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Following the growing body of the literature assessing the governance and environmental sustainability nexus, the present study complements the extant literature by assessing how environmental sustainability can be promoted by means of policies that entail the simultaneous implementation of six governance dynamics, notably, political governance (political stability/ no violence and 'voice & accountability'), economic governance (government effectiveness and regulatory quality) and institutional governance (corruption-control and the rule of law). The study focuses on 44 African countries for the period 2000 to 2020 and the empirical evidence is based on the generalized method of moments (GMM). Our findings indicate that the individual indicators of governance exert a positive influence on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, the combined or composite governance indicator yields a negative effect on CO2 emissions. Furthermore, economic growth, urbanization, trade and foreign investment stir CO2 emissions meanwhile, information and communication technology such as mobile phone subscriptions and internet penetration have the opposite effect. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent and ongoing advancements in the field of ICT have led to the introduction of increasingly diversified financial products, and their use is improving people's level of financial knowledge and skills. This article aims at assessing the effect of Fintech on the level of financial literacy of small business' managers in Cameroon. To this end, information was gathered using a questionnaire from 209 small business managers in Cameroon. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA), and multiple linear regression are used. Results lead to two main conclusions. On the one hand, unlike knowledge of their existence, the frequency of use of Fintech tools is better able to contribute to improving financial literacy levels overall. On the other hand, specifically, this result is of increased importance when it comes to competence and self-confidence in managing financial affairs. As a result, increasing the utilization of financial technology instruments in companies is imperative for efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the economic impact of severe natural disasters in Africa using the generalised synthetic control method. In other words, it assesses how gross domestic product (GDP) would have been affected, had severe natural disasters not occurred. Moreover, it explores the determinants of the destructiveness of the impact of natural disasters, focusing on the role played by capital. We find that severe natural disasters induce a significant and continuous reduction of GDP many years after the event. Indeed, economic losses caused by disasters depend on the level of capital (human capital, employment and capital stock) and aspects of governance quality (political stability and absence of violence). In other words, negative synergies are apparent because while capital stock, employment and human capital unconditionally reduce the macroeconomic impact of natural disasters, the corresponding conditional or interactive effects with political stability are also negative. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study contributes to the extant literature by assessing how financial and human developments moderate the incidence of vulnerable female employment on female labour force participation in Cameroon for the period 1987 to 2020 using the generalised least squares (GLS) estimation approach. It is apparent from the findings that human development in the perspective of the human development index (HDI) and broad money supply are necessary and sufficient conditions to moderate vulnerable female employment for female labour force participation. Accordingly, HDI thresholds of between 0.591 and 0.634 are needed to reverse the negative incidence of female vulnerable employment on female labour force participation. Furthermore, a threshold of 30.294 (% of GDP) of broad money supply is also needed to reverse the negative incidence of vulnerable female employment on female labour force participation. Other implications for policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to finance is perceived as one of the major problems facing businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the structures that support them in their development. This paper aims to measure the probability that a support structure with given characteristics, specific services to entrepreneurs and some technical capacities will face large-scale financial problems. We estimate a multinomial logistic model using a pool of disaggregated data collected by the Nkafu Policy Institute in a survey of 80 business support structures in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Ghana in 2021. Our results show that the financial health of a business support structure is not fundamentally dependent on the duration of support, but rather on other factors related to the quality of services offered to entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study complements the extant literature by assessing how the rule of law and political stability modulate tourism development dynamics (i.e. tourism receipts and tourism expenditure) to affect economic development in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The study focuses on 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with data for the period 2002–2018 and the empirical evidence is based on the Generalized Method of Moments. The study finds that: (i) the rule of law modulates both tourism receipts and tourism expenditure for overall positive effects on economic development and (ii) political stability modulates tourism receipts for an overall positive impact on economic development. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a well-established practice of many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) governments to aid entrepreneurs within both the formal and informal sectors to enhance their performance and growth. Unfortunately, there is no agreed method by which governments can differentiate between entrepreneurs and target them with the appropriate promotion policies. Thus, despite the good intentions, entrepreneurship policy initiatives have been incorrectly targeted, poorly implemented, and without the desired results, since different entrepreneurs may require different forms of assistance. Some scholars have suggested that without a context-specific classificatory guide, policymakers are unlikely to be accurate in their assessment of the growth capabilities of prospective candidates for specific promotion initiatives and this can explain some of the policy failures. This observation has motivated the present paper. Our objective is to provide a framework that helps identify the different contextual dimensions influencing formal and informal enterprise creation processes in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of 2014, reports of cult violence have increased sharply in the Nigeria's oil-producing communities. Hence, we set out to examine the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from multinational oil companies (MOCs) in mitigating the spread of cult group violence in the region. A total of two thousand four hundred respondents were sampled across the nine states of the Niger Delta. Results from the use of estimated logit model reveal that MOCs via Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) are in good position to deter the aggression and rise of cult violence using interventions for youth as a priority target group mechanism. This calls for pro-youth capacity building programmes, specially designed to equip the clusters with appropriate skills required for peaceful engagement and to complement government efforts in the planning and implementation of the development agenda for their respective communities. In turn, this will contribute towards enhancing a peaceful environment for doing business in the Niger Delta region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to contribute to the research on life satisfaction by investigating the link between commuting time and life satisfaction in Russia. Using data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, we find that commuting is negatively and significantly associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, we document that the effect of commuting is stronger for married couples and respondents living in rural areas. An extended analysis based on interactive regressions shows that the negative incidence of commute time on life satisfaction is potentially fueled by income and marital status and mitigated by age and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the association between terrorism and capital flight affects the process of industrialisation in 36 African countries. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Quantile Regressions (QR). GMM-oriented findings show that capital flight interacts with terrorism to negatively affect industrialisation in 'domestic terrorism'- and 'total terrorism'-oriented regressions. With QR approach, the GMM results are confirmed exclusively in the 25th and 50th quantiles, in regressions pertaining to domestic terrorism, unclear terrorism and total terrorism. It follows that the negative effect from the investigated interaction is driven by bottom quantiles of the industrialisation distribution. This confirms existing literature that developed countries are more likely to limit the negative externalities from terrorism compared to their developing counterparts. Hence, the negative consequence of the association between terrorism and capital flight on industrialisation is a decreasing function of industrialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of multinational oil companies' (MOCs') corporate social responsibility (CSR) on traditional practices recognised as violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Nigeria's oil region. Results from a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that MOCs' CSR plays a significant role in empowering women and girls with information and education to protect their human rights. It is implied that CSR offers an opportunity for MOCs to help address the prevalence of child early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, sex trafficking, virginity testing, and taboos through a business case for stakeholders' human rights protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study provides insights into how tourism can be managed to improve financial access in sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical evidence is based on the generalised method of moments. To make this assessment, inequality dynamics (i.e. the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and Palma ratio) are interacted with tourism (tourism receipts and tourists' arrivals) to establish inequality levels that should not be exceeded in order for tourism to promote financial access in the sampled countries. From the findings, inequality levels that should not be exceeded for tourism to promote financial access are provided: (i) 0.666 of the Atkinson index and 5.000 of the Palma ratio for tourism receipts to promote financial access and (ii) for tourist arrivals to enhance financial access, 0.586, 0.721 and 6.597 respectively, of the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index, and the Palma ratio. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we assess the relevance of decreasing information asymmetry on life and non-life insurance consumption, by using data from 48 African countries during the period 2004–2014. Reduced information asymmetry is proxied by information sharing offices, namely: public credit registries and private credit bureaus. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalized Method of Moments. The findings show that information sharing offices increase insurance consumption with a comparatively higher magnitude in life insurance penetration, relative to non-life insurance penetration. