scholarly journals COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Crises in Africa: Overview of the Prevailing Incidents

Author(s):  
Fisayo Fagbemi ◽  
Simplice Asongu

The study gives an overview of the socio-economic consequences and implications of the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa. While it is common knowledge that the damage caused by the pandemic to the global economy is real, the existing socio-economic crises in Africa could further degenerate. What remains salient is that the huge economic costs would be borne by regions bereft of strong institutional regulatory setup and proactive approach to effectively ameliorate the impact of the outbreak, in both short-run and long-run, to bounce back in relation to the magnitude of the shocks suffered. It is indeed affirmed that in most sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, such resilient measures seem to be absent or non-existent. Given the degree of behavioral responses and attendant vulnerabilities generated, African socio-economic problems may be potentially exacerbated with the majority of the population face severe hardships in the continent, as socio-economic conditions could be worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the immediate policy option for African countries is to address the prevalent health challenge in the continent; strengthen health services for effective restructuring; and put in place well-defined stimulus measures to aid in the resurgence of economic growth. Although the use of good and tested vaccines should be encouraged to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Africa, developed countries’ support, and global coordination and cooperation are essential to curtail the economic damage and to facilitate robust recovery and development trajectory globally.

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1069-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Petit

This study investigates the impact of the international openness in tourism services trade on wage inequality between highly skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers in the tourism industry. The sample covers 10 developed countries and expands over 15 years. A cointegrated panel data model and an error correction model were used to distinguish between the short- and long-run effects. The results are compared to those of openness of business services and manufactured goods. The findings point out that tourism increases wage inequality at the expense of the least skilled workers in the long run and the short run.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-104
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Tsymbal

The article identifies the key conceptual foundations for the formation of intellectual leadership of economic entities, including countries as specific actors in the global economy. Thorough preconditions for increasing the level of economic development and the impact of education have been identified. It is determined that historical concepts and modern realities of economic activity only actualize the role of education and enlightenment in the economic development of the national economy and ensuring its competitiveness. The strategies of increasing the competitiveness of individual countries of the world are analyzed, their key priorities in the conditions of formation of the knowledge economy are determined. The evolution of views on the role of human and intellectual capital in increasing the welfare of countries, the impact on GDP and other macroeconomic indicators is described. The ratings of countries are analyzed, in particular by the level of investment in intellectual capital and the structure of their GDP, which confirms the dominance of science-intensive economic activities. In addition, it was determined that the leading countries are characterized by increasing the role of knowledge-intensive activities, increasing the share of intangible assets, redistribution of capital of leading international companies and increasing research spending, increasing investment in human and intellectual capital, increasing exports of high-tech products. Analytical assessment confirms the advanced development of science-intensive industries in countries with developed economies, which creates the need for training and retraining of specialists needed for such industries. In modern conditions, the educational process ceases to be predominantly the prerogative of young people, and becomes a lifelong process, which increases spending on education in developed countries, but without denying the significant asymmetries on this indicator. Research confirms the direct relationship between the quality of human and physical capital and economic development, which is typical of highly developed countries, one of the main reasons for the development lag of the poorest countries. In addition, the article substantiates the key factors of intellectual leadership and their impact on the development of economic development strategies.


Author(s):  
Aleksandra Conevska

Abstract Environmental shocks in the form of natural disasters are well known for their impact on domestic economies. Less known, however, is their impact on the global economy. The scant existing literature suggests that macro-economic impacts manifest in observed empirical decreases in international trade. The literature, however, does not examine whether the impact of natural disasters on trade varies for trading partners with differing levels of market integration. This paper examines if preferential liberalization serves to protect or buffer against the negative economic consequences of natural disasters. I show that deep preferential liberalization can not only protect countries against the negative macro-economic impact of natural disasters but can actually allow countries to increase exports during natural disaster events that otherwise induce trade decline. These findings suggest that by allowing countries to expand the quantity and the range of exports, preferential trade agreements lead to enhanced resilience against exogenous shocks.


Author(s):  
Pooja Yadav ◽  
Nitin Huria

From a decade or so Indian continent has become the centre of attraction in the global economies. This changed outlook is due to the fact that India embraces vast availability of resources and opportunities which makes it the most vibrant global economy in the current scenario of worldwide sluggishness. On this path of growth and prosperity India is showing stiff commitments and competitive edges with developed as well as emerging countries. To be more specific, during this voyage in the Asia pacific region recently on one side India has seen stronger bonding with some of its old mates like Japan but on the other part it has faced strain like situation from its stronger competitor contender china on the same time. Hence, in this context the main aim of this paper is to examine the long run and short run equilibrium impacts of Japan and Chinese stock index as well as macroeconomic variables impact on Indian stock market. This paper finds the presence of both long and short run equilibrium impacts from China and Japan to India. In case of Japanese financial market (Nikki 225) has a trivial negative but significant long run impact whereas, the Chinese stock index (SSE composite) is operating at the short run with the same mild negative but significant impact on the Indian stock market. The results of the impact of macroeconomic variables find the existence of long run as well as short run equilibrium from some of the selected variables on Indian stock market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 6) ◽  
pp. 283-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agboola Mary Oluwatoyin

The study examined the impact of food security on child mortality (infant mortality and under-five mortality), using a dynamic panel data analysis for 114 countries for the period 1995–2009 by considering a wide range of controlled variables such as income, social indicators and policy variables. The result suggests that food security has a negative impact on child mortality for all countries and even more impact on child mortality within the food insecure African countries. Therefore, based on the findings of the study; it is recommended that an increase in food security is indeed a positive policy option, particularly within the food insecure African countries, since it ensures a decrease in child mortality within these countries.  


