African Journal of Economic Review

Effect of Capital Expenditure on Unemployment Rate in Nigeria

Isiaq Olasunkanmi OSENI — 2023-06-07

This study investigated the effect of capital expenditure on the unemployment rate in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. Data for the study was obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria's Statistical Bulletin and the World Bank's World Development Indicators. Several diagnostic tests were performed to assess the relationship between the variables, including descriptive, correlation analysis, unit root test, Johansen co-integration test, and error correction model (ECM) approach.

The results of the unit root and Johansen co-integration tests lead to the use of the ECM approach to determine the impact of capital expenditure on unemployment rate in Nigeria. The dependent variable was unemployment rate, and the explanatory variables were capital expenditure, tax revenue, labour force, compensation of employees, gross capital formation, gross domestic product, and import of goods and services. The findings revealed that four of the seven explanatory variables were statistically significant, with capital expenditure and gross capital formation having a negative and significant impact on unemployment rate in Nigeria. In contrast, labour force and gross domestic product had a positive and significant impact on unemployment. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should increase its capital expenditure to generate more employment opportunities, which will enhance labour productivity and reduce unemployment rate. Additionally, the government should carefully monitor the allocation of capital expenditure to productive sectors that will achieve the desired objectives.

The Effects of Monetary Policies on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Isiaq Olasunkanmi OSENI — 2023-06-07

The study investigated the effects of monetary and fiscal policies on economic growth in Nigeria using various economic variables. The findings showed that gross capital formation, total number of employees, broad money supply, and lending interest rate are significant factors in determining economic growth in Nigeria. The study found that gross capital formation, total number of employees, and broad money supply have a positive and significant effect on gross domestic product (GDP), while lending interest rate has a negative and significant effect on GDP. The study recommended that the government should encourage more private investment in Nigeria by lowering the lending interest rate, which would lead to more borrowing by private investors and boost investment in the country. The study also recommended that government policies should be tailored towards creating more employment in Nigeria as this can lead to economic growth. Finally, the study concluded that monetary policy is more effective than fiscal policy in Nigeria, and the monetary authority should be sensitive in directing its policies to the sector that can propel economic growth. The study suggests that the monetary authority could use an expansionary monetary policy to reduce interest rates and encourage more investment, which would stimulate economic growth in Nigeria.

Government Expenditure and Economic Growth Nexus in Tanzania

Michael O.A. Ndanshau — 2023-06-07

This paper empirically investigates how government consumption impacts upon economic growth in Tanzania for the period 1967 – 2020. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds cointegration test revealed economic growth and government expenditure were cointegrated, given the conditioning factors; and, revealed a small but statistically significant positive long run effect of government size on economic growth. The pairwise Granger causality test rejected the null hypothesis of no uni-directional or bi-directional causality between the government size and economic growth. The study also established the long run effect of inflation on economic growth was negative and statistically significant. The ECM results reveal the short run effect of government size on economic growth was negative and statistically insignificant; and, the effect of private investment on economic growth was positive and statistically insignificant. Besides, the short run effect of human capital on economic growth was negative and weakly significant. The results revealed a high speed of adjustment from disequilibrium to long run equilibrium. The findings support the conventional view: government consumption lacks significant positive effect on growth over the long run. This finding reveals the limit to the use of fiscal policy especially recourse to government expenditure to prime or stabilize the economy as maintained in Keynesian macroeconomic theory. The gestation period of government consumption is long. Furthermore, the finding underscore importance of price stability and, other things being constant, need for more proactive policies and strategies to avail business and macroeconomic environment that would increase private investment.

Digital Financial Inclusion and Financial Health in Kenya: Gendered Analysis

Dickson Onyango Wandeda — 2023-06-07

This paper adopted propensity score matching to estimate the propensity of digital financial inclusion among women in Kenya and the average treatment effect of digital financial inclusion on financial health of women in Kenya. Utilizing the Financial Access Survey 2021 dataset on 22024 households, the study found that the socio-demographic aspects that contributed to the digital financial uptake among women was the level of education, marital status, religion, age, and place of residence, with significant differences between users and non-users of digital finance. In addition, with mobile phone and television ownership, there was a higher likelihood of women using digital finance, with a significant difference between users and non-users. Additionally, it was found that women in Kenya using digital finance are more likely to be financially healthy. We, therefore, recommend that more targeted approach by government and financial institutions towards enhancing digital literacy, the government needs to implement gender-responsive policies that would foster the subsidization of mobile devices and offer incentives for mobile network operators to strengthen rural network connectivity, and the Kenya government and financial institutions could capitalize on accessible communication channels such as mobile phones, radio, and community outreach programs.

