Research publications and economic growth in South Africa: an empirical investigation

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 662-675
Author(s):  
Nicholas M Odhiambo ◽  
Lydia Ntenga
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Publications ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Ardl Bounds Testing ◽  
Short Run

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between research publications and economic growth – using time-series data from South Africa. The paper attempts to answer two critical questions: is there a long-run relationship between research publications and economic growth in South Africa? Do research publications from South African researchers Granger-cause economic growth? Design/methodology/approach – Unlike some of the previous studies, the current paper uses a trivariate ECM-based Granger-causality model to examine this linkage. Specifically, the study incorporates education as an intermittent variable between research and economic growth. In addition, the paper uses the recently developed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing procedure, which has numerous advantages, especially when the sample size is small. Findings – The results of this study show that there is a long-run relationship between research publications and economic growth in South Africa. The results also show that there is a distinct causal flow from research publications to economic growth in South Africa. This applies both in the short-run and in the long-run. Other results also show that: there is a short-run bidirectional causality between research publications and education; and there is a short-run bi-directional causality between education and economic growth, but a long-run unidirectional causal flow from education to economic growth. Practical implications – The findings of this paper underscore the crucial role that research plays in economic growth and development. Overall, the findings of this study show that research in South Africa is pro-growth. This implies that the recent significant increase in government expenditure on research and innovation, which is aimed at increasing the country’s scientific research outputs, is likely to pay off. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to examine in detail the dynamic causal relationship between research outputs and economic growth in South Africa – using the recently developed ARDL-bounds testing approach within a trivariate setting.

scholarly journals Pre-COVID-19 evaluation of external debt, corruption and economic growth in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Gbenga Olamide ◽  
Andrew Maredza
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
External Debt ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

PurposeThis study is a pre-COVID-19 exposition of the existing situation about external debt-GDP relationship, incorporating corruption into the hypothesis, making South Africa the object of the study. The aim is to examine the causal relationship between corruption, economic growth and external debt, and in the end proffer solutions to the problems arising therefrom.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed ARDL technique on time series data running from 1990 to 2019 with real gross domestic product as the dependent variable and external debt, external debt servicing, corruption, inflation and capital formation as regressors. Necessary tests that include unit root, cointegration, CUSUM and CUSUMSq, normality, serial correlation and heteroscedasticity were performed on the model.FindingsThe study shows that corruption, inflation and external debt servicing exert negative influences on economic growth while the effect of investment on growth was positive. External debt's effect in the short run was positive while its long-run effect on growth was negative. Among other things, the need to improve and strengthen public institutions in addition to targeting tax evaders and avoiders for increased government revenue were emphasized.Originality/valueThe study incorporates corruption into the country specific debt-GDP debate as against earlier studies that excluded corruption in their time series analysis or that were cross-country based. The authors also exposit the existing knowledge of the debt-GDP hypothesis before the outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic. This is expected to serve as a precursor to subsequent studies on the rising debt of South Africa during and after the pandemic.

Has the low level of economic growth spurred informal sector activities in Uganda? An empirical analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Esaku
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Shadow Economy ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

PurposeIn this paper, the authors examine how economic growth shapes the shadow economy in the long and short run.Design/methodology/approachUsing annual time series data from Uganda, drawn from various data sources, covering the period from 1991 to 2017, the authors apply the ARDL modeling approach to cointegration.FindingsThis paper finds that an increase in economic growth significantly reduces the size of the shadow economy, in both the long and short run, all else equal. However, the long-run relationship between the shadow economy and growth is non-linear. The results suggest that the rise of the shadow economy could partially be attributed to the slow and sluggish rate of economic growth.Practical implicationsThese findings imply that addressing informality requires addressing underlying factors of underdevelopment since improvements in economic growth also translate into a reduction in the size of the shadow economy in the short and long run.Originality/valueThese findings reveal that the low level of economic growth is an issue because it spurs informal sector activities in the short run. However, as the economy improves, it becomes an incentive for individuals to operate in the informal sector. Additionally, tackling shadow activities in the short run could help improve tax revenue collection.

LPG consumption and economic growth, 1975-2016: evidence from Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Gaston Tamba
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Gas Consumption ◽  
The Government ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policies

