A study into the links between mortgage financing and economic development in Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Asabere ◽  
Carl B McGowan Jr. ◽  
Sang Mook Lee

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between mortgage financing and economic development for African countries, as there is a gap in the literature regarding this topic. The development of mortgage markets is important for the overall development of a country. Policymakers and international institutions like the World Bank have been promoting the expansion of Africa’s nascent mortgage markets as a logical stimulus to economic growth and development. Specifically, the authors analyze the link between the size of the mortgage market and the gross national income (GNI) per capita for African countries. They found a significant positive correlation between the size of the mortgage market and GNI per capita. A plausible interpretation is that mortgage financing can induce growth and development. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine the relationship between mortgage financing and GNI per capita for African countries using the hedonic framework. Findings – The authors found a significant positive correlation between the size of the mortgage market and the level of GNI per capita, as hypothesized for this study. Practical implications – An economically plausible interpretation is that the availability of mortgage financing leads to a more efficient financial system, which, in turn, produces growth and development. Social implications – These findings provide empirical support for the need to pay greater attention to further development and expansion of the emergent mortgage markets of African economies. Originality/value – There is a gap in the empirical literature regarding this topic with reference to the link between mortgage financing and economic development for African countries.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 734-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
DeGraft Owusu-Manu ◽  
David John Edwards ◽  
Erika Anneli Pärn ◽  
Richard Ohene Asiedu ◽  
Alex Aboagye

Purpose While mortgage markets have gradually emerged in many African countries, substantial barriers still hinder their growth and expansion. Affordability has been widely cited as a prominent issue that doggedly remains at the core of urban housing problems. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the determinants of mortgage price affordability. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered using semi-structured questionnaires obtained from a sample drawn from three major West African mortgage financing institutions. Respondents rated the variables using a five-point Likert item rating. The survey results were analysed using exploratory factor analysis. Findings In total, 11 variables that influence mortgage affordability were categorised within five principal components, namely, economic factors, financial factors, property characteristics, developmental factors and geographical factors. Practical implications The results provide insightful guidance to policymakers and practitioners on how to mitigate affordability issues within Ghana’s fledgling mortgage market. Failure to address the mortgage price affordability conundrum will place enormous pressure upon social housing and rental accommodation. Originality/value The research findings expand existing frontiers of knowledge by investigating and reporting upon the determinants of mortgage price affordability. The work also engenders wider debate on the need to establish mortgage packages targeted at low-to-middle-income earners. The culmination of analysis and debate will provide a robust basis for developing a future housing policy framework.


Author(s):  
Louis O. Osuji

Trade between nations is very crucial in the process of economic and technological growth. Directly or indirectly, trade facilitates the process of technology innovation, transfer and diffusion. It offers the trajectory to evaluate and understand how technology penetrates economies and remains a good indicator to measure national progress on technology creation and assimilation. The growth link between international trade and economic development could be traced to the classical trade theory of Adam Smith, and David Ricardo and the modern neoclassical trade model of Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O). While there is no single model that captures the route to economic development, this chapter explores how African countries working closely can harness and utilize technological advancements to improve their share of global trade so as to accelerate their overall economic growth and development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1288-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Roemer ◽  
Alain Trannoy

During the last third of the twentieth century, political philosophers actively debated about the content of distributive justice; the ruling ethical view of utilitarianism was challenged by various versions of equality of opportunities. Economists formulated several ways of modeling these ideas, focusing upon how individuals are placed with respect to opportunities for achieving various outcomes, and what compensation is due to individuals with truncated opportunities. After presenting a review of the main philosophical ideas (section 2), we turn to economic models (sections 3 and 4). We propose a reformulation of the definition of economic development, replacing the utilitarian measure of GDP per capita with a measure of the degree to which opportunities for income acquisition in a nation have been equalized. Finally, we discuss issues that the econometrician faces in measuring inequality of opportunity, briefly review the empirical literature (section 6), and conclude (section 7). (JEL C43, D63, D70, I24)


Subject Taxation effects on inequality in Africa. Significance Economic inequalities in African countries have failed to decline significantly despite gradual growth in per capita GDP over the past several years. Progressive taxation is weak in many countries, but improving this source of revenue alone will not close the inequality gap for some of the world's poorest. Impacts Political patronage and fear of elite emigration will discourage politicians from proposing progressive taxes. If introduced, higher taxes would only reduce inequality if collected transparently and invested in services for those with low incomes. Low income tax rates will limit revenue flows to fund major infrastructure projects, especially if other revenue sources are depressed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Jiang ◽  
Karen C. Seto ◽  
Junfei Bai

Purpose – The impact of dietary changes associated with urbanization is likely to increase the demand for land for food production. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of urban economic development on changes in food demand and associated land requirements for food production. Design/methodology/approach – Based on economic estimates from the Almost Ideal Demand System, feed conversion ratios, and crop yields, the authors forecast and compare future dietary patterns and land requirements for two types of urban diets in China. Findings – The results show that the expenditure elasticities of oil and fat, meat, eggs, aquatic products, dairy, and liquor for the diet of capital cities are greater than those for the diet of small- and medium-sized cities. The authors forecast that capital city residents will experience a more rapid rate of increase in per capita demand of meat, eggs, and aquatic products, which will lead to much higher per capita land requirements. Projections indicate that total per capita land demand for food production in capital cities will increase by 9.3 percent, from 1,402 to 1,533 m2 between 2010 and 2030, while total per capita land demand in small- and medium-sized cities will increase only by 5.3 percent, from 1,192 to 1,255 m2. Originality/value – The results imply that urban economic development can significantly affect the final outcomes of land requirements for food production. Urban economic development is expected to accelerate the rate of change toward an affluent diet, which can lead to much higher future land requirements.


