The role of financial development and corruption in environmental degradation of Sub-Saharan African countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nura Sani Yahaya ◽  
Mohd Razani Mohd‐Jali ◽  
Jimoh Olajide Raji
Keyword(s):  
Financial Development ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Efficient Technology ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Credit Allocation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sub Saharan

PurposeThis study examines the role of financial development and its interaction with corruption in the environmental degradation of eight Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000–2014.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes Pedroni cointegration and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques for the estimation of the models.FindingsThe results of the cointegration test reveal that there exist long-run relationships among the variables in the model with the interaction of financial development and corruption, and in the model without interaction. The FMOLS estimates show that in the former model, the interaction of financial development with corruption is positively significant in determining the level of environmental degradation in those countries. Moreover, in the latter, financial development, trade openness, and corruption have a positive effect on their environmental degradationResearch limitations/implicationsUnavailability of data, the study was limited to only eight Sub-Saharan African nationsPractical implicationsThe finding that financial development and its interaction with corruption have an adverse effect on the environments of the Sub-Saharan African countries implies the need to focus on how efficient credits are being allocated in those countries. For better management of environmental quality, this may require the implementation of policies that enhance credit allocation to users with energy-efficient technology and appliances that promote the quality of environments. In addition, stringent policies could be embarked upon to curtail all acts of corruption in the region for an efficient credit allocation and a better environment in the development of Sub-Saharan African society.Originality/valueThe dearth in empirical studies on the Sub-Saharan African countries motivates this study. In particular, little is known about the interaction effect of corruption and financial development on the environmental degradation of those countries, as the work on this is limited in the existing literature.

Savings-investment-financial development trilogy: evidence from SSA

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Ibrahim D. Raheem ◽  
Mutiu Abimbola Oyinlola
Keyword(s):  
Financial Development ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Nature ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Generalised Method Of Moments ◽  
Qualitative Measure

Purpose The study seeks to examine the role of financial development (FD) in the Feldstein–Horioka (FH) puzzle. The novelty of this study is based on the fact that the measures of FD are expanded to account for the qualitative nature of the financial sector (“better finance”). Design/methodology/approach The study used annual dataset for 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 1999 through 2010 and relied on the system generalised method of moments (GMM) technique, which takes accounts of endogeneity-related issues. Findings The estimated FH coefficients ranged between 0.419 and 0.720. The qualitative measures of FD have higher FH coefficient relative to the traditional or quantitative measure of FD (“more finance”). Hence, improvement in both the quantity and quality of the financial sector might be helpful in the mobilization, distribution and utilization of savings for investment purposes within these economies. The high FH coefficients obtained suggest that the FH puzzle does not hold in the SSA region. Practical implications Policymakers should formulate and design policies that would seek to ensure the development of the financial sector both in terms of quantity and quality. While taking this into consideration, special attention should be devoted to the qualitative measure of finance. Originality/value The study extends the work of Adeniyi and Egwaikhide (2013) by providing different and, possibly better proxies for FD to capture the efficiency and the qualitative nature of the financial system. This crux of the study serves as the value addition to the literature, as no other study the authors are aware of, has considered the importance of “better finance” indicators in the saving – investment nexus investigation.

The impact of economic and financial development on environmental degradation

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samia Nasreen ◽  
Sofia Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
High Income ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to validate the impact of economic and financial development along with energy consumption on environmental degradation using dynamic panel data models for the period 1980-2010. The study uses three sub-panels constructed on the basis of income level to make panel data analysis more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach – Larsson et al. panel cointegration technique, fully modified ordinary least squares and vector error correction model causality analysis are applied for empirical estimation. Findings – Main empirical findings demonstrate that financial development reduces environmental degradation in the high-income panel and increases environmental degradation in the middle- and low-income panels. Hypothesis of the environmental Kuznets curve is accepted in all income panels. Granger causality results show the evidence of bidirectional causality between financial development and CO2 emission in the high-income panel, and unidirectional causality from financial development to CO2 emission in the middle- and low-income panels. Originality/value – In empirical literature, only a few studies explain the effect of financial development on environment. The present study is an effort to fill this gap by exploring the effect of economic and financial development on environmental degradation.

scholarly journals Remittances and health outcomes in Sub-Saharan African countries: Understanding the role of financial development and institutional quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (229) ◽  
pp. 119-144
Author(s):  
Uweis Bare ◽  
Yasmin Bani ◽  
Normaz Ismail ◽  
Anitha Rosland
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Dynamic Panel ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Ssa Countries

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the highest recipients of remittances; however, this is inconsistent with the region?s growth and the state of its weak healthcare systems. This paper therefore analyses the effect of remittances on health outcomes for 39 selected SSA countries over the period 1996 to 2016. It considers the channels through which remittances affect health outcomes, including financial development and institutional quality. Using dynamic panel estimation, we find that remittances sustain health outcomes, while both financial development and institutional quality complement remittances in this respect. SSA countries should therefore continue to improve their financial sectors and develop the quality of institutions to an adequate level. Achieving sound financial systems and institutions would both allow and attract a substantial amount of remittances, benefitting human capital and health outcomes and alleviating poverty.

scholarly journals The role of finance in inclusive human development in Africa revisited

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Rexon Nting
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Credit Bureaus ◽  
Public Credit ◽  
Private Credit

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the direct and indirect linkages between financial development and inclusive human development in African countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a battery of estimation techniques, notably: two-stage least squares, fixed effects, generalized method of moments and Tobit regressions. The dependent variable is the inequality adjusted human development index. All dimensions of the Financial Development and Structure Database of the World Bank are considered.FindingsThe main finding is that financial dynamics of depth, activity and size improve inclusive human development, whereas the inability of banks to transform mobilized deposits into credit for financial access negatively affects inclusive human development.Practical implicationsPolicies should be tailored to improve mechanisms by which credit facilities can be provided to both households and business operators. Surplus liquidity issues resulting from the inability of banks to transform mobilized deposits into credit can be resolved by enhancing the introduction of information sharing offices (like public credit registries and private credit bureaus) that would reduce information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers.Originality/valueThis study complements the extant literature by assessing the nexus between financial development and inclusive human development in Africa.

Investigating the role of disaggregated economic freedom measures and FDI on human development in Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kofi Korle ◽  
Anthony Amoah ◽  
George Hughes ◽  
Paragon Pomeyie ◽  
Godson Ahiabor
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Series Data ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Absorptive Capacities

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to investigate the role of disaggregated economic freedom measures in the foreign direct investment (FDI) and human development nexus.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a panel data of 32 selected African countries from 1996 to 2017. A dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) with fixed effects and instrumental variable (IV) econometric techniques was used to address issues of endogeneity and serial correlation commonly associated with panel time series data.FindingsThe Results indicate that FDI without accounting for absorptive factors has a positive but insignificant effect on human development for the selected African countries. However, FDI has a positive and significant effect on human development when interacted with measures of economic freedom such as investment freedom, business freedom and financial freedom. In contrast, yet plausible, FDI has a negative influence when interacted with property rights, trade freedom, government integrity and tax burden.Practical implicationsThe study posits that to attract FDI into Africa with the purpose of improving human development, relevant absorptive capacities such as business, investment and financial freedom environment are critical. However, excessive capital flight and government interference through taxation and abuse of property rights should be controlled if the continent seeks to promote human development through FDI.Originality/valueThe novelty and originality of the study, are evident in the use of disaggregated measures of economic freedom as comprehensive absorptive capacities to examine how they complement FDI to impact on human development in Africa.

The role of financial development in economic growth: empirical evidence from Indian states

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhu Sehrawat ◽  
A K Giri
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Panel Granger Causality ◽  
Integration Test

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Indian states using annual data from 1993 to 2012. Design/methodology/approach – The stationarity properties are checked by Levin-Lin-Chu and Im-Pesaran-Shin panel unit root tests. The study employed the Pedroni’s panel co-integration test to examine the existence of long-run relationship and the coefficients of co-integration are examined by fully modified ordinary least squares. The short term and long-run causality is checked by panel granger causality. Findings – The co-integration test confirms a long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth for Indian states. The results support the supply leading hypothesis and highlight the importance of financial development in economic growth in Indian states. The findings also indicate that bank-centric financial sector of India has the potential of economic growth through credit transmission. Research limitations/implications – The present study recommends for appropriate reforms in financial market to attain economic growth in India. The findings will be useful for India’s policymakers in order to maintain the parallel expansion of financial development and economic growth. Originality/value – Till date, there is no study that includes all 28 states in analyzing the role of financial development in economic growth for Indian economy by applying latest econometric techniques. Further, the study uses gross domestic state product instead of net domestic state product as proxy for economic growth because of the presence of different depreciation rates.

Do macroeconomic uncertainty and financial development cause environmental degradation? Evidence from an emerging economy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bijoy Rakshit ◽  
Yadawananda Neog
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inflation Volatility ◽  
Macroeconomic Uncertainty ◽  
Consumption Intensity

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of macroeconomic uncertainty on environmental degradation in India over the period 1971–2016. Additionally, this paper considers the role of financial development, energy consumption intensity and economic growth in explaining the variation of environmental degradation in India.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied the power generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model to measure inflation volatility and used it as a proxy for macroeconomic uncertainty. From a methodological perspective, the authors employ the autoregressive distributive lag bound testing model to establish the long-run equilibrium association between the variables. The Toda–Yamamoto causality approach has been used to examine the direction of causality between the variables.FindingsFindings suggest that macroeconomic uncertainty exerts a positive effect on carbon emissions, indicating that higher inflation volatility, as a proxy for macroeconomic uncertainty, hinders India's environmental quality. Financial development, economic growth and energy consumption intensity have also adversely impacted environmental quality.Practical implicationsThe negative association between macroeconomic uncertainty and environmental degradation calls for some stringent policy actions. While formulating policies to promote growth and maintain stability, policymakers and government stakeholders should take into account the environmental effects of macroeconomic policies. There is a need to implement more environmental-friendly technologies in the financial sector that could reduce carbon emission.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first that considers the role of macroeconomic uncertainty along with financial development and energy intensity in an emerging economy like India.

