More than ever, ecological conditions are fast deteriorating due to rising greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are significantly propelled into the atmosphere by growth in specific human activities that also advance industrialisation. It is opined that these activities will further rise significantly in developing countries since industrialisation can lead to rapid economic modernisation. Consequently, this study examined Africa's long-term ecological response to these rising cogent industrialisation drivers, including manufacturing activities, resource wealth, urbanisation, income growth, globalisation, and human capital development. A panel analyses of 32 African countries was conducted between 1991 and 2019. Empirical inferences were derived through a battery of advance estimation techniques. They include second-generation panel unit root and cointegration tests, generalised estimating equation, generalised least squares mixed effect model, dynamic common correlated effect, Driscoll-Kraay, and the panel corrected standard error methods. These robust econometric techniques prevented methodological challenges in prior studies, such as heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and heteroscedasticity. The study observed that an increase in manufacturing value-added, natural resources wealth, income growth, globalisation, and human capital diminishes ecological quality in Africa. However, urbanisation was found to be environmentally-enhancing. The study proposed relevant policy measures to mitigate environmental pollution from industrialisation drivers. JEL Classification:N57, O13, O14.

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This study assessed the impact of external debt on longevity in developing countries, particularly in West Africa, from 1981 to 2020. Longevity was proxied by life expectancy at birth, while the study evaluated effects from external debt from the perspective of sustainability, liquidity, and solvency. Furthermore, outcomes from macroeconomic volatility were controlled through inflation and exchange rate variability. Methodologically, the robustness of inferences was ensured by using estimated outcomes from the cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE), and the Driscoll–Kraay (D–K) methods. Empirically, the study showed that unsustainable, illiquid, and insolvent external debt and macroeconomic volatility shorten longevity mainly in the long-term in West African countries. Hence, longevity will decline when weak external debt management promotes poverty in developing countries.

The motivation of this study has been to identify the effects of the multidimensional perspectives of macroeconomic volatility on the growth of external debt in Nigeria from 1970 to 2018. Methodologically, the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the Toda-Yamamoto causality approach were adopted. For the purpose of understanding the multidimensional perspective of macroeconomic volatility, macroeconomic volatility was disaggregated into three different perspectives which are: volatility from macroeconomic outcomes, domestic sources, and external sources. Findings from the study suggest that while volatility from macroeconomic outcomes exclusively affects external debt in the long-term, effects from the three sources were very substantial in the short-term. Furthermore, the causality result indicates bidirectional nexus between volatility from macroeconomic outcomes and external debt. Also, the irregular variations in the Nigerian political space, unanticipated disease outbreaks, and the effects of the 1986 recession in the country all significantly worsened the country's external debt situation. Thus, the study recommended amongst others that since developing countries such as Nigeria cannot do away with the demand for external debt to finance its economic growth, it is also important to count the cost such financing provides even if faster growth is actually realise.

Environmental degradation continues to attract interest from academics, policymakers, and other stakeholders. However, empirical studies have been limited, particularly in the choice of human well-being indicators.Therefore, this study extends the literature by broadening the nexus between human well-being and environmental degradation in 29 African countries from 1970 to 2019. Preliminary tests adaptable to effects of cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity in panel dataset were adopted, alongside the cross-sectional auto-regressive distributed lag model and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality approach. Findings from the study showed that the adopted human well-being indicators such as globalisation, life expectancy and human capital development were environmentally enhancing both in the short and long term. In contrast, growth in income was found to be environmentally degrading in the short and long term. At the same time, urbanisation was only environmentally detrimental in the long term with no significant short-term effect. Natural resource rent which served as a control variable, was environmentally degrading both in the short and long term. Also, a bidirectional association between human well-being and environmental degradation was confirmed. Consequently, this study implies a win-win symbiotic nexus between the environment and human well-being in African countries.