2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Spolaore ◽  
Romain Wacziarg

The empirical literature on economic growth and development has moved from the study of proximate determinants to the analysis of ever deeper, more fundamental factors, rooted in long-term history. A growing body of new empirical work focuses on the measurement and estimation of the effects of historical variables on contemporary income by explicitly taking into account the ancestral composition of current populations. The evidence suggests that economic development is affected by traits that have been transmitted across generations over the very long run. This article surveys this new literature and provides a framework to discuss different channels through which intergenerationally transmitted characteristics may impact economic development, biologically (via genetic or epigenetic transmission) and culturally (via behavioral or symbolic transmission). An important issue is whether historically transmitted traits have affected development through their direct impact on productivity, or have operated indirectly as barriers to the diffusion of productivity-enhancing innovations across populations. (JEL J11, O33, O47, Z13)


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao-jun Tang ◽  
Pi-qin Gong ◽  
Yu-chong Xiao ◽  
Huai-yu Wang

Purpose This paper aims to figure out the relationship between energy consumption flow from a new perspective of embodied energy inventory index (EEII) and regional economic growth. Design/methodology/approach The input-output approach has been applied to calculate embodied energy inventory (EEI) and EEII using the data of 25 economies. Meanwhile, cluster analysis and panel data modeling were applied to carry out detailed research. Findings The results of cluster analysis show that there is a roughly negative relationship between EEII and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, although there are some exceptions, such as Russia and Taiwan (Province of China). Panel data model results provide further evidence that there is a negative relationship between EEII and GDP per capita. Population is an important productive factor in the regional economic development. The study showed a positive relationship between EEII and population. Therefore, energy consumption flow is closely related to regional economic development. Originality/value The value of this paper is to use EEI and EEII to comprehensively clarify the energy consumption flow. The advantage of EEII is that it can reflect the energy embodied in fixed assets and infrastructure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mahad Mohamed Sheik

Purpose: The abundance of natural resources is usually considered the blessing for the countries that own such resources. However, such wealth is often associated with poverty and a slower economic growth. This phenomenon is called the resource curse, and it shows that most countries that are rich in natural resources have markedly reduced economic growth and development, and it shows that the wealth of natural resources adversely affects their economies, although it is intuitively expected to be the opposite i.e. that such wealth would have a positive impact on the country’s economic development. The general objective of the study was to find out the motivational effect of oil exploration in Somali and the habitual African resource curse. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study found out that Oil resource exploration has led to progress in some developed economies such as Canada which was able to avoid the resource curse. This is because oil revenues helped Canada among other countries make investments in capital, build employment and grow. Other countries such as Russia and Japan have not been able to avoid the resource curse. African countries in general where the majority of oil producing nations are, have an inverse correlation between oil production and industrial development. Examples of African countries that have been affected by the resource curse are Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Empirical results indicate that, Somalia motivation for oil exploration is for economic development. However, it has not been spared the resource curse because the presence of oil has led to civil wars and terrorisms as groups seek to control the areas with oil fields. In addition, Somali and Kenya have involved diplomatic warfare over oil reserves that are located in the Indian Ocean near their borders. Recommendations: The study recommends that the government should enact laws which will govern petroleum operations, as well as empowering the Somali Petroleum Authority,(SPA) which will act as a regulatory body overseeing oil and gas activity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
HAIFENG PAN ◽  
DINGSHENG ZHANG

Abstract. Comprehensively considering the factors of environmental pollution, financial development and spillover effects, this paper analyzes the spatial dependence and clustering characteristics by selecting provincial panel data from 2005 to 2018. Meanwhile, considering geographic distance, economic distance and asymmetric factors, the optimal spatial econometric models are determined by constructing five different weight matrices and utilizing spatial panel models. The results show that (1) there existed significant positive correlation in the regional economic development and the spatial dependence played a significant role in promoting the economic development; (2) the direction and significance of spatial spillover effects were consistent under different spatial weights, and the spatial weight which considered geographical distance, economic distance and asymmetric factors proved to be the best; (3) the environmental pollution had a significant positive correlation with economic growth; (4) financial development had some positive effects on economic growth; (5) financial development was conducive to reducing the impact of environmental pollution on economic growth, and the promotion of environmental quality could strengthen the role of financial development in promoting economic growth; (6) from the perspective of regional heterogeneity, the cross terms of environmental pollution and financial development were not significant in the eastern region, but significantly negative in the central and western regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajib Chakraborty ◽  
Rebecca Abraham

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of financial inclusion on economic development.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 used World Bank Data to develop financial inclusion percentages of ownership of checking accounts, savings accounts, debit cards and loans for 179 countries among the poorest 40% of the population, from 2011–2017. Regressions established the financial inclusion, gross savings and GDP per capita growth linkage. Study 2 created and validated scales to measure social empowerment, economic empowerment and economic development, among inhabitants of Bangladesh villages. Structural equation modeling measured the mediation by social empowerment and economic empowerment of the financial inclusion and economic development linkage.FindingsTotal financial inclusion was significantly explained by gross savings, which was significantly explained by GDP per capita growth. Ownership of a checking account significantly increased gross savings, while ownership of a savings account significantly increased GDP per capita growth. Ownership of a checking account differentiated countries with the highest 5% of gross savings, while ownership of a debit card significantly differentiated countries with the GDP per capita growth. Social empowerment and economic empowerment significantly mediated the financial inclusion and economic development relationship.Originality/valueThe study is unique in examining financial inclusion from a multi country, macroeconomic perspective combined with measurement of its theoretical underpinnings through a primary data-based sample extracted from respondents in Bangladesh, a lower middle-income country in Southeast Asia.


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