FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
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Item External debt accumulation and economic growth: evidence from West African countries(Faculty of The Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2015-03) Lawanson, A. O.This paper investigates how indebtedness has affected the growth of 14 West African countries directly, and via investment and fiscal balance mechanisms, using data from 1970 to 2012. This task was approached through a standard growth framework through which debt indicators were incorporated. Two econometric specifications (linear and non-linear.) were used, and evaluated with the fixed effects and GMM estimation techniques on the relationship between debt and growth. The hypothesis that external debt affects growth is well-supported by the results. All debt variables have the expected signs and were statistically significant. The results reveal that debt appears to have a non-linear effect on growth. The debt overhang hypothesis is affirmed, given the existence of a threshold beyond which debt negatively contributed to growth. The average impact of debt on per capita growth becomes negative for debt levels above 60% to 74% of GDP. Thus, increasing debt beyond this threshold yields a negative marginal contribution to growth. There is a pressing need to take measures to not only stabilize external debts, but to place them on a downward trajectory in the future.Item Economic growth experience of West African region: does human capital matter?(Center for Promoting Ideas (CPI), USA, 2015-12) Lawanson, A. O.This paper empirically investigates the relevance of educational and health components of human capital to economic growth, using a panel data from sixteen West African countries over the period 1980 to 2013. GDP per capita is linked to health and education capital while accounting for population growth, physical capital, trade openness, and other growth control variables. To correct for endogeneity and other estimation problems this paper employs Diff-GMM dynamic panel technique. Empirical findings indicate that coefficients of both education and health have positive statistically significant effects on GDP per capita. The paper affirms the strong relevance of human capital to economic growth of West Africa. It is recommended that increased resources and policy initiatives to motivate and enhance access to both health and education by the population should be pursued by policy makers.