Effects of Population Dynamics on Economic Growth Among the World Most Populous Countries

Oyedepo Elizabeth Omolola — 2023-06-07

High population growth is a growing concern throughout the world and a challenge to any country’s economy. This study assessed the effects of population growth rate on economic growth among four most populous countries of the world namely China, India, United States of America and Nigeria. Time series data from the World Development Indicators spanning from 1991- 2020 were used. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used for the analysis and results revealed that in the long-run total population growth was negatively related with economic growth in all the four countries. However, in Nigeria, change in working age population, sectoral employment (proxy for human resource utilization) and trade openness had significant positive effects on economic growth both in the long-run and short-run. In India, China and the United States, change in working age share had no effect on economic growth in the long-run but in China and India, there is evidence of significant positive effects in the short-run. Furthermore, in China and the U.S, the initial share of working age in the population had positive long run effects on economic growth. The study concludes that improvement in the working age share in each of the selected countries will boost economic growth but an increase in the overall population will have detrimental effects on the growth of the economy. Policies necessary to increase the share of working age in the population is therefore recommended as a way to improve economic growth in these countries.

Foreign Direct Investment, Trade Openness and Economic Performance in Nigeria: Does Governance Quality Matter?

Abubakar Sule — 2023-06-07

The present study attempts to explore whether governance quality matters in the dynamic linkage between foreign direct investment, trade openness, and economic growth in the case of Nigeria. This study interacts foreign direct investment and trade openness with governance quality. The study shows that foreign direct investment interaction with governance quality failed to have a contagion effect on economic growth. Also, the trade-governance quality interaction demonstrates a deleterious effect on economic growth. Based on the signs and statistical significance, the study concludes that governance quality matters to the attraction of foreign direct investment and trade facilitation. Therefore, for Nigeria to attract significant capital inflows and trade flow, there is an urgent need to put in place necessary regulatory laws.

Diaspora as Driver of Agricultural Structural Transformation in West Africa

Moukpè Gniniguè — 2023-06-07

The structural transformation is recognized as a key driver of sustainable economic development by researchers and international development agencies. However, it is lagging in West Africa, whereas the diaspora is recognized as a vector for the structural transformation of African economies. Thus, this paper analyzes the contribution of the diaspora to the structural transformation of the economies of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The structural transformation is measured by the reallocation of labor from the agricultural sector. Diaspora is measured by the total emigration rate and the high education emigration rate. The Least Squares Dummy Variable Corrected (LSDVC) method applied to a dynamic specification was used on 15 ECOWAS countries from 1990 to 2010. The results revealed that the diaspora attracts labor to the agricultural sector in ECOWAS. While supporting the industrial sector, the diaspora should invest in modern techniques in the agricultural sector, leading to improved productivity gains in this sector and fostering the structural transformation desired by the African Union.

Do Service-oriented Seafood Products Hinder Export Performance? An Insight from Namibia

Ruth Eegunjobi — 2023-06-07

The role of service-oriented seafood products on the export performance of seafood exporting countries is unclear. According to previous studies, the negative or positive effects of service-oriented seafood products on export performance can be attributed to an increase in unprocessed seafood products or increased demand for value addition. This study investigates the implications of service-oriented seafood products on Namibia’s seafood export performance and trade potential. The study employed the gravity model of trade estimated with the Eicker-White robust covariance (PPML) technique on aggregated seafood export data from Namibia to 29 trading partners from 2001 to 2019 and further estimated Namibia’s processed seafood trade potential. This study's findings indicate that Namibia's comparative advantage in seafood export processing boosts export performance despite trade costs, and that consumer preference for service-oriented seafood products enhances export flow. In addition, the study reveals that while Namibia's trade potential with most African trading partners has been exhausted, trade potential exists with its European trading partners and can be used to guide future trade expansion policy.