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Entrepreneurship in Africa faces a multitude of challenges, with financial issues being prominently discussed in scholarly literature. Thus, this study explores how financial development plays a crucial role in encouraging entrepreneurship in Africa, analysing both short- and long-term impacts alongside the direction of causality within the continent. The study utilises panel data regression techniques to analyse data from 28 African countries, spanning from 2006 to 2020. The analysis reveals that financial development, alongside the growth of financial institutions and markets, consistently boosts entrepreneurship development in both time frames. Even though this is more pronounced in the long run, this suggests that the influence of financial development and its components is uniformly positive, with no significant differential impacts observed in either the short or long run. Causality results establish unidirectional causality between entrepreneurship, financial development, and its components, flowing from financial development and its components to entrepreneurship development. Given these insights, the study underscores the necessity for policymakers to focus on sustainable financial development strategies that enhance stability and inclusivity within financial markets.

Africa is an emerging, frontier economy that is gradually becoming a gold miner of the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0) to achieve speedy economic growth and development. Through the transmission channel of technological drive that relies on the penetration of modern communication means (information and communication technology [I.C.T.]). It is on this basis that this study examines the performance of I.C.T., economic growth and development in Africa. In capturing I.C.T. performance; penetration of I.C.T. indicators - mobile telephone, fixed-line telephone and Internet access subscriptions are used as measurements and reduced to a single index through principal components analysis (P.C.A.). Economic growth and development is measured with the real gross domestic product and the human development index (H.D.I.), respectively. The data for this study were sourced from the international telecommunication union (I.T.U.) and world development indicators from the World Bank databases. The results show that mobile telecommunication is growing faster than other telecommunication indicators and I.C.T. penetration has positive impacts on economic growth and development in Africa. The study, therefore, recommends that simultaneous investments are required in the fixed-line and Internet access telecommunications in Africa in order to fully tap into the optimal impetus of I.C.T. penetration for economic growth and development in Africa.

The advancement of the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) has given rise to smart living, where digitalisation is prioritised as one of the socioeconomic progress factors. Among socioeconomic progress, state efficiency in the handling of governance and the justice system is key to institutional quality. The breakout of the pandemic has caused significant disruptions in daily endeavours across the globe, and that necessitated more use of the internet due to lockdown. It also allowed for the opportunity for the use of digital technologies to increase and facilitate economic activity as well as improve institutional quality and service delivery in the interest of addressing socio-economic dynamics across the globe. Thus, this study examines the nexus between digitalisation and the quality of economic and governance institutions in order to establish causal relationships. The study deploys panel data analysis from 2000 to 2022 for forty-eight African countries. The study employed principal component analysis (PCA) to construct the indices that measure digitalisation and institutional quality. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin (DH) causality test was deployed to examine the causal relations between digitalisation and institutional quality. The results from the stylised facts confirmed the presence of a digital divide in Africa. In addition, the DH causality test revealed mutual feedback between digitalisation and institutional quality. The study recommends that African countries should prioritise efficient governance and administration that will foster the development of the telecommunications sector in order to ensure increased digital penetration in the African region.

Technology and innovations have fueled the evolution of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). Industry 4.0 spurs growth and development through its efficiency capacity, as documented in the literature. The growth of the construction industry is a subset of the universal set of the value of gross domestic product, and thus, industry 4.0 has a spillover effect on the engineering and construction industry. The aim of this paper is to map the state of Industry 4.0 in the construction industry from the point of view of manarial activities, such as investment management, project preparation, and an overall approach to the management of related activities. This study employed scoping review techniques to dissect the status quo for Industry 4.0 and the construction industry. The empirical results from the systematic and scoping review methods for the ten sampled publications revealed that information and communication technology (ICT)-Industry 4.0-has a significant positive impact on the growth of the construction industry. Therefore, construction practitioners should partner more with researchers in the ICT industry to enhance the automation of work processes and managerial activities in the engineering and construction industry.

South Africa is one of the most food-secured countries at the national level but is food insecure at the household level. The disconnect in the food security at the national and at household level in the economy is a result of high food prices that most households cannot afford. One of the strategies of ameliorating food insecurity at the household level is the practice of backyard food gardens. This study identifies farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance to households, location of residence of the household, agricultural training offered to households, and monetary grants for households for agriculture purpose as the determinants of households’ backyard food gardens in South Africa. The study used descriptive (horizontal bar chart) and inferential (Pearson’s chi-square) analyses to evaluate the household-level impacts of farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance, location of residence, agricultural training, and monetary grants for agriculture purposes of the backyard food gardens in South Africa. The data for the study were sourced from the Statistics South Africa’s General Household Survey for 2019. The findings revealed that farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance to households, location of residence of the household, agricultural training offered to households, and monetary grants for households for agriculture purposes are significant to households’ backyard food gardens in South Africa. It is clear that agriculture-related assistance is welcomed by the households but the spread across all dwelling locations is limited; therefore, there is need to spread agriculture-related assistance to all dwelling areas in South Africa. This will increase the drive towards food production in South Africa.

