scholarly journals Institutional Quality and Economic Performance in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-315
Author(s):  
Kholiswa Malindini ◽  

The quality of institutions has increasingly become a key determinant of economic performance. This confirms a paradigm shift from the conventional macroeconomic determinants to governance as the crucial determining factor of economic performance, particularly in developing countries where economic growth is stagnant or moving at a meagre rate. With the aid of macroeconomic and governance data, this paper reports on an empirical analysis performed to quantify the impact of institutional quality on economic performance in Southern African economies over the period 2009-2019 by employing Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique with fixed effects. The empirical results indicate a negative and statistically significant coefficient for the governance index, inflation, and natural resources towards GDP growth. In contrast, trade openness, financial development, and domestic investment have positive and statistically significant coefficients. Based on the composite governance index, these results suggest that a weak institutional environment that aggravates corruption levels causes instability while also stimulating rent-seeking behaviour, which ultimately stifles economic performance in the region. Therefore, to attain inclusive and sustainable economic growth rates, the regional authorities should strengthen the law and enforce the rules.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 291
Author(s):  
Udi Joshua ◽  
Mathew Ekundayo Rotimi ◽  
Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie

Foreign direct investment (FDI) as a driver of growth is important in today’s globalized economy. It is extremely difficult for economies to grow sustainably without economic interactions outside their borders. However, there has been a debate on the impact of FDI inflow on economic expansion. Hence, this study investigated the influence of FDI on economic growth for a selection of 200 economies around the world for the period 1990–2018. We subdivided the sample into World Bank income group clusters to aid comparison across income blocs. The study employed panel estimation techniques including pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), dynamic panel estimation with fixed-effects and random-effects and generalized method of moments (GMM). The study found that FDI, debt stock and official development assistance are promoters of growth in the selected countries—although debt stock weakly impacts economic growth. In contrast, trade openness and exchange rates had a mixed (negative and positive) influence on economic growth. The study suggests that the creation of a conducive business environment and economic policies will attract FDI inflows. Additionally, borrowing from external sources could be minimized despite its perceived positive influence on growth to achieve financial independence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-507
Author(s):  
Surya Nepal ◽  
Sae Woon Park ◽  
Sunhae Lee

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of remittances on the economic performance of the 16 Asian developing countries, taking account of their institutional qualities.Design/methodology/approachA panel of 16 Asian developing countries (Central Asia, South Asia, and ASEAN) over the period of 2002–2016 is employed in the analysis. To assess the impact of remittances on economic performance in consideration of institutional quality, OLS estimates as well as GMM are used.FindingsThe effect of remittances on economic growth is statistically significant. In addition, they also impact economic growth when they interact with institutional or financial development variables. For the long-run growth process of Central Asian, South Asian, and ASEAN countries, a sound and smooth institutional framework appears to be indispensable. Also, it was found that more fragile economies tend to achieve bigger growth than less fragile economies, as this kind of growth is triggered by more remittances flowing into fragile economies. However, the impact of remittances on growth does not depend on the level of ICT. FDI and financial development have positive impact on growth.Research limitations/implicationsThere are limitations to this research as well. Due to the unavailability of data, several countries had to be removed from this study. The cost of sending money might be an important variable for this study. However, the data on this variable from reliable sources are almost impossible to gather. Therefore, this variable is also not included in this research. The savings from remittances when intermediated through formal financial channels will, in fact, produce a positive allocation and distribution of resources that may eventually become an important source of growth. However, one precondition for larger and greater growth is that remittances need to be well and properly utilized by the financial sector. Therefore, quality institutions should be formed first, which can facilitate investment activities and make the flow of remittances more convenient.Originality/valueThis paper exclusively considers the case of Asian developing countries (Central Asia, South Asia, and ASEAN) to assess the impact of remittances on the economic performance of these countries, with special consideration of the interaction effects of remittances and institutional quality in these emerging Asian economies. The previous studies on the effect of remittances on growth do not conform to one concrete conclusion. This study is undertaken in a bid to get the best possible result on the impact of remittances on the growth of the selected countries, majority of which attract substantial chunk of remittances into their economies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Khoirul Ifa ◽  
Moh. Yahdi

Economic growth and international trade are related to one another. International trade stimulates long-term economic growth. The more trade activities in a country, the more rapid economic growth; this trade is a key component of development in a country, its contribution is felt with the increasing economic growth in several countries. The purpose of this study looks at the impact of trade openness on economic growth in Indonesia in 1986-2017. This research is a quantitative study using time series data from 1986-2017, research data obtained from the world bank, data analysis techniques using the GMM method to see the impact of trade openness on economic growth. The test results using the Generalized Method of Moments analysis method show that all variables significantly influence the dynamics of economic growth in Indonesia. This result is proven by the t-statistic probability value, which shows a smaller value compared to the t-table value. Then the value also has a probability of less than α. It can be concluded that the variables of trade, FDI, inflation, and the number of workers have a significant effect on economic growth in Indonesia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Boahene Osei ◽  
Yakubu Awudu Sare ◽  
Muazu Ibrahim

AbstractThe existing literature highlights the determinants of trade openness with disregard to the income classifications of countries in examining whether the determinants differ given their income levels. This study, therefore, re-examines the drivers of trade openness in Africa relying on panel data with special focus on the role of economic growth. More specifically, we perform a comparative analysis of the factors influencing trade openness for low-income and lower–middle-income countries using the system generalized method of moments. Our findings suggest that, while economic growth robustly enhances openness in low-income countries, in the case of lower–middle-income countries, the impact is not robust and largely negative suggesting that higher growth is associated with less openness. We also find that, economic growth–openness nexus for the lower-income countries exhibits non-linearities and inverted U-shaped relationship in particular. Thus, while increases in real GDP per capita enhance openness, beyond an estimated threshold point, any increases in economic growth dampen openness. We discuss key implications for policy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
John Mayanja Bbale ◽  
John Bosco Nnyanzi

