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The economic impact of carbon emissions in Africa is gaining traction in the extant literature. This study adopted Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to concomitantly track data on carbon emissions versus economic growth in Africa from 2018 to 2022 providing evidence from a meta-analysis. Through database searches, 591 publications were identified. A machine learning algorithm called Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used as a visualization technique for reporting trends in the eleven papers selected for the analysis. Identifying, evaluating, and summarizing the findings of all relevant individual studies conducted in Africa on the impact of economic growth on carbon emissions contributes to the existing body of knowledge. This study fills a critical gap by surveying the studies conducted in Africa in the last five years, implying that economic growth negatively and significantly triggers CO2 emissions in Africa. The debate on the economic impact of CO2 emissions in Africa, the most vulnerable continent to climate change, is elucidated. The findings tracked sources of data for carbon emissions in Africa. The results showed that although some studies reported a positive correlation (and some a negative correlation) between economic growth and carbon emissions, most studies concur that the economic impact of carbon emissions over a timeline can be explained by the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Therefore, there is a dire need for African countries to strengthen economic growth without deteriorating their environment or having ecological footprint. Future research must assess whether this trend on the economic impact of carbon emissions in Africa continues. AcknowledgmentThe authors express their appreciation to the Durban University of Technology for providing the resources to conduct this study.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth for five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South (BRICS) during 1993 to 2014 using banking sector and stock market development indicators. Design/methodology/approach - To begin with, the study first examined some of the principal indicators of financial development and macroeconomic variables of the selected economies. Next, using generalized method of moment system estimation (SYS-GMM), the relationship between financial development and growth is investigated. The banking sector development indicators used in the study include size of the financial intermediaries, credit to deposit ratio (CDR) and domestic credit to private sector (CPS), whereas the stock market development indicators are value of shares traded and turnover ratio. Also, some macroeconomic control variables such as inflation, exports and the enrolment in secondary education were used. Findings - The examination of the principal indicators of financial development and macroeconomic variables have shown considerable differences between the selected economies. Results from the dynamic one-step SYS-GMMestimates confirm that in presence of turnover ratio, all the selected banking development indicators such as size of financial intermediaries, CDR and CPS are positively significantly determining economic growth. Similarly, in presence of all the selected banking sector development indicators, value of shares traded is found to be positively significantly associated with economic growth. However, the same is not true when turnover ratio is regressed in presence of banking sector variables. Overall, the evidence suggests that banking sector development and stock market development indicators are complementary to each other in stimulating economic growth. Practical implications - A positive association between financial development and growth indicates that the policymakers should take necessary measures toward simultaneous development of both banking sector as well as stock market for inducing growth. Originality/value - The present paper attempts to examine the relationship between financial development and growth using both banking sector and stock market development indicators which has not been attempted before for BRICS. Also, most of the existing studies are found in case of developed economies. This paper tries to fill this void by studying five major emerging economies.

New horizons are opening for Africa, with a growing number of Chinese andIndian businesses fostering its integration into advanced markets. However,significant imbalances will have to be addressed on both sides of the equation to support long-term growth.

Productivity must play a more important role in driving sustained growth as our societies age. But there’s no consensus on how to reverse the broad slowdown in productivity growth seen across almost all countries over the past 20 years. F&D magazine’s September issue invites leading thinkers to examine productivity from multiple angles, including dynamism, innovation, demographics, and sustainability.

Purpose>This study examines how institutional quality influences variability in financial development among economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Design/methodology/approach>Empirical estimations verifying various relationships are performed using the limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) estimation technique.Findings>The results suggest that institutional quality enhances the pace of financial development among economies in the sub-region all things being equal. In a further micro-level analysis where components of institutional quality index are examined separately, the study’s results suggest that effective governance, regulatory quality, rule of law and accountability tend to have a significant positive impact on financial sector development.Research limitations/implications>Findings of the study suggest that policies geared towards improving governance and regulatory institutions can augment development of the financial sector among economies in SSA; governments and policymakers are therefore encouraged to resource noted institutions to play effective roles for the development of the financial sector.Originality/value>Compared to related studies, this study reorients existing paradigm, which emphasizes the role of governance and institutional variables in the economic growth discourse. The authors’ empirical inquiry rather focuses on how governance and institutional structures influence regional financial development dynamics. Specifically, this study differs from most macro-level studies found in literature because it examines the impact of hitherto unexamined governance and institutional variables on financial development among economies in SSA.