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food prices in Nigeria have become significantly higher and more volatile since 2012. The purpose of this research was to find out what affects farmers' participation in the growth enhancement support scheme (GESS) in the country. We determined the effect of the GESS on the ease of access to market information and agricultural inputs that influence price volatility at farm gate level. A total of 2100 rural farmers were sampled across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Result from the use of recursive bivariate probit model showed that farmers depended on the GESS for the resolution of food price volatility by providing food market information and agricultural inputs that bring down the incidence and amount of anxiety-impelled price rise in Nigeria. The results advocated for the need to improve the GESS in line with the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) by cutting down the deterrents mostly linked with the use of mobile phones, and the distance of registration and assemblage centres. In extension and contribution, the findings suggest that smallholder farmers can be part of the volatility solution when they are provided with rural roads and transportation to get their product to the market, and technology to receive and share the latest market information on prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the simultaneous openness hypothesis by assessing the importance of trade openness in modulating the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economic dynamics of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, real GDP, and GDP per capita. The focus of the study is on 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period spanning from 1980 to 2014. Trade imports modulate FDI to induce net positive effects on GDP growth and GDP per capita. Trade exports moderate FDI to generate overall positive impacts on GDP growth, real GDP, and GDP per capita. Implications of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how ICT affects gender economic inclusion via gender parity education channels. We examine the issue using data from 49 countries in sub–Saharan Africa for the period 2004–2018 divided into: (i) 42 countries for the period 2004–2014; and (ii) 49 countries for the period 2008-2018. Given the overwhelming evidence of negative net effects in the first sample, an extended analysis is used to establish thresholds of ICT penetration that nullify the established net negative effects. We found that in order to enhance female labor force participation, the following ICT thresholds are worthwhile for the secondary education channel: 165 mobile phone penetration per 100 people, 21.471 internet penetration per 100 people and 3.475 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people. For the same outcome of inducing a positive effect on female labor force participation, a 31.966 internet penetration per 100 people threshold, is required for the mechanism of tertiary school education. These computed thresholds have economic meaning and policy relevance because they are within the established ICT policy ranges. In the second sample, a mobile phone penetration threshold of 122.20 per 100 people is needed for the tertiary education channel to positively affect female labor force participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines policy tools in the fight against terrorism when existing levels of terrorism matter in 53 African countries for the period 1998–2012. The empirical evidence is based on contemporary, non-contemporary and Instrumental Variable Quantile regressions (QR) which enable the investigation throughout the conditional distributions of domestic, transnational and total terrorism dynamics. The following findings are established. First, counterterrorism policy instruments of inclusive human development and military expenditure further fuel terrorim. Second, political stability negatively affects terrorism with a negative threshold effect. Political stability estimates are consistently significant with increasing negative magnitudes throughout the conditional distributions of domestic and total terrorism. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates conclusions from the scholarly literature that for low and middle-income countries, higher income inequality is linked with lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using a sample of 39 sub-Saharan countries consisting of lower- and middle-income countries, this study investigates how increasing inequality affects renewable energy consumption. The empirical evidence is based on quadratic Tobit regressions. The investigated assumption is only partially valid because a net positive impact is apparent only in one of the three income inequality variables used in the study. It is difficult to establish whether the inequality or equality hypothesis underpinning the nexus between income inequality and renewable energy consumption hold for Sub-Saharan Africa. However, based on the significant results in terms of the threshold, the equality hypothesis is valid when the Atkinson index is below a threshold of 0.6180 while the inequality hypothesis becomes valid when the Atkinson index exceeds the threshold of 0.6180. Hence, as the main policy implication, for the equitable redistribution of income to be promoted and, therefore, for policies that favor income inequality for renewable energy consumption not to be encouraged, policy makers should keep the Atkinson index below a threshold of 0.6180. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relevance of enhancing information and communication technology (ICT) on dynamics of total factor productivity (TFP) in 25 sub-Saharan African countries using data covering the period 1980–2014. