Fiscal Policy And Poverty In The Southern African Customs Union: The Case Of Frontier Technology Readiness Index and Skills

Abstract

The study examines the relationship between fiscal policy, the level of poverty, and the frontier technology readiness index (skill) in the Southern African Customs Union over the period of 2012 to 2022. The technique of pooled ordinary least squares was used to ascertain the empirical findings, while the LLC and IPS established the stationarity of the variables. The empirical findings show that government expenditure on education, indirect taxes, and the skills index directly affect household consumption expenditure significantly and, by implication, reduce poverty. However, the interaction of government expenditure on education and skills significantly reduces household final consumption expenditure. The essence of the study is that the respective government in the Southern African Customs Union should harness efforts towards integrating relevant skills into the educational system in light of the 21st-century technology revolution. It is admitted that previous studies have largely concentrated on issues such as income inequality, financial inclusion, government expenditure program in addressing the problem of poverty in developing economies, this study, while observing the crucial role of fiscal policy, evaluates the effect of a frontier technology readiness index, skills, in abating the severity of poverty in the region.