Seekings and Nattrass explain why poverty persisted in South Africa after the transition to democracy in 1994. The book examines how public policies both mitigated and reproduced poverty, and explains how and why these policies were adopted. The analysis offers lessons for the study of poverty elsewhere in the world.

This study examines the moderating effect of institutional quality on the finance–growth nexus in the West African region via dynamic panel generalized method of moments. The findings reveal that the linear financial development has a separate positive influence on growth, while the interaction between financial development and institutional quality has a negative effect on growth. It implies that institutional quality constitutes a drag that diminishes and leaks out the growth benefits of financial development in West Africa. The threshold level of institutional quality beyond which financial development accelerates economic growth in the region is found to be 4.77 on the ordinal scale of 10 points. It is, however, evident that most of the countries in West Africa operate below the threshold. Hence, it is concluded that the institutional framework weakens the impact of finance on growth in the subregion of sub-Saharan Africa.

How did Christianity expand in Africa to become the continent’s dominant religion? Using annual panel census data on Christian missions from 1751 to 1932 in Ghana, and pre-1924 data on missions for 43 sub-Saharan African countries, we estimate causal effects of malaria, railroads and cash crops on mission location. We find that missions were established in healthier, more accessible, and richer places before expanding to economically less developed places. We argue that the endogeneity of missionary expansion may have been underestimated, thus questioning the link between missions and economic development for Africa. We find the endogeneity problem exacerbated when mission data is sourced from Christian missionary atlases that disproportionately report a selection of prominent missions that were also established early.

This study investigates the impact of financial development, economic growth, and foreign direct investment on enhancing industrial growth for a panel of selected Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries from 1990—2017. However, the present study enriches our understanding of financial development by employing a new comprehensive index focused on the accessibility, scope, and productivity of capital systems and banking institutions and incorporated foreign direct investment and economic growth as significant industrial growth drivers in the selected countries. A more robust technique Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG), were employed to access the long-run relationship among the understudy variables. Further empirical results shows that financial development and economic growth enhance industrial development with finance exhibiting signifcance while foreign direct investment is seen as adverse. Moreover, a two-way causality was obtained between industrialization and financial development while both foreign direct investment and economic growth had a one-way causality relationship with industrialization. Thus, our study implies that the government officials within these countries must provide a suitable environment for the public, private partnerships, i.e. private sector, which is the backbone for industrial development.

PurposeThe impact of financial inclusion on economic growth is a topic that is generating widespread interest among researchers and practitioners. In this paper, the authors review the existing literature to highlight the state of research in the literature and identify new opportunities for innovative research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a thematic literature review methodology which involves dividing the review along relevant themes.FindingsThe authors find that significant research on the topic emerged in the post-2016 years. Most of the existing studies are from developing countries and from the Asian and African regions. Existing studies have not utilized relevant theories in explaining the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth. Most studies report a positive impact of financial inclusion on economic growth while very few studies show a negative impact. The most common channel through which financial inclusion affects economic growth is through greater access to financial products and services offered by financial institutions that increases financial intermediation and translates to positive economic growth. The common empirical methodology used in the literature are causality tests, cointegration and regression methods. Multiple proxies of financial inclusion and economic growth were used in the literature which partly explains the conflicting result among existing studies. The review paper concludes by identifying some directions for future research.Originality/valueThis paper presents the first rigorous thematic review of the existing literature on the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth. It highlights the main approach that researchers have taken on this topic and identifies some important research areas for future investigation.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2022-0339.