Fostering Economic Development: Is External Finance Responsible for the Poor Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa?

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehizuelen Michael Mitchell Omoruyi ◽  
Huang Meibo

On the question of whether external finance stimulates GDP growth, the profession offers inconclusive as well as frequent contradictory outcomes. While waiting for a robust consensus, this paper addressed directly the mechanisms through which external finance should influence economic growth. Investment was identify as the most significant transmission mechanism, and as well considers effects via funding regime consumption expenditure and import. By employing the residual generated repressors’, we accomplish a measure of the overall influence of external finance on economic growth, accounting for the influence through investment. Based on the pooled panel outcomes, a sample of twenty-five Sub-Saharan Africa economies were examine over the period of 1970–1997; the result indicates that there is a significant and positive effect of overseas assistance on economic growth, ceteris paribus. Based on average, each 1 % point upsurge in the aid/GNP ratio contributes one-quarter of 1 % point to the growth rate. Therefore, the poor economic growth in Africa should not be attributed to external finance ineffectiveness.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Clementi ◽  
Michele Fabiani ◽  
Vasco Molini

Abstract The resurgence of economic growth over the last two decades in sub-Saharan Africa has recently come under scrutiny by scholars, the main criticism being the lack of inclusiveness. While studies on inequality in sub-Saharan Africa are becoming numerous, less attention has been devoted so far to the growing polarization the region is undergoing. Polarization, as distinct from inequality, refers to the tendency of shifting away from the centre of a distribution to its tails, creating a hollowed-out middle. This paper, using a set of sub-Saharan African national household surveys, provides a first estimate of the regional expenditures’ polarization. This latter steadily increased throughout the 2000s and its growth was mainly driven by increasing polarization between countries, meaning sub-Saharan Africa tended to polarize spatially, with the Southern cone countries and some Western African countries performing above the average, and the rest of the region lagging behind.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-190
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Abidemi Odusanya ◽  
Anthony Enisan Akinlo

AbstractSub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ranks as the second most unequal region globally (in terms of income distribution), harboring 10 of the 19 most unequal countries in the world. This paper explores the channels through which income inequality exerts its effects on economic growth in SSA. The study spans the period 1995–2015, focusing on 31 SSA countries. Findings from the two-step system generalized method of moments suggest that income inequality exerts a significant positive effect on economic growth via the saving transmission channel, while it has a statistically significant negative effect on economic growth in the region through the channels of fertility, credit market imperfection, and fiscal policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (Special) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Andries Francois Geldenhuys ◽  
Oluseye Samuel Ajuwon ◽  
Michael Graham

This study is the second and concluding part of the study that feature in volume 5(1) of this journal. It examines the impact of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) membership on Economic Growth and corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A pooled cross-sectional panel study on 46 countries in SSA from 1996 to 2016 was employed. The results show that EITI membership and its statistical interaction with resource dependence have a moderately positive effect on reducing the resource curse on implementing countries by increasing GDP per capita. However, the results do not indicate any significant reduction in the level of corruption associated with governance in the region through EITI membership. The research concludes that the EITI has potential value and should continue to be used as a mechanism to increase transparency in the resource-curse economy. The implementation period for most member countries is, however, still in its infancy and it will be possible to assess the more success of the EITI membership with the passage of time.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuaib Lwasa

Africa’s urbanization rate has increased steadily over the past three decades and is reported to be faster than in any other region in the world . It is estimated that by 2030, over half of the African population will be living in urban areas . But the nature of Africa’s urbanization and subsequent form of cities is yet to be critically analyzed in the context of city authorities’ readiness to address the challenges . Evidence is also suggesting that urbanization in African countries is increasingly associated with the high economic growth that has been observed in the last two decades . Both underlying and proximate drivers are responsible for the urbanization, and these include population dynamics, economic growth, legislative designation, increasing densities in rural centers, as well as the growth of mega cities such as Lagos, Cairo and Kinshasa, that are extending to form urban corridors . With the opportunities of urbanization in Sub–Saharan Africa, there are also challenges in the development and management of these cities . Those challenges include provision of social services, sustainable economic development, housing development, urban governance, spatial development guidance and environmental management, climate change adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction . The challenge involves dealing with the development and infrastructure deficit, in addition to required adaption to and mitigation of climate change . This paper examines the current state of urban management in Africa .


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1780
Author(s):  
Chima M. Menyelim ◽  
Abiola A. Babajide ◽  
Alexander E. Omankhanlen ◽  
Benjamin I. Ehikioya

This study evaluates the relevance of inclusive financial access in moderating the effect of income inequality on economic growth in 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 1995 to 2017. The findings using the Generalised Method of Moments (sys-GMM) technique show that inclusive financial access contributes to reducing inequality in the short run, contrary to the Kuznets curve. The result reveals a negative effect of financial access on the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. There is a positive net effect of inclusive financial access in moderating the impact of income inequality on economic growth. Given the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Targets in the sub-region, policymakers and other stakeholders of the economy must design policies and programmes that would enhance access to financial services as an essential mechanism to reduce income disparity and enhance sustainable economic growth.


Author(s):  
Liqun Cao ◽  
Yan Zhang

Criminological theories of cross-national studies of homicide have underestimated the effects of quality governance of liberal democracy and region. Data sets from several sources are combined and a comprehensive model of homicide is proposed. Results of the spatial regression model, which controls for the effect of spatial autocorrelation, show that quality governance, human development, economic inequality, and ethnic heterogeneity are statistically significant in predicting homicide. In addition, regions of Latin America and non-Muslim Sub-Saharan Africa have significantly higher rates of homicides ceteris paribus while the effects of East Asian countries and Islamic societies are not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with the expectation of the new modernization and regional theories.


Author(s):  
Juliet U. Elu ◽  
Gregory N. Price

AbstractRemittances have been recognized as an important determinant of economic growth for Sub-Saharan African economies as they can finance other determinants that constitute drivers of growth. To the extent that remittances finance terrorism, they can also inhibit economic growth as terrorism can constrain important drivers of growth such as investment and consumption expenditures. In this paper, we appeal to a theory of rational terrorism and consider whether remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa finance terrorism. We estimate the parameters of a static and dynamic terrorism incident supply function with maximum likelihood and Generalized Estimating Equation count data estimators for Sub-Saharan Africa between 1974 and 2006. Our parameter estimates suggest that for Sub-Saharan Africa, remittances are a source of finance for terrorism. We find that approximately one terrorism incident is financed in Sub-Saharan Africa for remittance inflows that range between approximately one quarter of a million dollars and one million dollars.


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