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Ademola Obafemi Young

The debate on whether income inequality promotes, restricts, or is independent of economic growth has been widely studied and discussed in development economics discourse. However, a careful reading of this extensive extant and burgeoning literature suggests that, other than the ambivalent nature and the fact that the bulk of these studies relied heavily on cross-section/-country/panel econometric analysis, empirical studies examining the nexus in the context of less developed economies, particularly, African countries, has received less attention, as most of the extant studies predominantly focused on developed economies. This current study, thus, attempts to examine the impact of inequality on growth in Nigeria spanning between the period 1970 and 2018. It also examined the theoretical predictions of some of the distinct transmission channels through which inequality impacts growth. Time series econometrics were applied. The results obtained consistently revealed that inequality hurts long-run growth in Nigeria. Also, the results obtained revealed that inequality in income increases relative redistribution and fertility, but lessens investment, gross enrollment ratio, and property rights protection in Nigeria, which may in turn impede growth.


Author(s):  
Faiza Manzoor ◽  
Longbao Wei ◽  
Muhammad Asif ◽  
Muhammad Zia ul Haq ◽  
Hafiz ur Rehman

In the global economy, tourism is one of the most noticeable and growing sectors. Thissector plays an important role in boosting a nation’s economy. An increase in tourism flow canbring positive economic outcomes to the nations, especially in gross domestic product (GDP) andemployment opportunities. In South Asian countries, the tourism industry is an engine ofeconomic development and GDP growth. This study investigates the impact of tourism onPakistan’s economic growth and employment. The period under study was from 1990 to 2015. Tocheck whether the variables under study were stationary, augmented Dickey–Fuller andPhillips–Perron unit root tests were applied. A regression technique and Johansen cointegrationapproach were employed for the analysis of data. The key finding of this study shows that there isa positive and significant impact of tourism on Pakistan’s economic growth as well as employmentsector and there is also a long‐run relationship among the variables under study. This studysuggests that legislators should focus on the policies with special emphasis on the promotion oftourism due to its great potential throughout the country. Policy implications of this recent studyand future research suggestions are also mentioned.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Papadopoulou

This paper is an introduction to the Black Sea Historical Statistics (BSHS), a database system which includes data on the commerce and shipping of the Black Sea from 1812 to 1914. BSHS is one of the main products of a larger interdisciplinary project that brought together researchers from several universities, research centres and institutes in order to examine the social and economic development of the Black Sea, the main grain exporting market in the nineteenth century. Methodologically, BSHS transcends the traditional narrow nation-centred approach by focusing on the Black Sea as the unit of historical analysis. In this way, it fosters cross-regional comparisons and the identification of regional patterns of economic collaboration and competition in the long run. The creation of BSHS involved dealing with several challenges, emerging from the honogenization of data extracted from archival sources of 10 different countries. The main issue was the coexistence of different systems of quantification (measures, weights and currencies) in an era when the process of transition from pre-modern regionalism to the first global economy in the 1870s and 1880s was slow and uneven. While developed countries were involved actively in this process, Eastern European countries were trapped between tradition and modernity. We, therefore, consider that the ways we have dealt with these complexities might provide useful feedback for similar projects in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Lukamba Muhiya Tshombe ◽  
Thekiso Molokwane ◽  
Alex Nduhura ◽  
Innocent Nuwagaba

The impact of the implementation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the Sub-Saharan African region on infrastructure and services is becoming increasingly perceptible. A considerable number of African countries have embraced PPPs as a mechanism to finance large projects due to a constrained fiscus. At present, many financial institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank, which finance some of the projects, have established a department or unit that mainly focuses on infrastructure development in developing countries. The private sector in Africa is equally seen as a significant partner in the development of infrastructure. African governments need to tap into private capital to invest in infrastructure projects. This scientific discussion provides an analysis of PPPs in the East African region. This article selected a number of countries to illustrate PPP projects in the sub-region. The analysis of this study illustrates that the East African region represents unique and valuable public-private partnership lessons in different countries. This study also traces the origins of PPPs to more than a century ago where developed countries completed some of their projects using the same arrangement. This paper further demonstrates that the application of PPPs is always characterised by three factors, namely a country, a sector and a project. Experts in the field often refer to these elements as layers, which usually precede any successful PPP.


Author(s):  
Yilmaz Bayar

The globalization accelerated especially as of 1980s and the countries began to integrate global economy and remove the constraints on the flows of goods, services and capital. In this context, the developed countries partly shifted their environmentally hazardous production activities to the developing countries especially by means of foreign direct investments. This study investigates the impact of foreign direct investment inflows on the environmental pollution in Turkey during the period 1974-2010 by using Toda and Yamamoto (1995) causality test. We found that there was a bidirectional causality between foreign direct investment inflows and  emissions.Keywords: Foreign direct investment inflows,  emissions, causality analysis


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