This study assesses the role of mobile money innovations on income inequality and gender inclusion in 42 sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2019 using interactive quantile regressions.It finds that,first,incom...This study assesses the role of mobile money innovations on income inequality and gender inclusion in 42 sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2019 using interactive quantile regressions.It finds that,first,income inequality unconditionally reduces the involvement of women in business and politics.Second,mobile money innovations interact with income inequality to have a positive impact on women in business and politics.Third,the net effects of mobile money innovations on gender inclusion through income inequality are consistently negative.Fourth,as the positive conditional or interactive effects and negative net effects are consistent across the conditional distribution of gender inclusion,thresholds at which mobile money innovations can completely dampen the negative effect of income inequality on gender inclusion are provided.Therefore,policymakers should work toward improving conditions for mobile money innovations.They should also be aware that reducing both income inequality and enhancing mobile money innovations simultaneously leads to more inclusive outcomes in terms of gender inclusion.展开更多
There is a growing body of evidence that interest rate spreads in Africa are higher for big banks compared to small banks.One concern is that big banks might be using their market power to charge higher lending rates ...There is a growing body of evidence that interest rate spreads in Africa are higher for big banks compared to small banks.One concern is that big banks might be using their market power to charge higher lending rates as they become larger,more efficient,and unchallenged.In contrast,several studies found that when bank size increases beyond certain thresholds,diseconomies of scale are introduced that lead to inefficiency.In that case,we also would expect to see widened interest margins.This study examines the connection between bank size and efficiency to understand whether that relationship is influenced by exploitation of market power or economies of scale.Using a panel of 162 African banks for 2001–2011,we analyzed the empirical data using instrumental variables and fixed effects regressions,with overlapping and non-overlapping thresholds for bank size.We found two key results.First,bank size increases bank interest rate margins with an inverted U-shaped nexus.Second,market power and economies of scale do not increase or decrease the interest rate margins significantly.The main policy implication is that interest rate margins cannot be elucidated by either market power or economies of scale.Other implications are discussed.展开更多
This study investigated the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS)for the years 1985–2017.The study employed the a...This study investigated the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS)for the years 1985–2017.The study employed the augmented mean group procedure,which accounts for country-specific heterogeneity and crosssectional dependence,and the Granger non-causality test to test for causality in the presence of cross-sectional dependence.The results show that(1)The impact of financial sector development on domestic investment depends on the measure of financial sector development utilised;(2)Domestic credit to the private sector has a positive but insignificant impact on domestic investment in ECOWAS,whereas banking intermediation efficiency(i.e.,ability of the banks to transform deposits into credit)and broad money supply negatively and significant influence domestic investment;(3)Cross-country differences exist in the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in the selected ECOWAS countries;and(4)Domestic credit to the private sector Granger causes domestic investment in ECOWAS.The study recommends careful consideration in the measure of financial development that is utilised as a policy instrument to foster domestic investment.We also highlight the importance of employing country-specific domestic investment policies to avoid blanket policy measures.Domestic credit to the private sector should be given priority when forecasting domestic investment into the future.展开更多
This study assesses the role of globalization-fueled regionalization policies on the financial allocation efficiency of four economic and monetary regions in Africa from 1980 to 2008.Banking and financial system effic...This study assesses the role of globalization-fueled regionalization policies on the financial allocation efficiency of four economic and monetary regions in Africa from 1980 to 2008.Banking and financial system efficiency proxies are used as dependent variables and seven bundled and unbundled globalization variables are employed as independent indicators.The bundling is achieved by principal component analysis,while the empirical evidence is based on interactive fixed effects regressions.The findings are as follows.First,financial allocation efficiency is more sensitive to financial openness compared to trade openness and most sensitive to globalization.The relationship between allocation efficiency and globalization-fueled regionalization policies is defined by:(i)a Kuznets or inverted U-shaped curve in the UEMOA and CEMAC zones(evidence of decreasing returns for allocation efficiency from globalization-fueled regionalization)and(ii)a U-shaped relationship overwhelmingly in the COMESA and scantily in the EAC(increasing returns to allocation efficiency due to globalization-fueled regionalization).These relationships are relevant to the specific globalization dynamics within regions.Economic and monetary regions are more prone to surplus liquidity than pure economic regions are.Policy implications and measures for reducing surplus liquidity are also discussed.展开更多