This study investigates how tax policy changes affect economic growth in South Africa, focusing on personal income tax (PIT), corporate income tax (CIT), and value-added tax (VAT), alongside the roles of savings and consumption. Using secondary time-series data from 2000 to 2022 and applying a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, the study finds that both PIT and CIT negatively influences GDP growth. CIT has the most significant impact—a 1% increase results in a 37.3% drop in GDP—while PIT also contributes to economic decline, though to a lesser extent. In contrast, savings and consumption positively affect growth, with consumption notably boosting GDP. VAT, while included as a key tax, has only a marginal effect on economic performance. The findings suggest that in a developing country like South Africa, the burden and impact of taxation differ from those in more advanced economies. Importantly, the study challenges the common assumption that all forms of taxation support growth equally. It recommends that policymakers consider lowering PIT and CIT to encourage investment and consumption, while also introducing incentives to promote savings. VAT should be regulated to avoid dampening consumer spending. The study concludes by calling for broader research, incorporating other macroeconomic indicators such as employment and investment, to deepen understanding of the full impact of tax policy on economic growth.

The complex relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI), political stability, and economic growth remains a critical area of study, particularly for developing economies like South Africa. This research investigates how FDI impacts economic growth in South Africa, with a special focus on the role political stability plays in moderating this effect. The study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the importance of political conditions for maximising the benefits of FDI. Using a dataset covering the period from 1994 to 2023, the study employs an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, which allows for both short- and long-run dynamics to be captured between economic growth, FDI, political stability, labour force, and human capital growth. The ARDL approach was selected due to its flexibility in dealing with variables that are integrated at different levels, ensuring robust and reliable estimates. The results indicate that while human capital stock has a positive impact on long-term economic growth, both labour force expansion and human capital growth exhibit negative effects in the short and long run, suggesting inefficiencies in labour productivity and rapid educational growth. Contrary to earlier research that suggested stable political contexts inevitably promote the favourable effects of FDI, the interplay between FDI and political stability unexpectedly demonstrates a negative influence on growth. This study adds new insights by highlighting that the sectoral allocation of FDI and the quality of governance may be more important than political stability alone in driving growth. These findings fill a gap in the literature by addressing the specific case of South Africa and underscore the need for targeted FDI policies and labour market reforms to ensure that both FDI and labour contribute more effectively to economic development. The practical implications suggest that policymakers should focus on improving labour productivity and strategically managing FDI to promote sustainable growth.

How are poverty and debt related in the short run and long run in the context of a developing economy, such as Malawi? The novelty of the study is that it uses a unique data set spanning from 1983 to 2021 to examine the relationship between poverty and public debt in Malawi. The auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was employed in the study. Primary research findings revealed a positive relationship between public debt and poverty, both in the short run and the long run. An increase in public debt of 1% led to an increase in poverty levels by 37% in the short run and by 33% in the long run. These results imply that Malawi should address high public debt levels so as to improve the chances of attaining Sustainable Development Goal 1 of poverty reduction. In terms of policy recommendations, it was suggested that Malawi needs to develop an effective debt service plan and prioritize social security programs so that poverty levels are ultimately reduced.

As countries strive to meet Sustainable Development Goals 3, 11, and 13 of the United Nations, there is a growing need to employ ICT development to increase resilience and adaptation to climate-related hazards. Setting itself from the previous studies, this study builds a composite index for ICT development, incorporating three ICT indicators to investigate the contributions of ICT development to e-waste generation. The study uses data from 2013 to 2022 and the endogeneity-robust panel dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimation method. The results show that e-waste generation is strongly influenced by ICT development both globally and across income levels. Specifically, mobile lines decrease global e-waste, whereas fixed landlines and internet connections increase it. Internet connectivity increases the amount of e-waste generated in high-income countries, while mobile lines reduce it. Only mobile phones significantly reduce e-waste in high-income countries. In addition, internet connectivity has no impact on e-waste generation in lower-middle-income countries, but mobile and fixed landlines increase it. Furthermore, mobile and fixed landlines have little discernible effect on the development of e-waste in low-income nations, while internet connectivity is the primary cause. The study also confirms the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis at global, high- and upper-middle-income countries, but not for low- and lower-middle-income countries. This suggests that there is still a clear correlation between rising e-waste and economic growth in these countries. Overall, the study highlights the need for efficient recycling and disposal methods to reduce e-waste from the trade-off between ICT development and environmental degradation.

The apartheid legacy molded urbanization changes in South Africa. Post-1994 people were free to migrate to areas with greater economic activities (increased socio-economic opportunities) subsequently, the genesis of migration. Majority of the people aimed for Gauteng Province which is considered the economic hub of the country and a magnet of opportunities. This study looked at the history of Gauteng- primarily the economic position in conjunction with economic theories.  This quantitative research investigated the relationship between economic growth and urbanization in the Gauteng Province. Granger causality tests were used to ascertain the relationship used in the research and the study focused on the period 1997 to 2020, using quarterly data. From the study, it was established that there is a unidirectional causality running from economic growth and employment in Gauteng- meaning that an increase in economic growth enables more jobs to be created, leading to migration of people to the province. The paper also found no causal relationship between population and economic growth- meaning that population increase does not have any effect on economic growth. People seek to progress out of poverty, primarily to an urban lifestyle to leverage socio-economic benefits- grow skills and knowledge by accessing public services such as education, and infrastructure mainly available in urbanized areas. The paper recommends for the government redefine urbanization policy to manage rapid migration. Failure to do so will lead to infrastructure ( housing, water, and electricity) and employment challenges within the province.