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. The following main findings are established. First, while enhancing ICT overwhelmingly has net positive effects on productivity, the corresponding marginal effects are negative. Second, an extended analysis is performed to establish thresholds for complementary policies. These thresholds are: 100% mobile phone penetration for TFP; between 101.214% and 101.419% mobile phone penetration for welfare TFP and 15% internet penetration for welfare real TFP. It follows that approximately 100% mobile penetration and 15% internet penetration are thresholds at which ICT should be complemented with other macroeconomic policies for favorable outcomes on productivity dynamics. Other policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide theoretical and practical perspectives on children, women, and sex trafficking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Process tracing is employed as a primary research instrument. It is an analytical technique used for either theory-building or theory-testing purposes that is employed to elucidate causation and change as well as to develop and evaluate extant theories in social sciences. We illustrate that a policy is needed that will strengthen the capacity of existing structures in the fight against the underlying trafficking so that these attendant structures are efficiently used to stop the trafficking and avoid the corresponding threats to public health safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study complements existing literature by assessing how various types of foreign aid complement each other in boosting inclusive human development in Africa. (a) When 'aid to social infrastructure' is moderated with other aid types, 'action on debts' is substitutive whereas 'aid to the production sector', 'aid for program assistance' and humanitarian assistance are complementary. (b) 'Aid to the production sector' ('action on debt') is complementary (substitutive) to 'aid for economic infrastructure'. (c) Whereas 'action on debt' is a substitute to 'aid to the production sector', 'aid for social infrastructure' and 'aid for economic infrastructure' are complementary. (d) 'Action on debt' is a substitute for 'aid to the multi-sector'. (e) While 'aid for social infrastructure' and 'action on debt' are substitutive to 'aid for program assistance'; humanitarian assistance is complementary. (f) The following are substitutes to 'action on debt': 'aid for economic infrastructure', 'aid to the production sector', 'aid to the multi-sector' and 'program assistance'. (g) 'Aid for social infrastructure' and 'program assistance' are complementary to humanitarian assistance. The findings reveal various patterns that inform policy makers on the relevance of sequencing aid types to enhance inclusive development. Future research should focus on country-specific studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether enhancing financial access influences productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The research focuses on 25 countries in the region with data for the period 1980–2014. The adopted empirical strategy is the Generalised Method of Moments. The credit channel of financial access is considered and proxied by private domestic credit while four main total factor productivity (TFP) dynamics are adopted for the study, namely: TFP, real TFP, welfare TFP and real welfare TFP. It is apparent from the findings that enhancing financial access positively affects welfare TFP whereas the effect is not significant on TFP, real TFP and welfare TFP. Policy implications are discussed. The study complements the extant literature by engaging hitherto unemployed dynamics of TFP in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates linkages between environmental degradation, globalisation and governance in 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa using data for the period 2000–2012. The Generalised Method of Moments is employed as empirical strategy. Environmental degradation is proxied by carbon dioxide emissions whereas globalisation is appreciated in terms of trade openness and net foreign direct investment inflows. Bundled and unbundled governance indicators are used, namely: political governance (consisting of political stability/no violence and "voice & accountability"), economic governance (encompassing government effectiveness and regulation quality), institutional governance (entailing corruption-control and the rule of law) and general governance (a composite measurement of political governance, economic governance and institutional governance). The following main finding is established. Trade openness modulates carbon dioxide emissions to have positive net effects on political stability, economic governance, the rule of law and general governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relevance of information and communication technology (ICT) in modulating the effect of education on life insurance and non-life insurance consumption in 48 African countries for the period 2004–2014. The empirical evidence is based on generalized method of moments. The following main findings are established. First, from the nexuses between education, ICT and life insurance, there are positive conditional effects from the interaction between: (i) broadband subscriptions and primary school enrollment; (ii) broadband subscriptions and secondary school enrollment and (iii) internet penetration and tertiary school enrollment. Second, from the nexuses between education, ICT and non-life insurance: (i) there is a negative net effect from the interactions between mobile phone penetration and primary education while positive net effects are apparent from the interactions between: mobile phone penetration and secondary school enrollment; secondary school enrollment and broadband subscriptions and; tertiary school enrollment and broadband subscriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study complements existing literature by investigating how military expenditure can modulate the effect of terrorism externalities on tourism. The geographical and temporal scopes are 163 countries and the period 2010–2015. The empirical evidence is based on negative binomial regressions. Terrorism externalities are measured in terms of terror-related incidents, injuries, fatalities and damaged properties. We find that military expenditure significantly lessens the destructive impact of these terror-related incidents in order to induce positive net effects on tourism. This finding is robust to all measurements of terrorism. Homicides and violent demonstrations reduce tourists' arrivals whereas the rate of incarceration of convicted offenders has the opposite effect. The analysis is extended to income levels and regions in order to provide more opportunities for