In this study, we investigate the effect of official development assistance and income per capita on health outcomes in developing countries. Health outcome is proxied by life expectancy and under-5-mortality rate. We accounted for the endogeneity problem in the model by employing a dynamic two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. We find that official development assistance does not improve health outcome in developing countries, while income per capital significantly improves health outcome in developing countries. The study reports that CO2 emission is not a significant determinant of health outcome in developing countries but the prevalence of HIV and Immunization significantly determines health outcomes in developing countries. More specifically the prevalence of HIV increases the under-5-mortality rate and decreases life expectancy; immunization increases life expectancy but decreases under-5-mortality rate. It was equally revealed in the study that health outcome in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) does not significantly differ from health outcomes in other developing countries. We equally reported that the effect of income per capita on health outcome in Sub-Saharan Africa countries is not significantly different from that of non-SSA countries. The effect of official development assistant on health outcome in SSA was ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ugwegbe Sebastine Ugochukwu is a Lecturer in Caritas University Enugu, Nigeria. His research interest is International Finance and Economic Development. The focus of this paper is to provide insight on the determinants of health outcome in developing countries.

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This study sought to ascertain the link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rating and the profitability of companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), following the release of the first ever country rating of Corporate Citizenship Index (3C-Index) in 2013. The study further sought to ascertain whether significant differences exist between the performances of companies that received high CSR ratings as compared to those that received low ratings. Secondary data were extracted from the 2013 to 2017 annual reports and accounts of companies that got different CSR ratings classified as high and low. The multiple regression and Mann-Whitney rank test (U-test) were used to test the propositions. The findings from the regression showed a positive but insignificant relationship between CSR rating and firm performance but a significantly positive relationship with the size of firms. The results of the U-tests were mixed, whereas the Return on Assets (ROA) of companies with high CSR ratings did not differ significantly from companies with low CSR ratings, the Return on Equity (ROE) of companies with high CSR ratings was significantly greater than that of companies with low CSR ratings. This finding suggests that CSR may be in its infancy among the study sample but is beginning to take roots as evident by the positive βs statistics and a significant difference in the ROE of the companies as captured by the non-parametric statistics. It is recommended that the period of the study be extended in the intermediate and long-run to determine if the relationship might become significant.

This study investigated the effect of the Central Bank Cashless Policy on the Payment System in Nigeria. Cognizance of the fact that an improved exchange mechanism and payment system is central to the survival and growth of Nigerian economy which had suffered severe recession between 2015 and 2019, it applied survey research design to poll 204 bank workers from four banks in Nigeria to ascertain their perception on the extent to which the cashless policy has addressed the problem of exchange and payment system in Nigeria. The independent variable was cashless policy while the dependent variables were cash based transactions; modernization of payment system; and volume of cash outside the formal economy. Using Correlation Coefficient with SPSS 10 the test of hypotheses showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the cashless policy and the development and modernisation of the payment system (i.e. p < 0.05 at 0.05 significance level) while it has significantly trimmed down the volume of cash in the informal sector in Nigeria by nearly 32% among others. It was concluded that the cashless policy has significantly and positively improved exchange and payment system in Nigeria. as well as reduced drastically the volume of cash in the informal sector of the economy including reducing significantly the number of cash based transactions in the economy. It was recommended inter alia, that the monetary authorities should embark on a second phase of the policy to bring more transactions under the cashless policy.

As soon as they are admitted to a university, most students become responsible for their own finances, but because of a lack of parental supervision, they are more inclined to spend than to manage their money. A study of first-year undergraduate accounting students was conducted to examine the effects of rational emotive behavior therapy-based coaching (REBT-based coaching) intervention on their financial literacy and money attitudes. Thirty first-year undergraduates studying accounting at Nigerian public universities participated in this two-group randomized trial. About 15 first-year undergraduate accounting students participated in the online REBT-based coaching group, while 15 first-year undergraduate accounting students participated in the face-to-face control group. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed on the study data at .05 probability level. The study found that the online REBT-based coaching intervention significantly improved the financial literacy and money attitudes of first-year undergraduate accounting students in a similar way to face-to-face REBT-based coaching intervention. The follow-up results for the online REBT-based coaching intervention 1 month later showed a similar trend of increasing students’ financial literacy and money attitude scores similar to what was observed in the face-to-face coaching group. There was no significant difference between students in the online and face-to-face modes regarding satisfaction with REBT-based coaching interventions they received. As a result of the findings, the researchers propose developing coaching approaches that can help students gain insight into their financial actions and knowledge, which will likely improve financial literacy and money attitudes in the future.