N20 - Economic History: Financial Markets and Institutions: General, International, or ComparativeNávrat zpět

This study investigates the effect of resource rent on infrastructural development in Africa and how governance institutions moderate this relationship. The pooled OLS and the dynamic system GMM estimation techniques are adopted with a panel of 52 African economies over the period 2005-2022. We find that resource rent significantly hampers infrastructural development in Africa, thereby reflecting the prevalence of the "natural resource curse" phenomenon. We also find that the unconditional effects of governance institutions are mainly negative and significant, which aptly reflects the presence of weak institutions in Africa. Interestingly, our results also show that low institutional quality in the region intensifies the adverse effect of resource rent, while a higher level of institutional quality in the region moderates the adverse effect of resource rent. These findings remain consistent with components of resource rent, such as forest rent, oil rent and coal rent. Consequently, we emphasize the policy implications of these findings, which mainly underscore the need for policymakers and leaders in Africa to embrace institutional reforms that will ensure transparent resource management, increased infrastructural investment and sustainable infrastructural development on the continent.

We investigate the effects of trade openness and international financial inflows (including foreign direct investment, remittances and foreign aid inflows) on Africa's productive capacity and how governance institutions are moderating these effects. We adopt the dynamic system GMM modelling framework and the Bun and Carree (2005) bias-corrected least square dummy variable estimator with a panel of 43 African economies. We also use the Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard error fixed effect estimation, which controls for cross-sectional dependence to provide robustness check. We find that trade openness and the various components of international financial inflows are significant drivers of productive capacity in Africa, and that governance institutions are moderating and enhancing their effects. We also find that renewable energy consumption, human capital development and infrastructure development are promoting Africa's productive capacity. We highlight the policy implications of these findings, which among others, encourage policymakers and leaders in Africa to focus on policies that can enhance cross border trade, attract international financial inflows and entrench high-quality institutions.

Africa has received considerable amounts of external aid over the last two decades without significant improvements in socio-economic conditions on the continent. This study, therefore, examines the effects of foreign aid on growth in Africa, and how institutional quality can moderate these effects. The study used the system generalized method of moments estimation technique and a panel of forty-two African countries over the period 2010-2018. Interestingly, the study established that even though foreign aid impacts negatively on growth in Africa, improving the quality of institutions on the continent can reverse this negative effect. In fact, the study computed a threshold value of institutional quality beyond which foreign aid would be a blessing to Africa. This implies that for foreign aid to contribute meaningfully to growth in Africa, the quality of institutions should improve beyond this threshold. Unfortunately, the average level of institutional quality in Africa is presently below this threshold. The study concluded that policymakers in Africa should take urgent steps to strengthen the quality of institutions on the continent as a means of exploiting the continent's huge foreign aid to drive growth and reduce the excruciating effects of poverty plaguing more than half of its population.