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This study investigates the effects of aid grants on inclusive growth in 37 Sub‐Saharan African countries for the period 1984–2018. Grant aid is decomposed into aid grants and technical cooperation grants. Two inclusive growth indicators are used, namely gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth and unemployment rate. The dynamic panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, which is employed comprises three different estimators; the pooled mean group (PMG); mean group (MG) and dynamic fixed effect (DFE). The Hausman diagnostics were used to assess the efficiency and consistency of the estimators. Based on the PMG estimator, our findings show that aid grants and technical cooperation grants exert a positive influence on GDP per capita growth in the long run. However, while the observed influence of aid grants is found to be significant, technical cooperation grants display insignificant effects. In the short run, however, the PMG estimates show that aid grants and technical cooperation grants have negative and insignificant effects on GDP per capita growth. On the other hand, results based on the DFE estimators reveal that neither of the aid grants has influenced the unemployment rate positively in the short run. However, whereas aid grants contribute significantly to the reduction of the unemployment rate in the long run, technical cooperation grants do not. This study complements the attendant literature by assessing how aid grants versus technical cooperation grants affect inclusive growth. The findings are relevant to international policy coordination for the attainment of sustainable development goals.

Studies on the contribution of concessional debt to economic development are sketchy. The paucity of empirical studies on this subject is even more glaring in the context of the English-speaking West African countries. Bilateral and multilateral aid donors have intensified the flow of official assistance to the developing countries of the world with the aim to bridge the developmental gap between the less developed countries and the industrialized countries of the world. The question that often arises is whether such aids have yielded the desired results among the recipient countries. Against this backdrop, we examined the effect of concessional debt on the economic development in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) using cross-sectional data from 1975-2014. The panel cointegration and panel unit root tests were employed to test for long-run relationship and stationarity of the series respectively. Our model was analysed with both fixed and random effect panel regression while the Hausman test be used to determine the best and appropriate choice between the two. Our findings reveal that multilateral and bilateral concessional debts have significant positive effect on standard of living in the West African Monetary Zone. The panel cointegration test also indicates that there is no long-run relationship between concessional debt and per capita income. We conclude that inflow of concessional aid from multilateral and bilateral donors has had remarkable influence on the standard of living in the region. We recommend that concessional aid to the less developed countries be intensified. However, recipient countries should have a credible external borrowing guideline scribed in their legislation to check against excessive borrowing and also ensure that aid received is used for the intended (developmental) purposes. External institutions and aid agencies should also be involved in the entire aid administration with aim of ensuring that aid is extended based on need, not political ties. JEL: A10; B20; C01 Article ...

Economic development theories are the supporting structure of growth literature. In view of this, this paper attempts to review selected economic development theories with the aim of highlighting their relevance to the growing empirical debate on growth and development. From the front of classical theories of economic development came the modernisation theory which focuses on effecting transformation among institutional structures in less developed countries of the world through cultural changes while buttressing that political development is indispensable in ensuring progress and conducive environment for a nation's economic status. The theory, therefore, acknowledges the important role of politics in formulation and implementations of policies. As a response to criticisms of the dependency school and the theory of modernization, the world-systems and globalization theory emerged as direct outgrowth of the modernity and the dependency. The world-systems and globalization theories argue for a systemic level or unit of analyses order than a state-centric approach to social and economic progress while proposing a knowledge economy where cutting-edge technology plays major role in global industrialisation, capital accumulation. Furthermore, the theory of neoliberalism argue that free global trade can drive economic growth and large businesses can benefit more without government intervention. JEL: F63; F02; O11 Article visualizations:

This paper assessed the effect of SMEs financing on manufacturing sector growth in Nigeria using annualised data from 1981 to 2014. A cointegrating relationship was determined using the Engel and Granger residual based approach which showed evidence of a long-run relationship between SMEs credit and manufacturing output growth in Nigeria. The results of the error correction model showed that SMEs financing had exerted positive influence on the manufacturing sector growth. The finding indicated that when credits to the SMEs increased by 1%, manufacturing output rose by 14.5%. The results also revealed that interest rate and inflation rate had negative effect on manufacturing sector growth. A unit change in interest rate led to 15.7% fall in output growth of the manufacturing sector. We conclude that while SMEs is an important sector that can drive the Nigerian economy, rising interest rate stifles their growth and overall economic impact. This sector needs nurturing hence the government and monetary authorities should make policies and create enabling environment for SMEs to thrive. Access to fund should also be made easy and at low interest rate.

This paper assessed the effect of SMEs financing on manufacturing sector growth in Nigeria using annualised data from 1981 to 2014. A cointegrating relationship was determined using the Engel and Granger residual based approach which showed evidence of a long-run relationship between SMEs credit and manufacturing output growth in Nigeria. The results of the error correction model showed that SMEs financing had exerted positive influence on the manufacturing sector growth. The finding indicated that when credits to the SMEs increased by 1%, manufacturing output rose by 14.5%. The results also revealed that interest rate and inflation rate had negative effect on manufacturing sector growth. A unit change in interest rate led to 15.7% fall in output growth of the manufacturing sector. We conclude that while SMEs is an important sector that can drive the Nigerian economy, rising interest rate stifles their growth and overall economic impact. This sector needs nurturing hence the government and monetary authorities should make policies and create enabling environment for SMEs to thrive. Access to fund should also be made easy and at low interest rate. Article visualizations: