This paper examined the relationship between health care expenditure and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1970-2009. We employed the multivariate cointegration technique proposed by Johansen and found the existence of at least one cointegrating vector describing a long run relationship among economic growth, foreign aids, health expenditure, total saving and population. This is further confirmed by the Hassen Parameter instability test. The cointegrating equation however shows some deviations in terms of the signs of the coefficients of foreign aids and health expenditure which partly may be attributed to some diversification of foreign aids to other uses or that the allocation to health services is grossly inadequate. It is therefore suggested that an appreciable proportion of the national budget be allocated to the health care services to have a more robust health care programmes capable of fostering economic growth in Nigeria.
The paper examines the relationship among exports, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1960-2009. The time series properties of the variables are examined using the Phillips-Peron technique due to its robustness to a wide variety of serial correlation and heteroscedasticity. The results of Johansen cointegration test indicate existence of at least six cointegrating vectors. The error correction coefficient shows that deviation from long run RGDP path is corrected by about 48% over the following year. As a way of correcting for multicollinearity, we re-estimate the models of the static regression using a Fully Modified Least Squares Method (FMOLS) and error correction coefficient. We find out that the removal of Degree of openness (DOP) variable may be detrimental even though the percentage deviation from equilibrium does not seem to change. The paper therefore concludes by shedding more light on the relevance of the degree of openness and this can facilitate more FDI inflows capable of accelerating the growth process. The paper thus recommends immediate focus on more reforms/policies that will create enabling environment for FDI inflows and export growth thereby reducing the growth and development barriers in Nigeria.
The study broadly focused on examining the trade and investment relationship between South Africa and the BRIC, using both descriptive and vector autoregressive estimation approaches. Specifically, the key objective is to investigate the impact of trade shocks between South Africa and the individual countries of the BRIC bloc. The findings illustrate that South Africa's trade was more intense with India in the review period followed by trade with China. The impulse-response outcome showed that South Africa's GDP reverts faster to equilibrium in the event of a shock in exports to and imports from Brazil. Also, when there is a shock to GDP, South Africa's imports from Brazil reverts faster to equilibrium. The results of the variance decomposition indicate that inflation accounted for the highest variation in South Africa's exports to and imports from both Brazil and China. Similarly, inflation explained the greatest variation in the GDP, while the greatest variation in the domestic inflation rate is explained by its own shock. In conclusion, South Africa showed considerable trade intensity with most BRIC Countries. In policy terms, this implies that South Africa can benefit substantially from policies targeted at broadening the scope of its international trade connections with the BRIC bloc with particular emphasis on Brazil and China. JEL Codes: C32; C51; F5; F33
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