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Corruption remains a major challenge to sustainable economic growth, good governance, peace, and stability in both developed and developing countries. However, in developing countries, and particularly in Africa, hunger is another big challenge to inclusive economic development. To date, no empirical study has examined the effects of different types of corruption on hunger. Using three types of corruption (executive, legislative, and judicial corruption dynamics) and a panel of 45 African countries, this study contributes to the literature on the effects of corruption by examining, as a first attempt, the impact of types of corruption on hunger. We address the weak time-variance of our main regressors by using the most recent sequential linear panel dynamic estimator. The results show that countries with higher levels of executive, legislative, and judicial corruption are associated with a higher level of hunger. Moreover, the results show that executive corruption is the most disastrous for hunger in Africa, followed by legislative corruption. Our results remain valid even after using alternative measures of the key variables (hunger and corruption) and after controlling for the dynamic endogeneity using the generalized method of moments. Further analysis provides strong evidence that the political distribution of power across social groups mitigates the effect of corruption on hunger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Africa has witnessed an upsurge in its infrastructure endowments mostly attributed to developments in the ICT sector. At the same time, while CO2 emission is reducing in other regions such as Europe, Africa is rather witnessing an upsurge. The objective of this study is to evaluate: (i) the effects of infrastructures on CO2 emission and (ii) how trade openness and governance contribute to mitigating these effects. The results from the system GMM methodology for 36 African countries between the 2003-2019 period show that infrastructural development exacerbates CO2 emission in Africa. This result is robust across different types of infrastructural development indexes. When the indirect effect regressions are carried out by interacting governance and trade openness with the different infrastructural development variables, the following results are obtained. Firstly, infrastructural development interacts with governance producing a positive net effect, up to a governance threshold estimate of 0.532 when the positive net effect is nullified. Secondly, infrastructures interact with trade openness producing a negative net effect up to a trade openness threshold of 78.066914 (% of GDP) when the negative net effect is nullified. Positive and negative synergy effects are also apparent. Practical policy implications are discussed based on the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines complementarities between inclusive development, military expenditure and political stability in the fight against terrorism in 53 African countries for the period 1998–2012. Hence the policy variables employed in the study are inclusive development, military expenditure and political stability. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) with forward orthogonal deviations. The paper reports three main findings. Firstly, military expenditure and inclusive development are substitutes and not complements. Secondly, it is more relevant to use political stability as a complement of inclusive development than to use inclusive development as a complement of political stability. Thirdly, it can be broadly established that military expenditure and political stability are complementary. In the light of the sequencing, complementarity and substitutability, when the three policy variables are viewed within the same framework, it is more feasible to first pursue political stability and then complement it with military expenditure and inclusive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether female economic inclusion enhances tax performance in a sample of 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2018. The study's empirical evidence is based on the generalized method of moments in order to account for endogeneity concerns. Three tax performance measurements are used, notably, total taxes revenue excluding social contributions, reported tax revenue derived from natural resources sources, and total non-resource tax revenue. Three female inclusion indicators are used, namely, female employment in industry, female labour force participation, and female employment. The following empirical evidences are documented; (i) There is a negative net effect from the enhancement of female employment in the industry on the total tax revenue. (ii) There is a positive net effect of female employment in the industry on the non-resource taxes. An extended threshold analysis is performed to establish the critical masses that could further influence tax performance positively. The following thresholds are established. (i) a minimum of 15.35 "employment in industry, female (% of female employment)" for the total tax revenue and (ii) a maximum of 23.75 "employment in industry, female (% of female employment)" for the non-resource tax revenue. These critical masses are crucial for sustainable development because, below or beyond these thresholds, policymakers should complement the female economic inclusion with other economic measures designed to improve tax performance in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the use of governance tools to fight capital flight by reducing the capital flight trap. Two overarching policy syndromes are addressed in the study. It first assesses whether governance is an effective deterrent to the capital flight trap in Africa, before examining what thresholds of government quality are required to fight the capital flight trap in the continent. The following findings are established. Evidence of a capital flight trap is apparent because past values of capital flight have a positive effect on future values of capital flight. The net effects from interactions of the capital flight trap with political stability, regulation quality, economic governance and corruption-control on capital flight are positive. The critical masses at which 'voice and accountability' and regulation quality can complement the capital flight trap to reduce capital flight are respectively, 0.120 and 0.680, which correspond to the best performing countries. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research establishes inequality critical masses that should not be exceeded in order for financial access to promote gender parity inclusive education. The focus is on 42 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the data is for the period 2004–2014. The estimation approach is the Generalized Method of Moments. When remittances are involved in the conditioning information set: (i) the Palma ratio should not exceed 6.000 in order for financial access to promote gender parity inclusive "primary and secondary education" and (ii) the Atkinson index should not exceed 0.695 in order for financial access to promote inclusive tertiary education. However, when the internet is involved in the conditioning information set, it is established that in order for financial access to promote inclusive primary and secondary education, the: (i) Gini coefficient should not exceed 0.571; (ii) Atkinson index should not be above 0.750 and (iii) Palma ratio should be maintained below 8.000. Irrespective of variable in the conditioning information set, what is apparent is that inequality decreases the incidence of financial access on inclusive education. Hence, a common policy measure is to reduce inequality in order to promote inclusive education using the financial access mechanism. Policy implications are discussed in the light of Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses how financial access can be used to modulate the effect of income inequality on gender economic inclusion. The focus is on 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 2004–2014 and the empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Fixed Effects (FE) regressions. Significant results are not apparent in the FE regressions The following main findings are established from the GMM estimations. There is a negative net effect from the role of financial access in modulating the effect of the Palma ratio on female labour force participation while there is a positive net effect from the relevance of financial access in moderating the effect of the Gini coefficient on female unemployment. There are also net negative effects from the role of financial access in modulating the Gini coefficient and the Palma ratio for female employment. The unexpected findings are elucidated and implications are discussed in the light of challenges to Sustainable Development Goals in the sub-region. Inter alia : financial access is a necessary but not a sufficient moderator of income inequality for the enhancement of women's participation in the formal economic sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses linkages between social media and governance dynamics in 49 African countries for the year 2012. The empirical evidence is based on ordinary least squares and quantile regressions. Ten bundled and unbundled governance dynamics are used, notably: (i) political governance (entailing "voice & accountability" and political stability/no violence); (ii) economic governance (involving regulation quality and government effectiveness); (iii) institutional governance (comprising the rule of law and corruption-control) and (iv) general governance (entailing political, economic and institutional governance). Social media is measured with Facebook penetration. The findings show that Facebook penetration is positively associated with governance dynamics and these positive nexuses differ in terms of significance and magnitude of significance throughout the conditional distribution of the governance dynamics. • This study assesses linkages between social media and governance in Africa. • The empirical evidence is based on quantile regressions. • The findings show that Facebook penetration is positively associated with governance. • The nexus is contingent on initial levels of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The study assesses the role of financial development on income inequality in a panel of 48 African countries for the period 1996–2014. Financial development is defined in terms of depth (money supply and liquid liabilities), efficiency (from banking and financial system perspectives), activity (at banking and financial system levels) and stability while, three indicators of inequality are used, namely, the: Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. When financial sector development indicators are used exclusively as strictly exogenous variables in the identification process, it is broadly established that with the exception of financial stability, access to credit (or financial activity) and intermediation efficiency have favourable income redistributive effects. The findings are robust to the: control for unobserved heterogeneity in terms of time effects and inclusion of time invariant variables as strictly exogenous variables in the identification process. The findings are also robust to the Kuznets hypothesis: an inverted humped shaped nexus between increasing GDP per capita and inequality. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examines the role of globalization on terrorism in 51 African countries for the period 1996–2011. Four terrorism indicators are used, namely: domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism. Political, economic, social and general globalisation variables are employed and the empirical evidence is based on Fixed Effects (FE) regressions and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). Whereas the FE regressions are overwhelmingly not significant, the following findings are established from GMM estimations. Political globalisation increases both domestic and transnational terrorism. Social globalisation and general globalisation increase transnational terrorism. Economic globalisation reduces domestic terrorism. Political globalisation, social globalisation and general globalization positively affect unclear terrorism. Social globalisation has a positive impact on total terrorism. Possible channels and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess the thresholds at which military expenditure modulates the effect of terrorism on capital flight. We employed a panel data of 37 African countries from 1996 to 2010. The empirical evidence was based on: (i) baseline contemporary and non-contemporary OLS, (ii) contemporary and non-contemporary fixed effects regressions to account for the unobserved heterogeneity, (iii) the Generalised Method of Moments to account for the capital flight trap and (iv) Quantile Regressions (QR) to account for initial levels of capital flight. The study found that the thresholds are apparent exclusively in Quantile Regressions with military expenditure thresholds ranging from: 4.224 to 5.612 for domestic terrorism, 5.734–7.363 for unclear terrorism and 4.710–6.617 for total terrorism. No thresholds are apparent in transnational terrorism related regressions. Depending on the terrorist target, the findings broadly show that a critical mass of between 4.224 and 7.363 of military expenditure as a percentage of GDP is needed to reverse the negative effect of terrorism on capital flight. In spite of the growing consensus of the need to utilise military expenditure to help combat terrorism, our understanding of the threshold at which military expenditure completely dampens the negative effect of terrorism on capital flight remains largely underexplored. We capitalize on panel data of 37 African countries to address this lacuna in our understanding of this important issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether mobile phone penetration modulates the effect of different indicators of governance on some indicators of the ease of doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa with data from the period 2000–2012 by employing the Generalised Method of Moments. Three broad concepts of governance are explored: (i) political (comprising voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), (ii) economic (involving government effectiveness and regulation quality) and (iii) institutional (including corruption-control and rule of law). Ten dimensions of entrepreneurship are considered. Two main findings are established with respect to the net effects of the interaction between mobile phones and governance dynamics. They are (1) reduced cost of business start-up procedure, the time to build a warehouse and the time to resolve an insolvency and (2) increased time to enforce a contract, to register a property and to prepare and pay taxes. Implications for theory and policy are discussed. Some of the engaged policy implications include the following. (i) Measures on how to leverage on the potential of mobile phone penetration for entrepreneurship opportunities by addressing challenge of access to and affordability of mobile phones on the one hand and on the other hand, improving on the role of the mobile phone as a participative interface between emerging entrepreneurs and governance. (ii) The relevance of the mobile phone in mitigating information asymmetry between entrepreneurs and government institutions, notably by: reducing government inefficiency (which potentially represents an additional cost to doing business) and decreasing informational rents, bureaucracy and transaction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates critical masses or thresholds of educational quality at which the diffusion of information with mobile phones enhances inclusive human development. The empirical evidence is based on simultaneity-robust Fixed Effects regressions with data from 49 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000–2012. The following findings are established: (1) There are positive marginal and net effects on inclusive development from the interaction between mobile phones and educational quality, (2) Between 10 and 27 pupils per teacher is needed in primary education in order for mobile phones to enhance inclusive human development, (3) From a comparative dimension: (i) English Common law countries enjoy higher net effects compared to their French Civil law counterparts, (ii) positive net effects are more obvious in politically stable (vis-à-vis politically unstable) countries, (iii) positive net impacts are also more apparent in resource-poor (vis-à-vis resource-rich) countries, (iv) low income (vis-à-vis higher income) countries have a higher net effect on inclusive development, (v) landlocked (vis-à-vis unlandlocked) countries experience higher net effects and (iv) Islam-dominated countries have a slightly higher net impact compared to their Christian-oriented counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study investigates how terrorism affects governance in 53 African countries for the period 1998–2012. Four terrorism indicators are used namely: domestic, transnational, unclear, and total terrorism. Ten bundled and unbundled governance indicators are also employed namely: political governance (consisting of political stability and voice and accountability), economic governance (encompassing government effectiveness and regulation quality); institutional governance (entailing corruption-control and the rule of law), and general governance. The governance indicators are bundled by means of principal component analysis. The empirical evidence is based on Generalized Method of Moments. Three key findings are established. First , all selected terrorism dynamics negatively affect political governance and its constituents. Second, evidence of a negative relationship is sparingly apparent in economic governance and its components. Third, no proof was confirmed in relation to the impact of terrorism and institutional governance with its elements. Fourth , compared with domestic terrorism, transnational terrorism more negatively and significantly affects political, economic, and general governances. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess how information sharing offices affect loan price and quantity in the African banking industry. The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 162 banks in 42 countries for the period 2001–2011. From the Generalised Method of Moments, public credit registries decrease loan price. With instrumental Quantile Regressions, two main findings are established. Public credit registries consistently decrease the price of loans whereas private credit bureaus consistently have the opposite effect. Public credit registries increase loan quantity in bottom quintiles (or banks associated with lower loan quantities) while private credit bureaus increase loan quantity in top quintiles (or banks associated with higher loan quantities). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assess the effects of terrorism on capital flight in a panel of 29 African countries for which data is available for the period 1987–2008. The terrorism dynamics entail domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorisms. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) with forward orthogonal deviations and Quantile regressions (QR). The following findings are established. First, for GMM, domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorisms consistently increase capital flight. Second, for QR, with the exception of transnational terrorism for which a positive effect on capital flight is apparent in the 0.90 th quintile, terrorism dynamics affect capital flight in low quintiles of the capital flight distribution. In other words, terrorism increases capital flight for the most part when initial levels of capital flight are low. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study assesses the mobile phone in the diffusion of knowledge for better governance in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2012. For this purpose we employ Generalised Method of Moments with forward orthogonal deviations. The empirical evidence is based on three complementary knowledge diffusion variables (innovation, internet penetration and educational quality) and 10 governance indicators that are bundled and unbundled. The following are the main findings. First , there is an unconditional positive effect of mobile phone penetration on good governance. Second , the net effects on political, economic, and institutional governances that are associated with the interaction of the mobile phone with knowledge diffusion variables are positive for the most part. Third , countries with low levels of governance are catching-up their counterparts with higher levels of governance. The above findings are broadly consistent with theoretical underpinnings on the relevance of mobile phones in mitigating bad governance in Africa. The evidence of some insignificant net effects and decreasing marginal impacts may be an indication that the mobile phone could also be employed to decrease government quality. Overall, this study has established net positive effects for the most part. Five rationales could elicit the positive net effects on good governance from the interaction between mobile phones and knowledge diffusion, among others, the knowledge variables enhance: reach, access, adoption, cost-effectiveness, and interaction. In a nut shell, the positive net effects are apparent because the knowledge diffusion variables complement mobile phones in reducing information asymmetry and monopoly that create conducive conditions for bad governance. The contribution of the findings to existing theories and justifications of the underlying positive net effects are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study examines joint effects of industrialisation and ICT diffusion on resource mobilisation. • The focus is on 42 African countries for the period 1996–2020. • The empirical evidence is based on the generalised method of moments. • The joint effects for tax revenue mobilisation are only feasible below some ICT thresholds. • Above these ICT thresholds, complementary policies are needed. Motivated by the momentous rise in the new economy, the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, and the expected rebound of foreign direct investment to Africa from 2022, this study examines the joint effects of industrialisation and digital infrastructure on resource mobilisation in Africa. To this end, we mine data for 42 African countries for the analysis. The results, which are based on the system GMM estimator show that although unconditionally both industrialisation and digital infrastructure enhance (i) goods and services tax (GST), and (ii) profits, corporate and income tax (PCIT) mobilisation efforts in Africa, the effects of the former is rather remarkable in the presence of the latter. Particularly, we find that although all our digital infrastructure dynamics amplify the effect of industrialisation on GST, only ICT usage and ICT skills matter for PCIT. Second, the study unveils ICT thresholds for complementary policies. Accordingly, industrialisation and ICTs are necessary and sufficient conditions for tax revenue mobilisation only below some ICT thresholds. Above these ICT thresholds, complementary policies are needed to maintain the overall positive incidence on tax revenue mobilisation. Policy recommendations are provided in the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the relevance of mobile phone technology in complementing gender inclusive education (i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary) to promote