Human Development In Sub-Saharan Africa Research Articles

Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Sahara Africa: Does the Environmental Quality Matter?

The improvement of human well-being is the fundamental objective of the scramble for environmental sustainability. This study aims to investigate the effect of environmental sustainability on inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the application of a system-GMM to a sample of 49 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2010 to 2017, we found a positive and statistically significant effect of environmental sustainability on inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan countries. Thus, by growing environmentally friendly trees, employing organic manure, and refraining from farming methods that contaminate the environment and expose the soil to erosion, the people of Sub-Saharan Africa should join the global fight for environmental sustainability.

Understanding the Efficiency in Generating Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Two-Stage Network DEA Approach

Understanding the Efficiency in Generating Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Two-Stage Network DEA Approach

Multiparty Democracy, Social Cohesion, and Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Conceptual Framework

This paper proposes some assumptions regarding the complex relationship between multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A conceptual framework was used to map out this relationship. We assumed that because multiparty democracy is relatively new in Africa and increasingly challenging for most countries, its relationship with human development may neither be proximal, nor positive. With respect to social cohesion, we assumed that a socially cohesive society is more likely than a non-cohesive one to promote human development. Further, we assumed that although multiparty democracy is susceptible to exerting a negative or weak effect on human development, the relationship may be mitigated by the level of social cohesion. The immediate implication of this assumption is that multiparty democracy is likely to improve the well-being of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa if the degree of social cohesion is relatively high. The proffered assumptions may be of great interest for practitioners and researchers in human development studies and other relevant fields.

Access to Finance and Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The study examines the relationship between access to finance and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study used a panel data covering the period 2004–2021and employed the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments for the analysis of the data. The indicators of financial access used in the study are number of bank branches, commercial bank private sector credits and number of automatic teller machines (ATM) per. The study found that commercial bank private sector credits and number of number of automatic teller machines per 1000 adults have a positive and significant relationship with human development index in Sub-Saharan Africa. Base on the findings, the study recommends that the government of various Sub-Saharan African countries should intensify efforts to increase the access to financial services for the poor and low income group. This include reducing the costs and charges on credits for the low income earners and building more bank agents and automatic teller machines that will provide financial services to the populace especially the unbanked. The findings of the study lead to the conclusion that most Sub-Saharan African countries need to do more to boost access to finance for the unbanked and low income earners.

The Effects of Institutional Quality and Biocapacity on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-saharan Africa

The Effects of Institutional Quality and Biocapacity on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-saharan Africa

Multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A panel data analysis

Background: The reintroduction of multiparty democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa during the early 90s and the persistent poor human development performance of the region, have sparked several controversies regarding the need for such a political system in Africa. In the extant literature, these controversies have been characterized by fierce theoretical debates as to whether multiparty democracy influences human development and the scholarly contention that social cohesion, rather than this form of democracy, ameliorates human development. The present study examines these controversies along with the perception of Sub-Saharan African populations concerning the democratic transition and its impact on their well-being. Methods: A panel data analysis of 35 countries was conducted between 1995 to 2019 in order to determine the effect of multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and their interaction on human development. Fixed-effects and system generalized methods of moments estimations were used to control for specific characteristics. Results: The study found that, multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and the interaction between these two variables have a positive long-term effect on human development. More importantly, the study revealed that social cohesion decreases the negative influence of multiparty democracy on human development. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this study suggest that multiparty democracy is likely to improve the well-being of the populations of Sub-Saharan Africa if the degree of social cohesion is sufficiently high. That also means that social cohesion is susceptible to dampening the negative effect of multiparty democracy on human development in the context of this study. As such, social cohesion is critical in terms of the extent to which multiparty democracy wields influence on human development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on these conclusions, a number of policy recommendations are discussed in the present study towards the achievement of sustained human development in the Sub-Saharan African region.

