On the Perpetuation of the Situation of Economic and Social Underdevelopment in Africa

Abstract

Why do the majority of African countries fail to take the steps that would lead them towards greater development? The aim of this work is to determine the factors affecting development, not only the economic ones, which play a central role in economic literature, but also social. To do so, we have used a wide sample of countries and have estimated a panel data for 171 countries of those that have been members of the United Nations (UN) for a period of 16 years (from 1995 to 2010 inclusive). Our results lead us to conclude that monetary instability and the colonial past of these countries have had a negative impact on their level of human development. However, improvements in the efficiency of governmental policy and instruments, investment in greater democracy, greater stability and less corruption, have, in all cases, a positive effect on human development in these countries.

The Impact of Corruption on Human Development in Egypt

“…This negative sign, implies that lower levels of corruption are associated with higher levels of human development. These results agree with the United Nations Human Settlements Program, which says that, in general, higher levels of human development are related with lower levels of corruption (Mendonça & Fonseca, 2012) and the results of this study also support the findings of Amate-Fortes et al (2015) and Amate-Fortes, Guarnido-Rueda, and Molina-Morales (2017) showing that corruption negatively affects human development.…”

“…This study attempts to assess the impact of corruption on human development in Egypt expressed by the Human Development Index (HDI) with its three dimensions (income, knowledge, and health) (Akçay, 2006). This study tries to contribute to the literature on investigating the determining factors of human development by adding corruption as one of the institutional variables influencing human development besides economic factors (Amate-Fortes, Guarnido-Rueda, & Molina-Morales, 2015). In addition, the results of this study will be useful in assessing the extent to which higher corruption weakens human development in Egypt, and will increase the awareness of policy makers and individuals of the negative effects of corruption on human development, hence encouraging individuals to participate in combating corruption (Iskandar & Saragih, 2018).…”

“…Opposing this view, there is a large amount of literature in favor of the hypothesis that corruption sands the wheels of growth, which means that corruption has a negative impact on economic growth and development (Palash, 2018) and that high corruption increases poverty and income inequality (Akçay, 2006). Various studies, especially on developing countries, as most are assumed to suffer from high corruption and political instability, argue that corruption decreases economic growth through reducing private investment (Campos et al, 2010), influencing government spending by cutting the amount dedicated to education (Mauro, 1997), reducing the effectiveness of expenditure on public investments, limiting the progress of small-and medium-sized enterprises and delaying innovation (Amate-Fortes et al, 2015). Aidt (2010) reassured these results, using panel data of 110 countries, most of them developing, from 1996 to 2007, and showed that corruption decreases sustainable development (Aidt, 2010).…”

“…Since corruption has adverse consequences on economic growth and human development, governments should pursue policies to fight corruption. This will positively affect people's standard of living as it will lead to quality education, efficient health facilities and good resource management (Amate-Fortes et al, 2015;Amate-Fortes et al, 2017;Iskandar & Saragih, 2018).…”

The Kuznets Curve Hypothesis Checked Out on Up-To-Date Observations in African Countries

“…All these countries also share a common factor historically, among others, which is that they were areas under the control of France and Great Britain, with the British area in particular showing higher levels of income and economic inequality, and the former French regions showing both lower levels of income and inequality. This indicates that, as Amate-Fortes et al (2015) point out, European colonisation of the African continent has determined the development and economic evolution of Africa, and we can see the legacy of those years in the present.…”