This study provides a harmonization framework for common capital flight policies in Africa.It builds on evidence of persistent extreme poverty in the continent to assess how common measures can be adopted by sampled c...This study provides a harmonization framework for common capital flight policies in Africa.It builds on evidence of persistent extreme poverty in the continent to assess how common measures can be adopted by sampled countries on one cause of extreme poverty:capital flight.The dataset is sub-divided into fundamental characteristics of African capital flight based on income levels,legal foundations,natural resources,political stability,regional proximity,and religious domination.The main finding shows that from a projection date of 2010,a feasible timeframe for harmonizing policies is between 2016 and 2023.This timeframe coincides with the beginning of the post-2015 agenda on sustainable development goals.展开更多
Background:The purpose of this study is to investigate how an increase in information-sharing bureaus affects financial access.Methods:We employed contemporary and non-contemporary interactive quantile regressions in ...Background:The purpose of this study is to investigate how an increase in information-sharing bureaus affects financial access.Methods:We employed contemporary and non-contemporary interactive quantile regressions in 53 African countries for the period 2004–2011.Information-sharing bureaus are proxied with public credit registries and private credit offices.Financial development dynamics involving depth(at overall economic and financial system levels),efficiency(at banking and financial system levels),activity(from banking and financial system perspectives),and size are used.Results:Two key findings are established.First,the effect of an increase in private credit bureaus is not clearly noticeable on financial access,probably because private credit agencies are still to be established in many countries.Second,an increase in public credit registries for the most part improves financial allocation efficiency and activity(or credit)between the 25th and 75th quartiles.Conclusions:As a main policy implication,countries in the top and bottom ends of the financial efficiency and activity distributions are unlikely to benefit from enhanced financial allocation efficiency as a result of an increase in public credit registries.展开更多
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 ...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 gover-nance on ICT sector development.Finally,policy implications are discussed.展开更多
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 A...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.展开更多
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 ad...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.展开更多
The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, non-technological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate pro...The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, non-technological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate probit model applied to microdata from 1897 firms in three Sub-Saharan countries: Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal. This model allows us to solve the endogeneity problem by assessing the complementarity relationship between technological and non-technological innovation practices and their effects on firm competitiveness. The results confirm that technological and non-technological innovations are complementary and have significant effects on firms' competitive advantage in terms of price. This complementarity constitutes evidence that their simultaneous adoption contributes more to firms' competitiveness than the individual adoption of each type of innovation. Non-technological innovations facilitate the effectiveness of technological innovations, which leads to a competitive advantage of about 26 % when both types of innovations are adopted together. However, firms can also suffer significant losses in market share as a result of the non-adoption of innovations. Indeed, firms that do not adopt any innovations deteriorate their competitive advantage in terms of price by 4 % on average.展开更多
文摘This study assesses the role of mobile money innovations on income inequality and gender inclusion in 42 sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2019 using interactive quantile regressions.It finds that,first,income inequality unconditionally reduces the involvement of women in business and politics.Second,mobile money innovations interact with income inequality to have a positive impact on women in business and politics.Third,the net effects of mobile money innovations on gender inclusion through income inequality are consistently negative.Fourth,as the positive conditional or interactive effects and negative net effects are consistent across the conditional distribution of gender inclusion,thresholds at which mobile money innovations can completely dampen the negative effect of income inequality on gender inclusion are provided.Therefore,policymakers should work toward improving conditions for mobile money innovations.They should also be aware that reducing both income inequality and enhancing mobile money innovations simultaneously leads to more inclusive outcomes in terms of gender inclusion.
文摘There is a growing body of evidence that interest rate spreads in Africa are higher for big banks compared to small banks.One concern is that big banks might be using their market power to charge higher lending rates as they become larger,more efficient,and unchallenged.In contrast,several studies found that when bank size increases beyond certain thresholds,diseconomies of scale are introduced that lead to inefficiency.In that case,we also would expect to see widened interest margins.This study examines the connection between bank size and efficiency to understand whether that relationship is influenced by exploitation of market power or economies of scale.Using a panel of 162 African banks for 2001–2011,we analyzed the empirical data using instrumental variables and fixed effects regressions,with overlapping and non-overlapping thresholds for bank size.We found two key results.First,bank size increases bank interest rate margins with an inverted U-shaped nexus.Second,market power and economies of scale do not increase or decrease the interest rate margins significantly.The main policy implication is that interest rate margins cannot be elucidated by either market power or economies of scale.Other implications are discussed.