Foreign Remittances, Good Governance and Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from FMOLS and DOLS

Even though some progress has been recorded in terms of GDP growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, still the region has high level of extreme poverty, income inequality, insecurity, consequently low human development. This study examined the effect of foreign remittances and governance on human development for 20 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, using data from 1996 to 2019. The study used FMOLS and DOLS methods to estimates the long run coefficients. All the variables are I(1), have cross section dependency and cointegrated. The results revealed that foreign remittances and governance promote long run human development in sub-Saharan Africa. The results also show that inflation, population growth and military expenditures found to have negative long run effect on human development, while financial development have positive long run effect on human development in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, to promote human development, policies that will attract and encourage sending remittances through official channel should be put in place, especially related to the cost of sending remittances to sub-Saharan Africa. Also, policies to strengthen institutions and provide quality regulatory and legal framework for equitable distribution of resources to reduce poverty, and the cost of doing business, thereby promoting business activities, human capital development, consequently higher human development.

Remittances, institutions and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between remittances, institutions and human development (HD) in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using data from 2004 to 2018. The study attempts to answer two critical questions: Do the increasing remittances inflow to the region have any effect on human capital development? and does the effect of remittances on human development vary depending on the level of institutional quality?Design/methodology/approachThe analysis uses a dynamic model; system Generalized Method of Moments (Sys-GMM) as this approach controls for the endogeneity of the lagged dependent variable; thus, when there is a correlation between the explanatory variable and the error term, which is normally associated with remittances, it also controls for omitted variable bias, unobserved panel heterogeneity and measurement errors in the estimation.FindingsThe findings indicate a positive and significant impact of remittances on HD in SSA. The results further reveal a substitutional relationship between institutions and remittances in stimulating HD. The estimations mean that remittances promote HD in countries with a weak institutional environment. The findings also establish that the marginal significance of remittances as a source of capital for HD falls in countries with well-developed institutions.Practical implicationsTo increase the flow of remittances, policymakers should implement policies that increase the likelihood of both skilled and unskilled migrants sending remittances.Originality/valueMost empirical research on the impact of remittances on HD does not tackle the problem of endogeneity associated with remittances. This study, however, provides empirical evidence by using Sys-GMM that solves the problem. The current study also is the first work to examine the relationship between remittances, institutions and HD in SSA and provides a new guide for future research on the remittance and HD nexus.

Does energy accessibility improve human development? Evidence from energy-poor regions

Access to energy is recognised to be at the heart of human development. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the impact of access to energy on human development, particularly in energy-poor countries. This study, therefore, examines the effect of access to electricity and clean energy on human development in 79 energy-poor countries from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Caribbean-Latin America for the period 1990–2018. Using the Lewbel two-stage least squares approach to control for endogeneity, our study reveals that access to both electricity and clean energy improve human development in the aggregated sample. Comparatively, our results also suggest that while access to both electricity and clean energy enhance human development in Caribbean-Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, they worsen human development in South Asia. Generally, our results indicate that economic growth, trade openness, foreign direct investment, urbanisation, access to credit and remittance enhance human development. This study also indicates that employment, industrialisation, economic growth, ICT, and gender empowerment are some of the important channels through which energy accessibility influence human development. The comparative effect of access to electricity, clean energy, and the control variables on different facets of human development such as education (human capital) and health (life expectancy, maternal mortality, and under-five mortality) are presented. In this study, we conclude that access to energy is crucial for human development but does not equally benefit all the components of human development. • Examines the effect of energy accessibility on human development in energy-poor regions. • Energy accessibility improves human development in sub-Saharan Africa and Caribbean-Latin America. • Energy accessibility worsens human development in South Asia. • Energy accessibility moderates the impact of economic growth to influence human development. • Energy accessibility does not equally benefit all the components of human development.

