Capital flows and economic growth revisited: evidence from five Sub-Saharan African countries

The study examines the differential effects of capital flows on economic growth in five Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1970–2014. Using the autoregressive distributed lag methodology, the findings show that in the long-run capital flows (i.e. foreign direct investment (FDI), aid, external debt, and remittances) have different effects on economic growth. FDI has a significant positive effect in Burkina Faso and negative effects in Gabon and Niger whereas the impact of debt is negative in all countries. Aid, however, promotes growth in Niger and Gabon whiles it deters growth in Ghana. Remittances, on the other hand, have a significant positive effect in Senegal. Finally, gross capital formation is significant in most of the countries and the impact of trade is mixed. These results suggest that the benefits of capital flows in SSA have been overemphasized.     

The long-run impact of human capital on innovation and economic development in the regions of Europe

ABSTRACT

Human capital is supposed to be an important factor for innovation and economic development. However, the long-run impact of human capital on current innovation and economic development is still a black box, in particular at the regional level. Therefore, this paper makes the link between the past and the present. Using a large new dataset on regional human capital and other factors in the 19^th and 20^th century, we find that past regional human capital is a key factor explaining current regional disparities in innovation and economic development.     

Africa's export structure in a comparative perspective

Cross-country econometric analysis informed by Heckscher–Ohlintrade theory suggests that the concentration of Africa's exportson unprocessed primary products is caused largely by the region'scombination of low levels of education and abundant naturalresources. In some African countries, the share of manufacturesin exports could be raised by improving infrastructure and policies.For most of Africa, however, the highest priority is to raisethe absolute level of exports in all sectors, and particularlyin sectors based on natural resources, following a developmentpath more like that of land-abundant America than of land-scarceAsia.     

Money, endogenous fertility and economic growth

This paper analyzes the issue of money superneutrality through an intertemporal optimizing model of capital accumulation with endogenous fertility, i.e. endogenous population growth. Two elements of this setup invalidate money superneutrality: (i) a demand for fertility that depends on real money balances, and (ii) an inverse relation between capital–labor ratio and population growth. Higher monetary growth increases fertility, since it reduces its opportunity cost, and hence diminishes capital intensity, and per capita output. This reverse Tobin effect is matched by an increase in aggregate capital and output growth rates. In this framework, the optimal monetary growth rule is a “distorted Friedman rule”.     

Institutional obstacles to African economic development: State, ethnicity, and custom

To account for the African growth tragedy and, in particular, for its causes rooted in governance problems, the institutional legacy that African countries inherited from pre-colonial and colonial times must be considered. Three aspects are examined here. First, the relationship between ethnicity and state performance is bi-directional: if strong ethno-regional identities prevent the emergence of modern citizenship, they themselves constitute an endogenous outcome of continuous state failures. Second, the persistence of informal rules and social norms causes legal dualism, which undermines the credibility of modern statutory law. Third, social customs and norms that hinder socio-economic differentiation and individual capital accumulation lower the performance of indigenous enterprises.     

Capacity utilisation and corporate restructuring: a comparative study of the US, UK and other EU countries

This paper compares and contrasts capacity utilisation in themanufacturing sectors of the US, UK and other EU countries overthree decades. It argues that corporate governance and the pressuresof globalisation have led to a tighter capacity stance in theUK but not generally in the US or Europe. The paper furtherexplores the nature of the UK experience, in particular, therival theories that efficiency in capital use has increasedversus the view that firms have simply tightened their capacitystance in line with higher hurdle rates of return. The evidenceof the paper supports the view that UK firms adopted a ‘submissive’response to the pressures of globalisation by shutting capacityand retreating from new investment.     

对产业结构调整下中部经济发展的研究

中部经济的发展关系着我国总体实力经济的提高，关系着我国国际竞争力提升。面对当前中部。塌陷”的情况，研究中部经济发展不能不考虑全球的产业结构调整的局势。当前，全球范围内正在进行新一轮的产业结构调整，发展中部经济时应充分考虑产业调整全球化的背景和中部砘区的实际情况，在产业结构调整下来发展中部的经济。基于此，本文首先分析了中部地区的产业结构现状，接着提出了发展中部经济的对策。     

On economic growth and development

The paper offers a subjectivist approach to economic growth and an institutional view of development. In particular, the term development regards the prevailing rules of the game and their effects on the key variables for economic activity to take off: property rights and productive entrepreneurship. And growth is deemed to be the result of favourable institutional environments where chances are exploited and individuals succeed in improving their living conditions. Methodological and normative investigation questions the validity of the recent and increasing literature on institutional design, where institutional economics actually plays only a modest role. JEL Codes B53, O10     

基于创新型企业的风险投资发展对策探析

二十世纪90年代以来,以高新技术产业为主导的知识经济浪潮席卷全球,推动了风险投资的发展;技术创新作为企业创新的重要内容,是国内企业迎接全球经济一体化,提高核心竞争力的必然选择。笔者在回顾国内外风险投资理论研究成果的基础上,基于我国经济社会发展现状,就若干风险投资研究的前沿领域,从公司治理、价值评估、运作与退出机制、宏观环境等方面,讨论了风险投资的发展对策。     

The relation between capital formation and economic growth: evidence from sub-Saharan African countries

This paper examines the causal relationship between capital formation and economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries using recent panel cointegration and causality testing techniques. We find that causality is bi-directional, suggesting that higher economic growth leads to higher capital formation and that in turn, increases in capital formation results in higher economic growth. These results hold irrespective of whether capital formation is measured with private fixed capital formation or by gross capital formation.     

