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The present study assesses how governance affects information and communication technology (ICT) at the global level contingent on macroeconomic policy factors such as trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), manufacturing value added, and agricultural value added. The study focuses on 183 countries from 2003 to 2021, and the empirical evidence is based on the generalized method of moments (GMM). The following main findings are established. For the full sample, governance unconditionally promotes ICT development, while trade openness (industrial added value) moderates governance to promote (dampen) ICT development. In sub-Saharan Africa, only trade openness effectively moderates governance to induce an overall positive effect on ICT, while in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, all policy variables moderate governance for an overall positive incidence on ICT sector development. The findings for the MENA region are confirmed in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, with the exception of the moderating role of industrial added value, which engenders an overall negative effect. In the East and South Asia and the Pacific (ESAP) countries, one overall positive incidence is apparent in the role of trade openness, while net negative effects are established from the moderating roles of industrial added value and agricultural added value. In the American sub-sample, a positive (negative) net effect is apparent from the role of industrial added value (trade) in moderating the incidence of governance on ICT sector development. Finally, policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses, from the perspective of financial stability, how business/financial sustainability, moderates the influence of information technology on female economic participation in 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2008e2018. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regression, which accounted for the censored nature of the outcome variables. The following important findings were obtained: First, ICT (information and communications technology) dynamics (mobile phone penetration, internet penetration, and fixed broadband subscriptions) are consistently moderated by business sustainability to positively affect female employment. Second, business sustainability scores must exceed certain thresholds before moderating fixed broadband subscriptions to induce favorable overall effects on female employment, female labor force participation, and female unemployment rates. The positive effects on female employment and labor force participation is ascertained by the thresholds of 18.742 and 19.505 Zscores, respectively and a Z-score of 17.300 for the negative impact on female unemployment. The thresholds that should be exceeded are within policy reach, make economic sense, and are policy-relevant. This study contributes to the extant literature by providing actionable thresholds for business sustainability that can be employed by policy makers such that information technology positively influences female economic inclusion in Sub- Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, taxation is perceived as a brake on economic growth. Indeed, taxes in most of these countries are not sufficiently adapted to the specificity of the taxpayer and often do not consider the weak administrative capacity of the countries in the region. In this context, reforms have been initiated over the last decade to create tax environments that encourage savings, investment, entrepreneurship, and social innovation. This study provides an overview of research on the effects of taxation on social innovation and the corresponding implications for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, taking three approaches: thematic, chronological, and methodological. Most studies agree that high taxes in business undermine social innovation and thus the achievement of SDGs, as social innovation is known to be a driver of most SDGs and business the vehicle. The majority of the selected studies used primary data collected from samples whose representativeness with respect to the population concerned (notably businesses) is still not explicitly justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]