The Burden of Antidevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the universal similarities of antidevelopment problems, the problems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are unique, intense, and multifaceted. They oscillate from incompetent and corrupt government plagued with violent conflict, to the lack of provision for social needs, to ethno-religious bigotry, and result in the lack of conditions and expanded opportunities for people to pursue their well-being. Though these problems have links to the colonial era, I argue, using qualitative and historical approach methods, that the bulk of them are with postcolonial and contemporary state actors; here the search for solutions must begin. I proposed a target-approach strategy that blends Amartya Sen’s capability approach and Catholic social teaching to facilitate an integral human development in SSA.

Financial inclusion and human development: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT Despite the rapid economic growth recorded since the 1990s, inequality, poverty and unemployment levels remain high in most African countries. As such, achieving socio-economic goals has been the major focus of policymakers. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of financial inclusion on human development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Access to and usage of financial services may encourage business start-ups, allow individuals to invest in health and education, manage risk and lessen the burden of financial shocks, and therefore, impact positively on human development. The study employs the panel data approach and utilises the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) technique. The results show that financial inclusion has a positive effect on human development. Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers implement measures that reduce the costs of access to and usage of financial services, such as investments in infrastructure, and raise awareness of the available financial services.

The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the joint effects of mobile phone technology, knowledge creation and diffusion on inclusive human development in 49 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions for the period 2000–2012. The net effects of interactions between the mobile phone, knowledge creation and diffusion variables are positive indicating that the combined effects of these variables improve inclusive human development in SSA countries. Further analysis dividing the dataset into a number of fundamental characteristics based on economic, legal, religion and political stability associated with African economies show that mobile phone penetration and associated innovation in SSA improve inclusive human development irrespective of the country’s level of income, legal origins, religious orientation and the state of the nation. The pupil-teacher ratio exerts a negative influence on the outcome variable which is favourable for inclusive human development because higher ratios denote lower education quality since more pupils are accommodated by fewer teachers. The study contributes to innovation diffusion theory and economic development literature.

Inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa

PurposeThis study aims to assess the role of income levels (low and middle) in modulating governance (political and economic) to influence inclusive human development.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions and 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2002.FindingsThe following main findings are established. Firstly, low income modulates governance (economic and political) to positively affect inclusive human development exclusively in countries with above-median levels of inclusive human development. It follows that countries with averagely higher levels of inclusive human development are more likely to benefit from the relevance of income levels in influencing governance for inclusive development. Secondly, the importance of middle income in modulating political governance to positively affect inclusive human development is apparent exclusively in the median while the relevance of middle income in moderating economic governance to positively influence inclusive human development is significantly apparent in the 10th and 75th quantiles. Thirdly, regardless of panels, income levels modulate economic governance to affect inclusive human development at a higher magnitude, compared to political governance. Policy implications are discussed in light of the post-2015 agenda of sustainable development goals and contemporary development paradigms.Originality/valueThis study complements the extant sparse literature on inclusive human development in Africa.

The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the joint effects of mobile phone technology, knowledge creation and diffusion on inclusive human development in 49 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions for the period 2000-2012. The net effects of interactions between the mobile phone, knowledge creation and diffusion variables are positive indicating that the combined effects of these variables improve inclusive human development in SSA countries. Further analysis dividing the data set into a number of fundamental characteristics based on economic, legal, religion and political stability associated with African economies show that mobile phone penetration and associated innovation in SSA improve inclusive human development irrespective of the country’s level of income, legal origins, religious orientation and the state of the nation. The pupil-teacher ratio exerts a negative influence on the outcome variable which is favorable for inclusive human development because higher ratios denote lower education quality since more pupils are accommodated by fewer teachers. The study contributes to innovation diffusion theory and economic development literature.