Remittances for economic development: The investment perspective

Based on the economic theory of the family, this paper constructs a model of remittances where the migrant, besides sending money to his family, also invests in his home country. The investment is looked after by a family member in return for some monetary compensation. The model focuses on two different cases: state-contingent transfers (transfers are tied to investment outcomes) and fixed transfers (transfers are mainly of altruistic motive). As the migrant derives utilities from consumption, his consumption-investment decision is driven by preferences and future investment prospects. The transfers are to increase with both business encouraging and income compensatory effects.     

Water accounting for the Orange River Basin: An economic perspective on managing a transboundary resource

The framework for water accounting is applied to an international river basin, the Orange River Basin, which is shared among Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa. Each of the riparian states faces water constraints and relies increasingly on shared international water resources. The countries have adopted the principle of an economic approach to water management, once basin human needs are met, and all but Lesotho have constructed national water accounts to assist in water management. The water accounts for the Orange River Basin bring an economic perspective to water management at the regional level. The accounts include supply and use tables, which are used to compare the contribution to water supply from each riparian state to the amount used. The water accounts are then linked to economic data for each country to calculate water use and productivity by industry and country. There are considerable disparities in water productivity among the countries, which should be taken into account in future decisions about water allocation, pricing and infrastructure development.     

The evolution of debt and equity markets in economic development

Summary. As noted by Gurley and Shaw, there is a typical pattern of economic development in which the evolution of the financial system is an essential aspect of the growth process. We focus on one component of this evolution: the increasing importance of equity markets as an economy grows. We develop a growth model where capital accumulation is financed externally through a combination of debt and equity. We illustrate why equity market activity might grow – often very rapidly – as an economy develops. We also illustrate why access to equity markets may not be needed in the early stages of economic development. Received: December 30, 1997; revised version: May 26, 1998     

The causal relationship between financial development and economic growth in Africa

ABSTRACT

Previous empirical studies on the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth are not instructive given their failure to unearth the causality trend across the different time periods. Using a more recently developed and robust indicator of financial development, we revisit the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth within the framework of a frequency-domain spectral causality technique which allows the causality to vary across time. Using data from 47 African countries over the period 1980–2016, our findings largely suggest that, even though there is some evidence of demand-following, supply-leading and feedback hypotheses, for most part, we find strong support of neutrality hypothesis. Thus, financial development and economic growth at most frequency levels evolve independently. We infer that caution must be exercised in making general conclusions about the causal nexus between financial development and economic growth.     

中国转型期经济波动的制度变迁解说

中国经济波动带有典型的转型期特点,经济体制转型的长期性和渐进性蕴含了经济的结构性特征,导致这一时期经济波动体现出鲜明的转型期特征:通货紧缩和经济过热交替出现;三次产业结构波幅不一、上游产业过热与下游产业萧条并存;价格传导时滞延长、传导程度减弱、总体价格水平上升有限.     

空间计量视角下创新网络结构资本对产业发展的影响测度

针对创新网络结构资本空间溢出如何影响产业发展的问题,基于地理邻近性和社会邻近性动态耦合视角,运用加权平均思想构建动态空间权重矩阵,并借助Moran′s I空间相关性检验、空间滞后（SLM）、空间误差（SEM）和空间杜宾（SDM）模型实验测度多元“地理-社会”邻近耦合下创新网络结构资本对产业发展的影响。以广西电子信息产业专利数据为例展开实证研究发现：①广西电子信息产业发展空间集聚效应明显,且地理邻近性作用大于社会邻近性;②广西电子信息创新网络结构资本空间溢出能够产生产业发展空间集聚效应;③广西电子信息创新网络结构资本通过直接和间接层次路径影响产业发展。研究结论可为产业创新空间（均衡）发展提供决策支持。     

Factor accumulation in Canada before the Great Depression: investment and immigration dynamics

The links between economic growth, investment and migration are explored to determine if one of the mobile factors of production, capital or labor, led the other to accumulate in Canada during several boom episodes over 1870 to 1927. The results of an econometric analysis, using time series techniques, suggest that rising per capita incomes led to increased domestic investment and net immigration, and that foreigners joined the investment booms after domestic residents invested in Canadian development first.

Inclusive institutions and economic growth: comparative perspective and policy implications for China

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the empirical relationship between the presence of inclusive institutions and the pattern of economic growth in a cross-country setting. We find evidence that the presence of inclusive institutions, indicated by political democracy, positively affects consumption share. In turn, the increase of the latter in the preceding year is associated with a significantly higher rate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth. The link from democracy to TFP growth via consumption is stronger for countries of higher levels of income. These findings suggest that institutional inclusiveness may have become increasingly important for economic growth when the level of income rises. We also provide preliminary evidence that consumption may have facilitated productivity growth via the channels of increasing innovations and reducing social conflicts. The findings shed lights on the structural transformations toward a more inclusive and sustainable model of growth in China today.

Abbreviations: FE: GMM: Generalized method of moments PWT: TFP: Total factor productivity     

Dynamics between energy,output, openness and financial development in sub-Saharan African countries

This study aims to establish the connection between energy use, economic output, financial development and trade, based on the panel data of 15 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during the period from 1983 to 2010. One full main panel and two subpanels were created by incorporating low-income and middle-income countries. The panel cointegration test results indicate a long-run relationship between the variables. The mean group (MG) estimators show that energy consumption, financial development, capital and international trade have significant impacts on economic output. In the case of middle-income countries, the Granger causality analysis reveals that rising economic output leads to higher energy consumption, but this is not true vice versa. This means that energy conservation measures are unlikely to have adverse impacts upon economic output. On the other hand, there is a complementary relationship between financial development and energy consumption. In this case, energy conservation measures should be critically analysed and implemented, so as not to have an unfavourable impact on financial development. In regard to low-income economies, there is no relationship between energy use and any of the other variables mentioned. Thus, a reduction in energy consumption has little or no significant impact on output, financial development, capital and trade.