<p>The paper set out to investigate the nexus between institutional quality and inward FDI and how the presence of liberalization and financial development influence this linkage. We build on Dunning’s eclectic paradigm that focuses on locational advantages. A fixed effects approach is employed and the estimation results confirm the crucial role of institutional quality in attracting FDI inflows. However the impact varies with the particular group. In particular, apart from SADC, institutional quality seems to matter significantly in all the other groups especially in EAC and ECOWAS. Additional findings reveal a mixed impact regarding the presence of financial development and liberalization in the institution-FDI nexus: While Trade liberalization policies seem to be at the forefront in ECOWAS and SADC groups, it is credit depth and capital account openness that appear to matter most in EAC. We confirm the resilience of inward FDI during the global crisis and document a positive significant relationship between FDI inflows on the one hand and host market size and infrastructure development on the other. While a one-size-fits-all-policy should be discouraged due to the heterogeneous nature of SSA countries, overall, a comprehensive set of policies designed with caution to improve the institutional quality, the financial system, trade openness and capital account liberalization would be valuable for attracting FDI inflows to SSA.</p>


Author(s):  
Văn Thuận Nguyễn ◽  
Xuân Hằng Trần ◽  
Minh Hằng Nguyễn ◽  
Thị Kim Chi Ng

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of taxes on economic growth in developing countries in Asia during 18-year period (2000-2017). Using the estimation methods of OLS, FEM, REM, GLS and two-step system generalized method of moments (S-GMM) for panel data. Empirical results show that taxation has a positive impact on economic growth at level of 1%, while the most studies consider this to be a negative relationship. Besides, factors such as government spending, trade openness, inflation also have a significant impact on economic growth. On that basis, the study provides some policy suggestions for tax policies in these countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-369
Author(s):  
Oanh Kim Thi Tran ◽  
Hac Dinh Le ◽  
Anh Hong Viet Nguyen

The paper investigates the impact of institutional quality on economic growth by taking 48 countries in Asia between 2005 and 2018. By using the quantile regression methods with panel data, institutional quality is found to be a key factor of economic development. However, in the lower-income Asian countries, the institution with better quality appears to promote the growth more effectively than in the higher-income ones. Moreover, the paper also finds out a nonlinear relationship between institutions and economic growth. The results show that there is an institutional threshold for economic growth to reach its highest level. If the institution indicator exceeds the threshold, it causes the reverse effect on the growth. Moreover, the economic growth of Asian countries is also affected by inflation (INF), labor force (LABO), trade openness (OPEN), and infrastructure (TELE). From that, the study suggests some policy implications for Asian countries and Vietnam, in particular, in order to improve institutions contributing to economic growth.


Author(s):  
Akmal Ihsan ◽  

This study seeks to explore and investigate the influence of foreign direct investment, remittances, and trade openness on economic growth in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation with governance index as a moderating variable in 2005-2019. Moderated Regression Analysis analysis is used to analyze governance index variables. The use of Generalized Least Square and Generalized Method of Moments is used to determine which method is best. Sargant level of significance and value showed GMM more precisely in this study. The results of statistical testing show that all independent variables have a significant positive influence on economic growth except foreign direct investment which has a significant negative influence. This negative influence is due to the instability of investment flows. In addition, governance index can moderate foreign direct investment, remittances, and trade openness in its influence on economic growth.Thus, it can be concluded that to increase economic growth, the need for good governance index so that economic growth in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is increasing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
Xiuyun Yang ◽  
Muhammad Nouman Shafiq

Economic growth is currently an essential phenomenon for emerging countries worldwide and has gained the researchers' intentions. Thus, the current study aims to examine the role of foreign direct investment (FDI), capital formation, inflation, money supply, and trade openness on the economic growth of Asian countries. The data has been extracted from the twenty emerging Asian countries from 2007 to 2018 using the most popular database named World Development Indicators (WDI). The fixed-effects model, along with the robust standard error, has been used for checking the impact of predictors on the economic growth of Asian countries. The results revealed that the predictors such as FDI, capital formation, money supply, and trade openness have positive association with economic growth, while inflation has a negative association with the economic growth of Asian countries. These findings are suitable for the new arrivals who want to examine this area in the future and for the regular traders who want to develop policies related to economic growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Egbetokun ◽  
Evans Osabuohien ◽  
Temidayo Akinbobola ◽  
Olaronke Toyin Onanuga ◽  
Obindah Gershon ◽  
...  

Purpose Interaction between environmental pollution and economic growth determines the achievement of the green growth objective of developing economies. An economy turns around the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) when pollution is effectively dampened by social, political and economic factors as such economy grows. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the EKC considering the impact of institutional quality on six variables of environmental pollution (carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), suspended particulate matters (SPM), rainfall, temperature and total greenhouse emission (TGH)) using the case of Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The EKC model includes population density, education expenditure, foreign direct investment and gross domestic investment as control variables, and it was analysed using the autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) econometric technique, which has not been applied in the literature on Nigeria. Findings The results, inter alia, indicate that there is EKC for CO2 and SPM. This implies that the green growth objective can be pursued in Nigeria with concerted efforts. Other environmental pollution indicators did not exert significant influence on economic growth. Practical implications Therefore, it is recommended that Nigeria’s institutional quality be strengthened to limit environmental pollution in light of economic growth. Originality/value Previous studies are yet to apply a more developed econometric method, like the ARDL, to estimate the EKC model for Nigeria. This study fills this observed knowledge gap.


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