Thresholds of External Flows for Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This research investigates the incidence of enhancing external flows on inclusive human development in a panel of 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It complements the literature by examining the relevance of enhancing three types of external flows, namely: development assistance, foreign investment and remittances. Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit, Fixed effects, Generalised Method of Moments and Quantile regressions are used as empirical strategies. The following main results are apparent: (i) between 60 and 150 (% of GDP) is the threshold of foreign aid; (ii) 33.333 (% of GDP) is the foreign investment threshold and (iii) 25 (% of GDP) is the critical mass of remittances. At the established critical masses or thresholds, external flows start having positive effects on inclusive human development. Countries characterized by inclusive development levels that are low need more investment in foreign aid for inclusive human development compared to their counterparts characterized by inclusive human development levels that are high.

Income Levels, Governance and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines how income-driven governance affects inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000–2012. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Tobit regressions. Nine bundled and unbundled concepts of governance are used: political (voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), economic (government effectiveness and regulation quality) and institutional (corruption-control and the rule of law) governances. The main finding is that ‘middle income’-driven governance has a higher effect on inclusive human development than ‘low income’-driven governance. Policy implications are discussed in the light of: (i) the contemporary relevance of findings; (ii) the pivotal role of a higher income level in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda; and (iii) inconsistent strands in the literature and in foreign aid policies.

Income Levels, Governance and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines how income-driven governance affects inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Tobit regressions. Nine bundled and unbundled concepts of governance are used: political (voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), economic (government effectiveness and regulation quality) and institutional (corruption-control and the rule of law) governances. The main finding is that ‘middle income’-driven governance has a higher effect on inclusive human development than ‘low income’-driven governance. Policy implications are discussed in the light of: (i) the contemporary relevance of findings; (ii) the pivotal role of a higher income level in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda; and (iii) inconsistent strands in the literature and in foreign aid policies.

Governance, CO2 emissions and inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigates the relevance of government quality in moderating the incidence of environmental degradation on inclusive human development in 44 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000–2012. Environmental degradation is measured with CO2 emissions and the governance dynamics include: political stability, voice and accountability, government effectiveness, regulation quality, the rule of law and corruption-control. The empirical evidence is based on the generalised method of moments. Regulation quality modulates CO2 emissions to exert a net negative effect on inclusive development. Institutional governance (consisting of corruption-control and the rule of law) modulates CO2 emissions to also exert a net negative effect on inclusive human development. Fortunately, the corresponding interactive effects are positive, which indicates that good governance needs to be enhanced to achieve positive net effects. A policy threshold of institutional governance at which institutional governance completely dampens the unfavourable effect of CO2 emissions on inclusive human development is established. Other policy implications are discussed.

External flows and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The study assesses how external flows influence inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings reveal that remittances and FDI increase inclusive development whereas foreign aid has the opposite effect. There are three other strands of findings. First, remittances are negatively associated with: 1) middle income countries compared to low income countries where the effect is not significant; 2) French civil law countries compared to English common law countries where the effect is positive; 3) resource-rich countries compared to their resource-poor counterparts where the effect is positive. Second, foreign aid is more negatively linked to low income, French civil law, Islam-dominated, un-landlocked, resource-rich and politically-unstable countries. Third, FDI is positively associated with: 1) low income, French civil law and landlocked countries compared to respectively middle income, English common law and un-landlocked countries where the effect is insignificant; 2) politically-stable countries compared to their politically-unstable counterparts where the effect is negative.

Governance, CO2 Emissions and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigates the relevance of government quality in moderating the incidence of environmental degradation on inclusive human development in 44 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2012. Environmental degradation is measured with CO2 emissions and the governance dynamics include: political stability, voice and accountability, government effectiveness, regulation quality, the rule of law and corruption-control. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. Regulation quality modulates CO2 emissions to exert a net negative effect on inclusive development. Institutional governance (consisting of corruption-control and the rule of law) modulates CO2 emissions to also exert a net negative effect on inclusive human development. Fortunately, the corresponding interactive effects are positive, which indicates that good governance needs to be enhanced to achieve positive net effects. A policy threshold of institutional governance at which institutional governance completely dampens the unfavourable effect of CO2 emissions on inclusive human development is established. Other policy implications are discussed.