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This article examines the impact of access to electricity on rural household business startups across 3 channels: (1) access to rural electrification programmes, (2) access to power (irrespective of the source) and (3) connection to the grid. We use inverse probability weighted regression adjustment on survey data collected from the central region of rural Uganda and apply propensity score matching (PSM) as a check to the robustness of our results. Our primary results reveal substantial and significant impacts of electricity access on household business start-ups across the three channels. Our findings remain robust, and hidden bias does not affect our results. We find that access to power seems to have a more significant impact than access to the other two channels. This suggests that for a better understanding of how electricity affects rural areas, a comprehensive analysis of all power sources is crucial. Additionally, we show that access to electricity primarily influences the establishment of service-related enterprises rather than manufacturing and processing enterprises. From a policy standpoint, our results indicate that developing a rural transformation program through enhanced electrification interventions necessitates multiple support programmes beyond merely extending the grid lines to rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the effect of foreign acquisition on numerous performance outcomes of hitherto indigenously owned firms. We use a 12‐year (1991–2002) panel data set of manufacturing firms in Ghana. Taking merit of the availability of feasible preacquisition covariates, we utilise both regression and matching methods with difference‐in‐differences techniques to handle possible endogeneity due to selection bias of the acquisition decision and inherent firm‐level heterogeneity. Our findings confirm that indeed foreign investors tend to target (cherry‐pick) high‐performing indigenous firms. Additionally, findings from regression analysis reveal positive and significant acquisition effects on average wages, productivity and output. We do not find statistically significant acquisition effects on employment and skill intensity. Robustness check on results using matching and difference‐in‐differences estimation generally confirms these results with negligible differences. A key recommendation arising from study findings is that developing economies especially in sub‐Saharan Africa should strengthen policies that aim to attract more inward foreign investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional economic theory states that higher interest rates reduce investment levels because interest rates represent the cost of borrowing, thereby implying a linear inverse relationship. However, the relationship between interest rates and investment is beyond a linear one, which has been previously researched. Thus, the novelty of this study is to investigate the differences between the effects of positive and negative shocks in interest rates on private investment, by examining the asymmetric nature of the relationship between these variables in South Africa. We utilize annual time series data from 1971 to 2019 while employing the recent nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) technique. Our study finds that interest rates and private investment exhibit short-run and long-run asymmetric relationships, with private investment responding differently to negative and positive shocks in interest rates. A key conclusion from the study findings is that empirical evidence based on linear analyses of the relationship between interest rates and private investment is insufficient to warrant dependable macroeconomic forecasts. This may lead to misguided policy interventions and management, especially by monetary policy custodians, which ultimately constrains efforts toward sustained economic growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]