Purpose This paper aims to examine the causal relationship between liquefied petroleum gas consumption and economic growth in Cameroon over the period from 1975 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach The methodology of this study is based on the unit root, cointegration and causality tests. Cointegration is performed with both Johansen and autoregressive distributed lag bounds approach, while causality is done with the Granger test based on the error correction model (ECM) and Toda-Yamamoto procedure. Findings The cointegration methods confirm the existence of a level relationship, whereas the causal tests of the ECM reveal the existence of a short-run unidirectional causal relationship ranging from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption to economic growth and a bidirectional causal relationship between long-term and high-causality variables. With the Toda-Yamamoto procedure, unidirectional causality is found to run from economic growth to liquefied petroleum gas consumption. Research limitations/implications These findings imply that an increase in liquefied petroleum gas consumption leads to an increase in economic growth. As a result, supporting energy efficiency policies that aim to reduce liquefied petroleum gas consumption is not an option for Cameroon. Given that LPG consumption shares are still low in Cameroon, the government ought, thus, to increase LPG subsidization, vulgarize and favor policies aimed at encouraging LPG consumption to increase LPG deposits nationwide. This would help increase LPG consumption and consequently could increase economic growth in Cameroon. Originality/value LPG is a fossil fuel and is the less GHG emitter and it is considered as a modern source of energy for cooking in Cameroon households. It scarcity calls on energy policymakers to question the influence LPG consumption could have on economic growth in the short- and long-run. Thus, this paper could contribute to solving the issue of deforestation in Cameroon, especially in the Sahel zone; through the substitution of firewood consumption by LPG consumption in households.

The short-run and long-run dynamics among FDI, trade openness and economic growth: using a bootstrap ARDL test for co-integration in selected South Asian countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hummera Saleem ◽  
Malik Shahzad Shabbir ◽  
Muhammad Bilal khan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Auto Regressive

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic causal relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI), gross domestic product (GDP) and trade openness (TO) on a set of five selected South Asian countries.Design/methodology/approachThis study used newly developed bootstrap auto regressive distributed lags (ARDL) cointegration test to examine the long-run relationship among FDI, GDP and TO for selected South Asian countries for 1975–2016.FindingsThe economic growth (EG) is significantly related to TO for Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and the expansion of TO is crucial for growth in these countries. The results show that all countries (except Bangladesh) found the existence of long-run cointegration between FDI, GDP and TO, whereas FDI is a dependent variable. These results concluded that FDI and TO are contributing to EG in these selected countries.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first attempts to investigate the causal relationship and address the short and long dynamic among FDI, GDP and TO regarding five south Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

scholarly journals Tourism And Economic Growth In Kenya: An Empirical Investigation

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Obadiah N. Kibara ◽  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo ◽  
Josephine M. Njuguna
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Annual Time Series

In this study, we examine the dynamic relationship between tourism sector development and economic growth using annual time-series data from Kenya. The study attempts to answer one critical question - Is tourism development in Kenya pro-growth? The study uses an ARDL-bounds testing approach to examine these linkages and also incorporates trade as an intermittent variable between tourism development and economic growth in a multivariate setting. The results of our study show that there is a uni-directional causality from tourism development to economic growth. The results are found to hold irrespective of whether the causality is estimated in the short run and long run. Other results show that international tourism Granger-causes trade, while trade Granger-causes economic growth in Kenya in both the short and the long run.

scholarly journals Public debt and economic growth: contemporary evidence from a developing economy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Kris Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Granger Causality ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Consumption Expenditure ◽  
Government Consumption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Investment Spending

Purpose Considering the continuous rise in the public debt stock of developing countries (particularly Ghana) with the unstable economic growth rate for the past decades and the recent borrowing because of the impact of COVID 19, this paper aims to examine the causal relationships between public debt and economic growth over time. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a dynamic multivariate autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL)-based Granger-causality model to test the causal relationships between public debt and economic growth [gross domestic product (GDP)]. Annual time-series data that spanned 1978–2018 were sourced from the World Bank Development Indicator database and the IMF fiscal Affairs Department Database and WEO. Findings The results reveal that public debt has no causal relationship with GDP in the short-run but there is unidirectional Granger causality running from public debt to GDP in the long run. Again, investment spending has a negative bi-directional causal relationship with GDP in the short-run but they have a positive bi-directional causal relationship in the long run. Conversely, no short-run causal relationship exists between government consumption expenditure and GDP but long-run Granger causality runs from government consumption expenditure to GDP. Finally, public debt has a positive impact on the inflation rate in the short run. Practical implications The findings imply that government(s) must ensure high fiscal discipline to serve as a precursor for the effective and efficient use of recent borrowing, that is, the loans should be used for highly prioritized projects (preferably investment spending) that are well evaluated and self-sustained to add positively to the GDP. Originality/value This paper provides contemporary findings to augment extant literature on public debt and economic growth by using variables and empirical models, which prior studies could not sufficiently cover in a developing country perspective and affirms that public debt contributes to GDP only in the long run.

scholarly journals Education and economic growth in South Africa: an empirical investigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Granger Causality ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Causality Model ◽  
Ardl Bounds Testing Approach ◽  
Education And Economic Growth

PurposeThis paper examines the dynamic causal relationship between education and economic growth in South Africa using annual time-series data from 1986 to 2017. The study attempts to answer one critical question: Does education, which is one of the priority sectors in South Africa, drive economic growth?Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the ARDL bounds testing approach and ECM-based Granger causality model to examine this linkage. The study also uses three proxies to measure the level of education. In addition, the study uses two variables: investment and labour, as intermittent variables between the various proxies of education and economic growth, thereby creating a system of multivariate Granger-causality models.FindingsThe study finds that the causal relationship between education and economic growth in South Africa is dependent on the variable used to measure the level of education. In addition, the causality tends to change over time. Overall, the study finds the causal flow from economic growth to education to supersede the causal flow from education to economic growth.Originality/valueUnlike some previous studies, the current study uses three proxies of education in South Africa and two intermittent variables in a multivariate setting. To our knowledge, this may be the first study of its kind to examine in detail the dynamic causal relationship between education and economic growth in South Africa – using the ARDL bounds testing approach and a multivariate Granger causality model.

