No abstract

No abstract

The quest by developing countries for increased FDI stems from the assumption that FDI leads to economic benefits within the host country. The study examined the paradigm 'FDI led growth' using dataset for Nigeria obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria span between 1970 and 2014. Modern econometric tools of Vector error correction model and Granger Wald test were employed. The econometric analysis reveals that there is steady long run relationship between FDI and output in Nigeria. Additionally, the causality result indicates that there is unidirectional causality between trade openness and per capita income, running from trade openness to per capita income proxy for economic growth. On the other hand, there is absence of short-run causality between FDI and economic growth in Nigeria. The policy implication is that FDI can be considered as an engine of growth and development. In the case of Nigeria, FDI can be used as a tool for structuring the economy and achieving inclusive growth. This can be done by attracting more FDI through creating conducive business environment, development of infrastructures and strengthening security especially in north-eastern part of the country.

Article History JEL Classification:F33, F34, F35, O11.After about a decade of exiting sovereign debt havoc; there is now another panic that a new sovereign-debt problem may loom in Nigeria given the current rising debt profile in the country. In this light ,this paper sought to enhance the existing literature on the debt growth-nexus by analyzing the relationship between debt variables and economic growth within Solow (1956) growth framework. The study adopted econometric technique of Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model and applied on time-series data for Nigeria spanning between 1981 and 2016. The results show that external debt is negatively related with economic growth in both short and long runs. The evidence suggests that increase in external debt will lead to decline in economic growth. Based on the findings, the study suggests that debt service obligation should not be allowed to rise more than foreign exchange earnings and that the loan contracted should be invested in profitable and productive ventures, which will generate a reasonable amount of money for debt repayment. Contribution/ Originality:This study contributes to the existing literature on debt-growth nexus by incorporating various debt components and adopting one of the advanced methodological approaches in analysing the effect of external debt on economic growth.

No abstract

Poverty reduction is one of the greatest challenges facing international community and it is an invaluable requirement for sustainable development. This study was conducted to empirically examine the influence of socioeconomic as well as demographic variables on households' vulnerability to social exclusion or deprivation with more emphasis on gender inequality. The study employed binary probit regression analysis of poverty as well as Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to examine factors responsible for inequality with respect to socio-economic fortunes among Nigerian households. Evidence from the study revealed that socio-demographic variables as well as labor characteristics are strong determinants of poverty in the country, and the findings confirmed to the theoretical propositions on causes of poverty. However, empirical results from the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition show that female headed households are more disadvantaged in terms of socioeconomic deprivation than the male headed households. The study concluded by presenting concluding remarks and policy implications for policymakers toward poverty reduction in Nigeria.

This study investigates the impact of Nigerian government expenditure (disaggregated into capital and recurrent) on economic growth using time series data for the period 1970-2019. The paper employs Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. To ensure robustness of results, the study accounts for structural breaks in the unit root test and the co-integration analysis. The key findings of the study are that capital expenditure has positive and significant impact on economic growth both in the short run and long run while recurrent expenditure does not have significant impact on economic growth both in the short run and long run. The study recommends that government should increase the share of the capital expenditure especially on meaningful projects that have direct bearing on the citizen’s welfare. Government should also improve the spending patterns of recurrent expenditure through careful reallocation of resources toward productive activities that would enhance human development in the country.

In the context of a high prevalence of both poverty among households and business failures among firms in the majority of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, competition is seen as one of the viable tools for transforming and improving these economies. This can be achieved by boosting productivity, improving output markets, increasing innovation and promoting economic growth. This study examines the sources of market power among firms within a variety of institutional settings using a large sample of data from 23 SSA countries. Tobit panel models comprising both fixed and random effects are used to estimate the determinants of market power. The study reveals that a large number of firms control less than 5 percent of the market with a few firms controlling between 5 and 34 percent of the market. At the same time, there are a small number of firms controlling between 30 and 100 percent of the markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings further show that economic and political institutions significantly matter in the determination of power among firms in SSA. However, the influence of institutions varies significantly depending on the type of institutions and regional differences.