policy implications. Justifications for differences in these comparative tendencies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is designed to provide an overview of the historical and contemporary relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as to examine the recent geopolitical situation and the perception of local people in Ethiopia. This paper is mainly based on secondary data analysis of the available secondary information and news reports, online articles, academic literature, interviews and discussions. The Ethio-Eritrea war brought political, economic and social security threats to the Horn of Africa. Although the economy in Ethiopia is at the developing stage, recent protests have shaken the country to its core. Since 2015, anti-government protests have been triggered over freedom of the press, land rights, under-represented seats in the coalition parties, and horizontal inequality in economic, political and social affairs among ethnic groups across the country. In this study, it is established that the unrestrained political circumstance of the current regime has created dissension and violence among the public, and thus led to escalating political, economic and security crises in Ethiopia. If this issue is not rectified quickly, the peace in the country may be jeopardised. Another issue is that although Ethiopia-Eritrea rapprochement is appreciated, the agreement between both leaders and their foreign policy orientation is still unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses how globalization modulates the effect of environmental degradation on inclusive human development in 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, a trade openness (imports + exports) threshold of between 80 and 120% of GDP is the maximum level required for trade openness to effectively modulate CO2 emissions (metric tonnes per capita) and induce a positive effect on inclusive human development. Second, a minimum threshold required for trade openness to modulate CO2 intensity (kg per kg of oil-equivalent energy use) and induce a positive effect on inclusive human development is 200% of GDP. Third, there is a net positive effect on inclusive human development from the relevance of trade openness in modulating the effect of CO2 emissions per capita on inclusive human development and a negative net effect on inclusive human development from the importance of trade openness in moderating the effect of CO2 intensity on inclusive human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge has emerged as a fundamental driver of economic growth and development by inter alia improving the effectiveness and efficiency of economic projects and boosting the process of finding new avenues of addressing developmental policy syndromes. Recent evidence suggests that Africa is on the threshold of significant and sustainable economic growth if its human and material resources can be effectively mobilised to support the process (Asongu & Tchamyou, 2019; Kuada & Mensah, 2018). Consequently, the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Framework aims to explore and support the extent to which current policies in African countries affect the knowledge development process (and thereby competitiveness) on the continent. A knowledge economy is an economy in which economic prosperity largely depends on the accessibility, quality and quantity of information available, instead of the means of production (Asongu, 2017a, 2017b). This themed issue of Contemporary Social Science-'Building Knowledge Economies in Africa' – consists of papers that focus on, but are not limited to, the four dimensions of the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Index. These are: information and communication technology, education, economic incentives and institutional regime, and innovation (Tchamyou, 2017). The themed issue engages with high quality contributions which, taken together, address the drivers towards knowledge-based economies. This introduction provides a context for understanding the importance of building knowledge economies in Africa and summarises the main contributions to the themed issue. The paper ends by advising scholars and policy makers regarding the risks associated with a colonial view of knowledge- notably the importance of proposing knowledge-based policies while avoiding hegemonic paradigms and hierarchical constructs. In summary, the issue consists of a set of theoretically informed, empirically robust, policy-relevant and accessible articles for both specialists and non-specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of information and communication technology (ICT) on remittances for industrialisation in a panel of 49 African countries for the period 1980–2014. The empirical evidence is based on three simultaneity-robust estimation techniques, namely: (i) Instrumental Fixed Effects (FE) in order to control for the unobserved heterogeneity; (ii) Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) to account for persistence in industrialisation; and (iii) Instrumental Quantile Regressions (QR) to control for initial levels of industrialisation. Our best estimators are from FE and QR estimations because the GMM regression outputs largely fail post-estimation diagnostic tests. The following findings are established: (i) There are positive marginal effects from the interaction between remittances and ICT in the FE regressions whereas there are negative marginal impacts from the interaction between remittances and ICT; (ii) Interactions between remittances and mobile phone penetration are positive in the bottom and 90th quantile whereas the interaction between internet penetration and remittances is positive in the bottom and top quantiles of the industrialisation distribution. Overall, the role of ICT in remittances for industrialisation is much more apparent when existing levels of industrialisation are accounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares African countries to South Korea in terms of knowledge economy (KE). Emphasis is laid on human capital, knowledge creation, knowledge diffusion, institutions and economic incentives. The analytical approach consists of providing KE