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Recent scholarly articles consistently show that economic complexity promotes economic development. However, upon further examination of the literature, it becomes evident that macroeconomic determinants of economic complexity are not fully investigated, particularly in Africa. This study addressed this gap in the literature by investigating the impact of international tourism arrivals, infrastructural development, and trade openness on economic complexity in Africa. The study utilized the dynamic system GMM and panel Fixed Effects estimators for 34 African economies from 2010 to 2021. The results indicated that international tourism arrival and trade openness have beneficial effects on economic complexity in Africa, while the effects of infrastructural development remained mainly negative. Additionally, we established that human capital development and foreign direct investment inflow are potent channels for promoting economic complexity on the continent. We highlighted the policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the effect of trade and industrialisation on environmental sustainability in Africa. To achieve the study objective, the pooled mean group estimation strategy was employed on data from 1990 to 2019 for 38 selected African countries. Findings are indicative that trade has a negative and significant effect on ecological footprint in the long run. It is iemplied that trade enhancement has the tendency to enhance environmental sustainability in African countries. In addition, industrialisation has a positive and significant effect on ecological footprint. Implied is that industrialisation dampens environmental sustainability in African countries. Similarly, foreign direct investment inflows into African countries exert a positive but insignificant effect on ecological footprint. The result further depicts that economic growth positively and significantly impacts ecological footprints in African countries. Also, renewable energy consumption has a negative and significant effects on ecological footprint, suggesting that the adoption of renewable energy plays a crucial role in enhancing environmental sustainability in African countries. The short-run result reveals no significant relationship between trade, industrialisation, foreign direct investment and ecological footprints. Population growth has a positive effect on ecological footprint, albeit not a statistically significant effect. Furthermore, the result depicts that renewable energy consumption has a negative and significant effect on ecological footprints in African countries. On the strength of the findings, we recommend the stimulation of domestic trade and the strengthening of industrial policies to ensure environmental sustainability in African countries. JEL Codes: C33, F14, F18, R11 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of gender economic inclusion on economic complexity in Africa, as well as the moderating role of governance institutions on the relationship between gender inclusion and economic complexity. The analysis was based on the pooled OLS and the system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques, with data from 34 African economies between 2010 and 2021. The analysis uncovered several important findings. First, from the most robust model (i.e., GMM), positive synergies are apparent because gender economic inclusion promotes economic complexity, and governance dynamics further enhance the positive effect of gender economic inclusion on economic complexity. Second, regardless of the adopted technique, a predominantly positive and statistically significant relationship was identified between gender economic inclusion and economic complexity. Third, it was observed that while governance institutions exhibit a negative relationship with economic complexity, they play a positive role in moderating the relationship between gender inclusion and economic complexity. Fourth, factors such as foreign direct investment inflow, trade openness, and international tourism were identified as potent drivers of economic complexity in Africa, while the impact of human capital appears to be relatively subdued. Consequently, the study emphasizes the need for institutional reforms to improve governance transparency, accountability, and efficiency, alongside advocating for gender‐inclusive policies and increased investment in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates global uncertainty, climate change and the unemployment-economic growth relationship in Nigeria. The study utilised the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique using quarterly data, 1990–2020. Findings indicate that global uncertainty and unemployment impact negatively economic growth both in the short run and long run. Also, climatic change variables employed in this study such as temperature and level of rainfall have a negative impact on economic growth both in the long-run and short-run. The moderating effects of global uncertainty and climatic variables on the unemployment-economic growth relationship were positive, though insignificant. The policy implication underlying the finding is that tackling economic uncertainty and climate change is necessary for solving unemployment problem and the attainment of sustainable growth in Nigeria. JEL Codes: C22, D80, Q25, E24, O40 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of public infrastructural development and industrialization on economic complexity in Africa, and how industrialization is moderating the effect of public infrastructural development on economic complexity. The study adopted the pooled ordinary least squares, the dynamic system generalized method of moments and the dynamic bias‐corrected least squares dummy variable estimators with a panel of 34 African economies over the period 2010–2021. The findings revealed that public infrastructural development and industrialization contribute positively and significantly toward enhancing economic complexity in Africa. We also found that industrialization substantially moderates and enhances the influence of public infrastructural development on economic complexity. Furthermore, the results show that trade openness, foreign direct investment inflow, international tourism arrival and institutional quality are potent factors enhancing Africa's economic complexity, while the role of human capital remains muted. These findings suggest that African leaders and policy‐makers can foster economic complexity across the continent by embracing policies that prioritize increased infrastructural development, industrialization, trade openness and foreign direct investment inflow while improving the quality of institutions within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our study spanning 2010–2022 across 50 African economies, we investigated the effects of industrialization, labor force participation, and electrification on Africa’s productive capacity. We also examined how electrification moderates the effect of industrialization and labor force participation on productive capacity. We adopted the pooled OLS, the fixed effect estimator, and the dynamic system GMM estimation technique for our analysis. Our findings indicate industrialization, labor force participation, and electrification as potent channels for enhancing Africa's productive capacity. In tandem with Africa’s reality, we find that electrification isn’t moderating the positive impact of industrialization and labor force participation on productivity. Our findings also revealed human capital development, government health expenditure, and institutional quality as pivotal drivers of productive capacity in Africa, while factors like global economic policy uncertainty and natural resource endowment exhibit predominantly negative roles. These results underscore the need for African policymakers and leaders to foster an enabling environment that facilitates industrialization, increased labor force participation, and improved electricity access to promote economic performance and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]