Discovering the underlying dynamics of crowdfunding networks: entrepreneurs’ ties, crowdfunders’ connections and community spin-offs

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-298
Author(s):  
Ciro Troise
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Spaces ◽  
Funding Success ◽  
Research Stream ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the underlying dynamics of crowdfunding networks. The study examines the impact of actors’ connections, i.e. entrepreneurs’ ties and connections between crowdfunders, on funding success, i.e. the funding amount collected at the end of crowdfunding campaigns. Furthermore, this research explore the role of communities within crowdfunding platforms. Design/methodology/approach The study leverages the network theory and uses a quantitative methodology based on a regression analysis (ordinary least squares). Data collection was done through Ulule, a leading crowdfunding platform in Europe. Findings The research provides a description of the structure of crowdfunding networks and their communities. The results show that actors’ connections play a key role in affecting the funding success. Both the entrepreneurs’ ties, i.e. the connections of the entrepreneur before the launch of the campaign and the connections between crowdfunders, i.e. the ties established within crowdfunding communities (redundancy and effective size), positively affect the funding amount collected at the end of the campaign. Research limitations/implications This paper has useful implications for several stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, platform managers, communities’ managers, policy makers and authorities. Entrepreneurs should expand and strengthen their ties before the launch of the online call, while managers of platforms/communities should stimulate connections between actors, in particular between crowdfunders within communities, and improve the online spaces of campaigns with new dedicated sections or specific forums. Policy makers and authorities should design specific policies, favor the rise of new types of entrepreneurship (e.g. community spin-off) and support the development of new tools and communities. Originality/value This is one of the first empirical studies that explore the underlying dynamics of crowdfunding networks. Results revealed by the analysis might steer other scholars’ interest towards this research path. The connections between crowdfunders within the communities have been neglected so far. This research proposes an original network approach based on typical network parameters. The study sheds some light on the importance of actors’ connections and adds new knowledge in a recent research stream that is still in its infancy.

Transparency and foreign direct investment into Sub-Saharan Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olusegun Felix Ayadi ◽  
Solabomi Ajibolade ◽  
Johnnie Williams ◽  
Ladelle M. Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Equilibrium Relationship ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Long Run Equilibrium

Purpose – The financial economics literature points to the likelihood that transparency affects the inflows of direct foreign investments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between degree of transparency in an economy and the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows using cross-section and time series data from 13 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1998 through 2008. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed a panel unit root and panel cointegration tests to data from 13 Sub-Saharan countries from 1998 through 2008. The long-run equilibrium relationship is estimated by the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method. The cointegration framework employed in this study accounts for individual as well as time effects by adjusting for potential heterogeneity and serial correlation existing in the data panel. Findings – The results imply that the level of transparency and size of FDI inflows into Sub-Saharan Africa have a long-run equilibrium relationship. Research limitations/implications – The role of multinational corporations in increasing the levels of corruption in host countries is supported in this study. Practical implications – The role of multinational corporations in contributing to the absence of transactional transparency in host countries is supported in this study. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions should be endorsed by African countries. African countries should make efforts to transform their domestic political and economic environments in order to enhance transparency and allow rule of law to apply. Originality/value – This paper is the first to empirically test the aforementioned long-run equilibrium relationship by isolating the role of transparency in international capital flows.

Environment challenges in Africa: further dimensions to the trade, MNCs and energy debate

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evans Osabuohien ◽  
Uchenna R. Efobi ◽  
Ciliaka M. Gitau
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Require Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the linkage between environmental challenges, multinational corporations (MNCs) activities, trade and energy in Africa; and further elaborate on the role of institutions, as an intervening variable. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors extended the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model by including indicators of the presence of MNCs, trade and energy in the basic EKC model that has measures of environmental pollution (CO2), economic growth (gross domestic product per capita) and its squared value. The role of institutions was also considered and included as an inter-mediating variable. This model was tested on a sample of 27 African countries, for the period 1996-2010. The systems GMM was applied for the empirical analysis. This approach was aimed at circumventing the possibility of reverse causality and endogenous explanatory variables-such as institutions. Findings – Trade and MNCs’ activities may not have much contemporaneous impact on the environment. However, their lagged values have adverse and significant influence on the current values of environmental challenge. This implies that environmental policies regarding trade and MNCs require time response lag. Energy was significant only at contemporaneous value but not at its lagged value. Institutional development helps to suppress the negative excesses (like pollution) from the activities of trade, MNCs and energy, and consequently reduce environmental pollution. Originality/value – This paper included the role of institutions in the environmental pollution, trade, MNCs and energy debate. Empirical studies in this regard have inadvertently excluded this variable, but have, at best, included it as part of policy recommendations.

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