catch-up strategies that can be understood within the context of country-specific gaps between the frontier country in KE and laggard African countries. The empirical evidence is based on sigma convergence with data for the period 1996–2010. Overall, a KE diagnosis is provided by assessing KE gaps (between South Korea and specific-African countries) and suggesting compelling catch-up strategies with which to reduce identified gaps. Contemporary and non-contemporary policies from South Korea and more contemporary policies based on challenges of globalisation are discussed. The policy relevance of this inquiry aligns with the scholarly perspective that catch-up between South Korea and more advanced economies was accelerated by the former adapting to and assimilating relatively obsolete technological know-how from more developed nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequality and gender economic exclusion are major policy concerns facing sub-Saharan Africa in the post-2015 development agenda. This paper identifies 'thresholds' of inequality that should not be exceeded if governance is to promote gender economic participation. The research focuses on 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using annual data from 2004 to 2014. The empirical work utilises the Generalized Method of Moments. The following findings are established. First, inequality (i.e. the Gini coefficient) levels that completely nullify the positive effect of governance on female labour force participation are 0.708 for political stability, 0.601 for voice & accountability, 0.588 for government effectiveness, 0.631 for regulatory quality, 0.612 for the rule of law, and 0.550 for corruption-control. Second, inequality thresholds at which female unemployment can no longer be mitigated by governance channels include: 0.561 for political stability and 0.465 for the rule of law. Third, inequality levels that completely dampen the positive impact of governance on female employment are 0.608 for political stability, 0.580 for voice & accountability, 0.581 for government effectiveness, and 0.557 for the rule of law. As the main policy implication, for good governance to promote gender economic inclusion, inequality levels should not exceed such thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the role of security officers, the police and armed service personnel in dampening the effect of terrorism externalities on tourist arrivals. The temporal and geographic scopes are respectively 2010–2015 and 163 countries. Four terrorism measurements are used. They include the number of incidents, injuries, fatalities and property damages. The main findings indicate that armed service personnel can effectively be used to modulate the damaging influence of all four terrorism externalities in order to achieve a positive net effect on tourist arrivals. Conversely, the corresponding moderating role of security officers and the police is not statistically significant. Moreover, violent demonstrations and homicides have a harmful effect on tourist arrivals while the number of incarcerations displays the opposite effect. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Nigeria, human trafficking is a hidden crime, driven by the current economic situation of the country. The Nigerian government has demonstrated significant efforts to combating human trafficking in the country by creating the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). The incidents of human trafficking in the Nigeria's oil-producing communities have remained among the highest in the country and higher than the national average. The objective of this investigation was to determine the impact of a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) model of multinational oil companies (MOCs) on the fight against human trafficking in the host communities. A total of one thousand, two hundred households were sampled across the rural communities of Niger Delta. Results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicated that MOCs hold the key to combating human trafficking by fostering effective partnership across different sectors, if the highest CSR priority is assigned to reducing incidents of human trafficking in the oil-producing communities. Embracing the fight against human trafficking should form the foundation of General Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) practice, which in turn will provide the enabling environment for more widespread responsible business. As most of the human trafficking in the Niger Delta is exploited by relatives or friends; MOCs should involve traditional and religious leaders in the fight and set up GMoU clusters interventions specifically for anti-trafficking agencies including NAPTIP, the police and immigration to support their actions and improve efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology is increasingly facilitating mechanisms by which information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers in the financial sector can be reduced in order to enhance financial access for human and economic development in developing countries. We examine conditional financial development from ICT-driven information sharing in 53 African countries for the period 2004–2011, using contemporary and non-contemporary quantile regressions. ICT is measured with mobile phone penetration and internet penetration, whereas information-sharing offices are public credit registries and private credit bureaus. The following findings are established. First, there are positive effects with positive thresholds from ICT-driven information sharing on financial depth (money supply and liquid liabilities) and financial activity (at banking and financial system levels). Second, for financial intermediation efficiency, the positive effects from mobile-driven information sharing are apparent exclusively in certain levels of financial efficiency. Third, with regard to financial size, mobile-driven information sharing is positive with a negative threshold, whereas internet-driven information sharing is positive exclusively among countries in the bottom half of financial size. Positive thresholds are defined as decreasing negative or increasing positive estimated effects from information-sharing offices and vice versa for negative thresholds. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates how openness influences information and communication technology (ICT) penetration for improved government quality in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000–2012. Openness is measured in terms of trade and financial globalization whereas ICT is proxied with mobile phone and internet penetration rates. Ten bundled and unbundled governance indicators are used. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments with forward orthogonal deviations. The main findings are First, financial openness has an edge over trade openness when combined with ICT to affect both economic and institutional governance. Second, mobile phones have an edge over internet penetration in complementing (i) trade openness for economic governance and (ii) financial openness for institutional governance. Third, net effects on political governance are consistently negative. Taken together, in the short-run, openness-driven ICT policies are more rewarding in terms of economic and institutional governance than political governance. Fourth, catch-up in governance is facilitated by the interaction between openness and ICT. Contributions of these findings to literature are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study assesses the relationship between terrorism and social media from a cross section of 148 countries with data for the year 2012. The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares, Negative Binomial and Quantile regressions. The main finding is that there is a positive relationship between social media in terms of Facebook penetration and terrorism. The positive relationship is driven by below-median quantiles of terrorism. In other words, countries in which existing levels of terrorism are low are more significantly associated with a positive Facebook-terrorism nexus. The established positive relationship is confirmed from other externalities of terrorism: terrorism fatalities, terrorism incidents, terrorism injuries and terrorism-related property damages. The terrorism externalities are constituents of the composite dependent variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the federal government of Nigeria's growth enhancement support scheme (GESS) on responsible use of crop protection products (CPPs) in rural Nigeria. Results from the logistic regressions show that GESS significantly impact on farmers' access to CPPs but does not significantly impact on farmers' knowledge and skill of CPP application, and that in several cases misuse has led to deterioration of soil fertility. Findings suggests that embracing information on recommended CPPs, dose rates, dilutions, timing, frequency of applications, and precautions should form the foundation of GESS activity on CPPs in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a systematic review of challenges to doing business in Africa. It complements the extant literature by answering two critical questions: what are the linkages between the ease of doing business and economic development; and what are the challenges to doing business in Africa? In providing answers to these questions, the nexus between the ease of doing business and economic development is discussed in six main strands, namely: wealth creation and sharing; opportunities of employment; balanced regional and economic development; Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP per capita; standards of living and exports. Moreover, challenges to doing business are articulated along the following lines: (i) issues related to the cost of starting a business and doing business; (ii) shortage of energy and electricity; (iii) lack of access to finance; and (v) high taxes and low cross-border trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assess the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational oil companies (MOCs) on HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nigeria's oil-producing communities. One thousand, two hundred households were sampled across the rural communities of Niger Delta. Using logit model, the main result indicates that General Memorandum of Understandings (GMoUs) have not significantly impacted on factors behind the spread of HIV/AIDs in rural communities. This implies that the impact of the disease on MOCs business, employees and their families, contractors, business partners and the oil communities have not inclined downward. The findings suggest that CSR offers an opportunity for MOCs to help address HIV/AID prevalence through a business case for stakeholders' health in the region. It calls for MOCs to improve GMoUs health intervention on sensitisation campaigns, funding testing and counselling centres, subsidising anti-retroviral drugs, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, rehabilitation of orphaned and vulnerable children and other cares for people living with AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by a recent World Bank report on achieving of Millennium Development Goals which shows that poverty has been declining in all regions of the world with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this study puts some empirical structure to theoretical and qualitative studies on the reconciliation of the Beijing model with the Washington Consensus. It tests the hypothesis that compared to middle-income countries, low-income countries would achieve more inclusive development by focusing on economic governance as opposed to political governance. The empirical evidence is based on interactive and noninteractive fixed effects regressions and 49 countries in SSA for the period 2000-2012. The findings confirm the investigated hypothesis. As the main policy implication, in order to address inclusive development challenges in the post-2015 development agenda in SSA, it would benefit low-income countries in the subregion to prioritize economic governance. Other theoretical and practical contributions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of terrorism and peace on tourist destination arrivals using a panel of 163 countries with data for the period 2010-2015. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments and Negative Binomial (NB) regressions. Our best estimators are from NB regressions from which the following main findings are established. First, political instability, violent demonstrations, and number of homicides negatively affect tourist arrivals, while the number of incarcerations positively influences the outcome variable. Second, the effects of military expenditure, "armed service personnel," and "security officers and polices" are not positively significant. Managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper checks the effect of foreign aid on terrorism-foreign direct investment (FDI) nexus, while considering the extent of domestic corruption control (CC). The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 78 developing countries. The following findings were established: the negative effect of terrorism on FDI is apparent only in countries with higher levels of CC; foreign aid dampens the negative effect of terrorism on FDI only in countries with high level of CC. Also, the result is mixed when foreign aid is subdivided into its bilateral and multilateral components. While our findings are in accordance with the stance that bilateral aid is effective in reducing the adverse effect of terrorism on FDI, we find that multilateral aid also decreases the adverse effect of other forms of terrorism that can neither be classified as domestic or transnational. Policy implications are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses human development thresholds at which mobile banking mitigates poverty and inequality in 93 developing countries for the year 2011. Mobile banking entails ‘mobile used to pay bills’ and ‘mobile used to receive/send money’, while the modifying policy indicator is the human development index (HDI). The empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions. A summary of the findings shows that with increasing human development: (i) ‘mobiles used to pay bills’ contribute to reducing inequality in countries at the bottom and top ends of the inequality distribution, while (ii) ‘mobiles used to receive/send money’ have an appealing role in promoting inclusive development in all poverty distributions, with the exception of the top-end or 90th decile. The modifying thresholds of the HDI vary from 0.542 to 0.632 and 0.333 to 0.705 in inequality and poverty specifications, respectively. The relevance of the findings is discussed in light of the current transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the comparative economics of governance in fighting terrorism in fifty-three African countries for period 1996-2012. Four terrorism variables are used: domestic, transnational, unclear, and total terrorism dynamics. Nine bundled and unbundled governance variables are employed: political stability (no violence), voice and accountability, political governance, government effectiveness, regulation quality, economic governance, corruption control, the rule of law, and institutional governance. The empirical evidence is based on fixed effects regressions. In the analytical procedure, we first bundle governance indicators by means of principal component analysis before engaging the empirical exercise with the full sample. In the final step, specifications are based on a decomposed full sample in order to articulate the fundamental characteristics for comparative purposes. The following broad findings are established. First, good governance is an appealing tool in fighting terrorism. Second, the relevance of the good governance dynamics is as follows in order of increasing relevance: economic governance, institutional governance, and political governance. The findings are presented in increasing order of magnitude to emphasize fundamental features in which governance dynamics have the highest effect in mitigating terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses dynamics of openness and finance in Africa by integrating financial development dynamics of depth, activity and size in the assessment of how financial, trade, institutional, political and other openness policies (of second generation structural and institutional reforms) have affected financial development. The empirical evidence is based on Generalized Method of Moments with data from 28 African countries for the period 1996-2010. The following findings are established. (1) While the de jure (KAOPEN) indicator of financial openness improves financial depth, the de facto (FDI) measurement decreases it, with the effect of the latter measure positive on financial size. (2) Whereas trade openness improves financial depth, its effect on financial activity and size is negative. (3) Institutional openness has a positive effect on financial dynamics of depth and activity, while its effect on financial size is negative. (4) Political openness and economic freedom are detrimental to financial depth and activity. Justifications for these nexuses are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most disturbing contemporary episodes in human history that has been decried globally is the recent Libyan experience of slave trade, where migrants captured end-up being sold as slaves. We contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon by investigating the role of cognitive human capital on slave trade. To this end,weuse the historic intelligence and slave trade variables, respectively, as the independent and outcome variables of interest. Our findings show a negative relationship between slave trade and cognitive human capital. Hence, the slave trade is more apparent when cognitive human capital is low. The Ordinary Least Squares findings are robust to the control for outliers, uncertainty about the model and Tobit regressions. We substantiate why from the perspective of massive sensitization and education, the non-contemporary relationship between cognitive ability and slave trade established in this study has contemporary practical policy relevance in efforts to stem the tide of clandestine travel to Europe through countries in which clandestine migrants are captured and sold as slaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]