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The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesized pollution as a monotonic function of income which implies that as an economy develops, pollution level starts to increase but reaching a certain threshold the relation reverses. This study investigates the relationship between GDP per capita income and environmental degradation in Western Africa region using panel data analysis for the period 1990-2012. Our specific objective was to estimate EKC for four indicators of environmental quality such as CO 2 emissions, Suspended particulate matter (PM10), lack of access to sanitation facilities and lack of access to safe drinking water; and establish whether these pollutants exhibit an inverted u-shape function. Likewise, we subject our estimated relationship to sensitivity checks to ensure robustness to changes in assumption Environmental Management and Sustainable Development ISSN 2164-7682 2015 www.macrothink.org/emsd 70 and estimation techniques, an aspect inherently lacking in most EKC literature. The study could not find an unambiguous evidence of an inverted u-shaped relationship for CO 2 emissions while the other point source pollutants confirmed the EKC theory. We subjected our estimation to further robustness checks by ascertaining the statistical properties of the variables used and examined the long run sustainability; results were found to be consistent and suitable for policy inferences.

The study investigates the role of health interventions on child health in developing Africa for the period 1990-2013 using a dynamic panel approach. Among others, the study examines the effect of millennium development intervention programme on child health outcomes. Our analysis reveals MDG intervention as extremely pertinent in reducing the incidence of child mortality in Africa. It implies that introduction of MDGs culminates into increasing the rate of child survival in Africa. Similarly, maternal literacy, maternal health and other child protective measures adopted were found to be statistically significant in improving child health outcomes. The proportion of under-five mortality (proxy for child health) responds more strongly and negatively to immunization coverage, exclusive breastfeeding and DPT vaccines. On the other hand, the quality of institution contributively impact under-five mortality in Africa. Finally, there is need to strengthen institutional arrangement, ensure compulsory basic education for women and strengthen the health system to achieve full packages of intervention, curtain the rising incidence of child deaths and attain the MDGs.

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Evaluating the approach and conduct of macroeconomic policy is crucial towards the provision of effective economic policies that addresses business cycles. However, to properly evaluate the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies, there is the need to pay attention to the structure of the economy. In Nigeria, there is a particular case for the introduction of informality in macroeconomic models. Hence, this study presents a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) Model featuring an informal sector in order to understand how the presence of informality affects the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies in Nigeria. The Bayesian estimation of the DSGE model provides evidence that the informal economy tends to play a buffer role or an absorbing role in reducing the effectiveness of a monetary policy shock in contracting output in comparison to an economy without informality. Therefore, this study recommends that with the aim of limiting the role of the informal economy towards absorbing some of the effects of shocks to the domestic economy, the government needs to implement market-friendly policies that would help merge the informal economy with the formal economy.

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This paper examines the effects of ICT access on the profitability levels of informal micro and small business enterprises in Nigerian. For formal sector organisations, studies have been conducted to verify this, but not much is known with respect to micro and small informal sector businesses. This study therefore intends to bridge this gap by carrying out an analysis of the effect of the access to mobile phone (a major component of ICTs that is fast finding common usage among informal sector enterprise-owners) on profitability level of informal micro and small businesses in Nigeria. The study relies on primary data on the informal sector enterprises collected by the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER) in 2014. Basic descriptive statistics in addition to the Logit Regression model is used in the analyses of the data. Policy measures that will enhance further diffusion of ICT infrastructure among micro and small business to enhance their profitability are recommended at the end of the paper. keywords: information & communication technology access, informal micro and small enterprises, profitability, nigeria.

In this paper, we investigate the transmission mechanism of monetary and fiscal policy shocks on inflation and output in the presence of an informal economy in Nigeria. To achieve this, a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model is modified to include informality in the labour and product market. The model is estimated using the Bayesian technique and the findings shows that in the case of a monetary policy shock, formal output tends to decline, while there is an expansion in informal output, at least in the short-run. The results also reveal that a fiscal policy shock brings about an initial decline in informal output. Hence, it is imperative for policymakers to strive to formalise the informal sector in order to ensure the effectiveness of monetary policy.