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Over the last few decades, many economies in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced much faster economic growth than other parts of the world. However, many of these economies have not experienced significant poverty reduction. Several factors such as the quality of governance may limit the expected effects of economic growth on poverty. This paper examines the triangular relationship between extreme poverty, governance quality, and economic growth for the sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2010–2019. Compared to the work carried out until now, the novelty of this research lies in using the Panel Threshold Regression (PTR) and Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) models to determine the optimal level of governance index, which once attained, will make extreme poverty decrease with economic growth and governance quality. We found that the nexus between these three variables is nonlinear. Besides, results show that there exists a statistically negative relationship between governance and extreme poverty above the threshold level of 0.314 for the Global Governance Index (GGI) and 66.9 for the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), above which governance quality decreases extreme poverty. The results showed that the economic growth would begin to reduce extreme poverty once governance reaches a threshold level of 0.367 for GGI and 63.2 for IIAG. Better performance of governance also appears to improve economic growth and reduces poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate whether energy consumption, corruption, environmental quality, and political instability affect economic growth in 13 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries over the period 1984-2012 using both the static (POLS, FE, and RE) and dynamic (Diff-GMM and Sys-GMM) panel data approaches. The empirical results show that the increased corruption directly affects economic growth, environmental quality, and energy consumption. However, corruption has an indirect effect on economic growth through energy consumption and environmental quality, an indirect effect on environmental quality through economic growth and an indirect effect on energy consumption through CO2 emissions and GDP. Indeed, energy consumption and CO2 emissions affected the economic growth. Meanwhile, economic growth effected CO2 emissions and energy consumption, and finally, CO2 emissions affected economic growth. Our paper addresses these important issues using the general method of moments (GMM) in panel data. We also find that economic growth in MENA countries reacts negatively to the environmental degradation and political instability. These empirical insights are of particular interest to policymakers as they help to build sound economic policies to sustain economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to formulate public policy consistent with attracting foreign investment and fostering regional development, this paper analyzes a model of local entrepreneur's choices when they are affected by foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers. FDI is determined by economies of agglomeration, market size, taxes, labor, and location costs. It is shown that location costs of the multinationals (MNE) affect the optimal quantity of MNE capital and regional development, while location costs and preferences of local entrepreneurs affect only their location and consumption. Other determinants of MNE location also impact regional development. The main policies advocated are as follows: provision of logistical infrastructure; creation and/or nurturing of pro-market institutions; non-discretionary policies; reduction of statutory tax rate; incentives to universities and research centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyzes if there has been a structural change in the flow of patents in Mexico, as a consequence of institutional reforms and economic policies. To explore the structural change hypothesis, time series models and unit root tests are used in both series of patents applications for the country’s residents and nonresidents. The analysis indicates that misleading conclusions can be obtained if the presence of structural breaks is not taken into account. Results show until two structural breaks in each series that are widely linked with changes in the economic activity. However, the structural changes occurred in each series, disagree in the estimated breakpoint, for the residents’ series it seems to occur before of the trade openness, meanwhile for the nonresidents the two break points are estimated after the trade openness. Intuitively, innovation activities become more important with the arrival of multinationals as a consequence of the liberal reforms. Our findings about the presence of two structural breaks characterizing the patents series would be indicating that the Mexican economy has experienced a process of technology learning due to the trade reforms implemented since the 1980s, a result in concordance with the theories that sustain that trade liberalization promotes economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]