public accountability (i.e. involving horizontal, vertical and diagonal accountability dynamics). The study utilizes the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to establish the empirical evidence based on 48 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2005–2018. The following findings are documented from the linkages between mobile phone technology, inclusive education and public accountability. First, the interactions between mobile phone technology and inclusive education promote public accountability. Second, with regard to net effects, while unexpected negative signs are established, the corresponding positive interactive effects indicate that enhancing the penetration of mobile phone technology beyond some critical thresholds ensures positive net effects. Hence, policy makers should ensure that mobile phone technology penetration exceeds the established thresholds in order for gender inclusive education to positively affect public accountability. • The study investigates nexuses between mobile technology and gender inclusive education. • The goal is to assess how the underlying nexuses affect public accountability. • The generalized method of moments (GMM) technique is employed. • The empirical evidence based on 48 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2005–2018. • Thresholds of information technology for overall positive effects are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study assesses how ICT modulates the effect of inequality on female economic participation in a panel of 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2004–2014. Three inequality indicators are used, namely: the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and the Palma ratio. The adopted ICT indicators are mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. Three gender economic inclusion indicators are also used for the analysis, namely: female labour force participation, female unemployment and female employment. The Generalised Method of Moments is employed as empirical strategy. The findings show that enhancing ICT beyond certain thresholds is necessary for ICT to mitigate inequality in order to enhance gender economic participation. First, for female labour force participation, a minimum threshold of 165.714 mobile phone penetration per 100 people is required for the Palma ratio. Second, minimum ICT thresholds for the reduction of female unemployment are: (i) 87.783, 107.486 and 152.500 mobile phone penetration per 100 people for respectively, the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and the Palma ratio; (ii) 39.618 internet penetration per 100 people for the Atkinson index and (iii) 4.500 fixed broadband subscritptions for the Palma ratio. Third, the corresponding ICT thresholds for the promotion of female employment are: (i) 120.369 and 85.533 mobile phone penetration per 100 people for respectively, the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index and (ii) 30.005 internet penetration per 100 people for the Gini coefficient. The established thresholds make economic sense and can be feasibly implemented by policy makers in order to induce favourable effects on gender economic inclusion dynamics. • The study assesses how ICT modulates the effect of inequality on female employment. • The focus is on 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2004–2014. • The Generalised Method of Moments is employed as an empirical strategy. • ICT thresholds that mitigate inequality to promote female employment are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most African economies are primarily sandwiched with the seemingly unsurmountable task of attaining consistent economic growth and unhindered energy supply, the enormous threat posed by environmental degradation has further complicated the economic and environmental sustainability drive. In this context, the present study examines the effect of economic growth, urbanization, electricity consumption, fossil fuel energy consumption, and total natural resources rent on pollutant emissions in Africa over the period 1980–2014. By employing selected African countries, the current study relies on the Kao and Pedroni cointegration tests to cointegration analysis, the Pesaran's Panel Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive distributive lag methodology (ARDL-PMG) for long run regression while Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) is employed for the detection of causality direction among the outlined variables. The study traces long run equilibrium relationships between examined indicators. The ARDL-PMG results suggest a statistical positive relationship between pollutant emissions and urbanization, electricity consumption and non-renewable energy consumption. Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) Granger causality test lends support to the long-run regression results. A bi-directional causality is observed between pollutant emissions, electricity consumption, economic growth and pollutant emissions while a unidirectional causality is apparent between total natural resources rent and pollutant emission. Based on these results, several policy implications for the African continent were suggested. (a) The need for a paradigm shift from fossil fuel sources to renewables is encouraged in the region (b) The need to embrace carbon storage and capturing techniques to decouple pollutant emissions from economic growth on the continent's growth trajectory. Further policy insights are elucidated. Unlabelled Image • Investigation of environmental degradation in selected African countries • Long and short-run pollutant emissions decomposition in Africa • Economic growth-pollutant emission directional causality has a feedback. • Urbanization, electricity consumption and fossil fuel positively impact pollutant emission. • Energy portfolio diversification in Africa is more urgently necessary than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]