Do fisheries and aquaculture production have dominant roles within the economic growth of Pakistan? A long-run and short-run investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (8) ◽  
pp. 1926-1935
Author(s):  
Abdul Rehman ◽  
Zhang Deyuan ◽  
Sehresh Hena ◽  
Abbas Ali Chandio
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ardl Bounds Testing ◽  
Bounds Testing Approach ◽  
Testing Approach ◽  
Ardl Bounds Testing Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explore the connection between aquaculture and capture fisheries production and economic growth in Pakistan. Fisheries play an important role in Pakistan’s national economy, and Pakistan has sufficient fishery resources to be developed. Most of the population in the coastal areas depends on fisheries for their livelihood. Design/methodology/approach This research was based on time series data of aquaculture and capture fisheries production and the analysis of their relationship with economic growth in Pakistan. The study used an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to check the dynamic causality between the study variables. Findings The results showed that aquaculture and capture fisheries production have had a positive effect on the economic growth in Pakistan. Practical implications Better infrastructure for the fishing industry, increased government expenditure on facilities and financial support for the fish farmers could contribute to economic growth in the future. Recommendations for improvements in these areas have been made. Originality/value By using an ARDL bounds testing approach, this study contributes to the literature regarding fisheries production and economic growth in Pakistan.

An assessment of impact of globalization on Indian IT and ITES exports

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 751-768
Author(s):  
Manzoor Hassan Malik ◽  
Nirmala Velan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Total Output ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Growth Trend ◽  
Growth Trends ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the growth trends in IT industry after the period of globalization in 1990s and to investigate the short-run and long-run dynamics between IT software and service exports, globalization and economic growth in India.Design/methodology/approachAnnual time series data on IT exports, net national product and openness index have been collected from National Association of Software and Service Companies, the Reserve Bank of India database on Indian economy and the World Bank for the present study. The methodology adopted for studying the first objective are growth trend models, descriptive statistics and graphs prepared on the basis of data from the IT sector. Growth trends in key performance variables, such as total output, export, domestic output and employment have been analyzed. In the case of second objective, vector auto regression model has been used based on variance decomposition and impulse response function to capture the short-run and long-run dynamics between IT exports, globalization and economic growth in India.FindingsResults of the growth trend model show the relative growth performance of software services receipts shows its strong advancement compared to the other sub-components of current account of balance of payments of India. It is found that economic growth responds positively to the shocks in IT exports and openness of economy. Further, IT software and service exports and openness index contribute to economic growth more in the long-run rather than in the short run.Research limitations/implicationsThe IT software and service exports is dynamic field of economic activity amid heavy dependence on both domestic and external economic and political environment; hence, the rate of change is so rapid, and the relevance of factors may change over time.Practical implicationsThe paper has implications for achieving sustainability in IT software and service exports growth. It is recommended that economic growth can be enhanced by implementing policies that not only improve the efficiency of the sector but also focus on optimization of the potential of the Indian IT industry.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on originality in delineating the growth trends and analysis of capturing the short-run and long-run dynamics between IT exports, globalization and economic growth in India.

scholarly journals Stock market development and economic growth in Tanzania: an ARDL and bound testing approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-206
Author(s):  
Saganga Mussa Kapaya
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Market Development ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stock Market Development ◽  
Testing Procedures ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to empirical evidence by recognizing the importance of stock markets in the financial system and consequently its causality to economic growth and vice versa. Design/methodology/approach The study used the autoregressive distribute lag model (ARDL) with bound testing procedures, the sample covered quarterly time-series data from 2001q1 to 2019q2 in Tanzania. Findings The results suggest that stock market development have both negative and positive causality for both short-run dynamics and long-run relationship with economic growth. Economic growth is found to only cause and relate negatively to liquidity both in the short-run and in the long-run. The results show predominantly a unidirectional causality flow from stock market development to economic growth and finds partial causality flow from economic growth to stock market development, as represented by stock market turnover which proxied liquidity. Originality/value The use of quarterly data to reflect more realistically the dynamics of the variables because yearly data may sometimes cover-up specific dynamics that may be useful for prediction and policy planning. The study uses indices to capture general aspects within the stock market against economic growth as an intuitive way to aggregate the stock market development effects.

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