文摘This study investigated the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS)for the years 1985–2017.The study employed the augmented mean group procedure,which accounts for country-specific heterogeneity and crosssectional dependence,and the Granger non-causality test to test for causality in the presence of cross-sectional dependence.The results show that(1)The impact of financial sector development on domestic investment depends on the measure of financial sector development utilised;(2)Domestic credit to the private sector has a positive but insignificant impact on domestic investment in ECOWAS,whereas banking intermediation efficiency(i.e.,ability of the banks to transform deposits into credit)and broad money supply negatively and significant influence domestic investment;(3)Cross-country differences exist in the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in the selected ECOWAS countries;and(4)Domestic credit to the private sector Granger causes domestic investment in ECOWAS.The study recommends careful consideration in the measure of financial development that is utilised as a policy instrument to foster domestic investment.We also highlight the importance of employing country-specific domestic investment policies to avoid blanket policy measures.Domestic credit to the private sector should be given priority when forecasting domestic investment into the future.
文摘This study assesses the role of globalization-fueled regionalization policies on the financial allocation efficiency of four economic and monetary regions in Africa from 1980 to 2008.Banking and financial system efficiency proxies are used as dependent variables and seven bundled and unbundled globalization variables are employed as independent indicators.The bundling is achieved by principal component analysis,while the empirical evidence is based on interactive fixed effects regressions.The findings are as follows.First,financial allocation efficiency is more sensitive to financial openness compared to trade openness and most sensitive to globalization.The relationship between allocation efficiency and globalization-fueled regionalization policies is defined by:(i)a Kuznets or inverted U-shaped curve in the UEMOA and CEMAC zones(evidence of decreasing returns for allocation efficiency from globalization-fueled regionalization)and(ii)a U-shaped relationship overwhelmingly in the COMESA and scantily in the EAC(increasing returns to allocation efficiency due to globalization-fueled regionalization).These relationships are relevant to the specific globalization dynamics within regions.Economic and monetary regions are more prone to surplus liquidity than pure economic regions are.Policy implications and measures for reducing surplus liquidity are also discussed.
文摘This study provides a harmonization framework for common capital flight policies in Africa.It builds on evidence of persistent extreme poverty in the continent to assess how common measures can be adopted by sampled countries on one cause of extreme poverty:capital flight.The dataset is sub-divided into fundamental characteristics of African capital flight based on income levels,legal foundations,natural resources,political stability,regional proximity,and religious domination.The main finding shows that from a projection date of 2010,a feasible timeframe for harmonizing policies is between 2016 and 2023.This timeframe coincides with the beginning of the post-2015 agenda on sustainable development goals.
文摘Background:The purpose of this study is to investigate how an increase in information-sharing bureaus affects financial access.Methods:We employed contemporary and non-contemporary interactive quantile regressions in 53 African countries for the period 2004–2011.Information-sharing bureaus are proxied with public credit registries and private credit offices.Financial development dynamics involving depth(at overall economic and financial system levels),efficiency(at banking and financial system levels),activity(from banking and financial system perspectives),and size are used.Results:Two key findings are established.First,the effect of an increase in private credit bureaus is not clearly noticeable on financial access,probably because private credit agencies are still to be established in many countries.Second,an increase in public credit registries for the most part improves financial allocation efficiency and activity(or credit)between the 25th and 75th quartiles.Conclusions:As a main policy implication,countries in the top and bottom ends of the financial efficiency and activity distributions are unlikely to benefit from enhanced financial allocation efficiency as a result of an increase in public credit registries.
文摘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 gover-nance on ICT sector development.Finally,policy implications are discussed.
文摘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.
基金the International Development Research Centre(IDRC),Grant Number:109453-001.
文摘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.
文摘The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, non-technological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate probit model applied to microdata from 1897 firms in three Sub-Saharan countries: Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal. This model allows us to solve the endogeneity problem by assessing the complementarity relationship between technological and non-technological innovation practices and their effects on firm competitiveness. The results confirm that technological and non-technological innovations are complementary and have significant effects on firms' competitive advantage in terms of price. This complementarity constitutes evidence that their simultaneous adoption contributes more to firms' competitiveness than the individual adoption of each type of innovation. Non-technological innovations facilitate the effectiveness of technological innovations, which leads to a competitive advantage of about 26 % when both types of innovations are adopted together. However, firms can also suffer significant losses in market share as a result of the non-adoption of innovations. Indeed, firms that do not adopt any innovations deteriorate their competitive advantage in terms of price by 4 % on average.
