The Impact of Entrepreneurial Determinants on Ease of Doing Business in English-Speaking West African Countries (ESWACS)

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of entrepreneurial determinants on ease of doing business in the five English. Speaking West African Countries (ESWACs) of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia. It used secondary data sourced from the OECD and the World Bank. The independent variables were the Entrepreneurial Determinants (ED) of regulatory framework peroxide by Small and Medium Enterprise Sale Tax (SSTR); access to finance proxied by both Interest Rate Spread (INTR) and Domestic Credit to Private Sector (DCPS). The dependent variable was the Ease of Doing Business Ranking (EDBR). Five research objective and five hypotheses based on the Keynesian, Monetary and Schumpeter theoretical inferences guided the study. The study used ex-post factor research design and descriptive statistical, correlation matrix, Panel-ARDL, Granger causality, and impulse response methods for the analyses. The results revealed that SSTR is positively and weakly correlated with EDBR, but has negative and weak correlation with INTR and DCPS. Long run relationship was found not to exist between SSTR, INTR and DCPS, and EDBR, but the dynamic short run ARDL regression reveals high levels of coefficient of determination. On country-specific analysis, the cross-sectional result showed SSTR, INTR and DCPS positively impacted on ease of doing business in Nigeria and Sierra Leone but had a negative impact in Ghana, Liberia and The Gambia. It was further revealed that zero Granger causality existed among SSTR, INTR, DCPS and EDBR; and mixed impulse responses were revealed from the impulse response result. It was also recommended that governments of ESWACs should ensure the continuous use of mixed expansionary policies to ensure that Entrepreneurial determinants positively impact the ease of doing business in the area.