Over the decade of the 1990s, Africa has experienced a rise in tourist arrivals from 8.4 million to 10.6 million and receipts growth from $2.3 billion to $3.7 billion, respectively. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2006), the tourism industry in Sub-Saharan Africa enjoyed a robust annual market share growth rate of 10 percent in 2006. In spite of this, there are only few empirical studies that investigate the contributions of tourism to economic growth and development for African economies. Using a panel data of 42 African countries for the years that span from 1995 to 2004, this study explores the potential contribution of tourism to economic growth and development within the conventional neoclassical framework. The results show that receipts from the tourism industry significantly contribute both to the current level of gross domestic product and the economic growth of Sub-Saharan African countries as do investments in physical and human capital. Our findings imply that African economies could enhance their short-run economic growth by strategically strengthening their tourism industries.

For more than half a century, there have been heated debates on the sources of economic growth in developing economies. The perceived factors of economic growth have ranged from surplus labor to capital investment and technological change, foreign aid, foreign direct investment, investment in human capital, increasing returns from investment in new ideas and research and development. The positive or negative impacts of the above listed traditional sources of economic growth have been well documented in literature. Other researchers have also considered the importance of institutional factors such as the role of political freedom, political instability, voice and accountability on economic growth and development. Despite the increasing importance of remittances in total international capital flows, however, the direct or indirect relationship between remittances and economic growth has not been adequately studied. This study explores the aggregate impact of remittances on economic growth within the conventional neoclassical growth framework using an unbalanced panel data spanning from 1980 to 2004 for 37 African countries. We find that remittances boost growth in countries where the financial systems are less developed by providing an alternative way to finance investment and helping overcome liquidity constraints.

Sub-Sahara African countries have had a checkered past when it comes to good governance and institutions. Increasingly, economists and policy makers are recognizing the importance of governance and institutions for economic growth and development. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has four main goals: eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable growth and development, integrating Africa into the world’s economy, and accelerating the empowerment of women. Using fixed and random effects, and Arellano-Bond models, this paper investigates the role of governance in explaining the sub-optimal economic growth performance of African economies. Our results suggest that good governance or lack thereof, contributes to the differences in growth of African countries. Furthermore, our results indicate that the role of governance on economic growth depends on the level of income. In a nutshell, our results demonstrate that without the establishment and maintenance of good governance, achieving the goals of NEPAD will be hampered in Africa.

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