European Journal of Government and Economics
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The impact of gender inequality on economic growth: an explanatory sequential mixed methods study of female labour participation in the civil service
No full textGender inequality is recognised as an impediment to economic growth and development. In Nigeria, several policies have been enacted to eliminate gender inequality. However, studies show that women are grossly marginalised, exploited, and discriminated against in their socioeconomic life. This paper examines the impact of gender inequality and female labour participation in the Nigerian civil service on the economic growth of Nigeria using mix-methods. First, an estimation of the impact of gender inequality on economic growth using panel data regression, followed by content- and consistency-based analysis that examines the factors responsible for gender inequality and discrimination issues women experience in the Nigerian civil service using content- and consistency-based analysis. The findings suggest that gender inequality negatively impacts economic growth and distorts the pool of human capital available to the Nigerian civil service and recommends the use of education and outsourcing of some employment functions to eliminate it effectively
Immigration, ethnic fractionalization, and the fiscal burden in the OECD
No full textThis study considers the impact of immigration and ethnic diversity on government spending in 31 OECD countries over 25 years and compares the marginal effects for expenditures and revenues to approximate the fiscal burden. Results suggest that ethnic fractionalization, not immigration itself, has a negative impact on spending in the OECD. On the whole, immigrants tend to contribute more in taxes than they cause in expenditures, at least relative to the averages for the population as a whole, but this effect is reversed for immigrants from poorer countries
The explanatory power of expenses in the performance of eurozone mutual funds
No full textWe studied the relationship between the mutual fund’s expenses and their profitability, as well as their ability to predict future performance. We used regressions in panel data with a sample of equity mutual funds of the eurozone area from 2003 to 2014. We concluded that expenses are an important determinant of performance in the eurozone and we show evidence that there is, in the short-term, a negative relationship between the profitability of the year and the level of expenses of the fund. Furthermore, there is also a relationship between the profitability of mutual funds with their level of expenses after one and three years. On the other hand, by applying the quantile regression, it seems clear that the funds with the highest returns have a positive relationship with the level of expenses
Editorial Statement: Ten years of life of EJGE
No full textIn this editorial statement, we present a balance of the first decade of life of the European Journal of Government and Economics. We discuss the main difficulties an independent journal faces in maintaining the policy of open access and publication free of charge. We also renew the commitment to the journal's spirit, particularly with the editorial rigour and best practices. Finally, we identify the next steps in the consolidation of EJGE as an academic journal that attempts to keep an integrated approach between the fields of political science and economics
Effect of military spending on private investment in Nigeria: does a crowding-out effect exist?
No full textThis study adopts ARDL and VAR estimation methods to examine whether military spending crowd-out or crowd-in private investment in Nigeria. We use the data that covers the period from 1970 to 2019. Our results, based on the ARDL method, show that military spending only crowds-out private investment in the short run. In the long run, military spending crowds in private investment. The results are robust to the use of alternative estimation methods. Specifically, IRF results show that military spending has a contemporaneous negative effect on private investment. However, the negative effect turns positive after the third period. Also, FEVD results show that most of the variation in private investment is explained by its shock and few by military spending. Our findings have policy implications. While it is advisable to spend more on the military to curtail the activities of insurgents, bandits and kidnappers and to restore confidence in investors, it is important also to take cognisance of the fact that military spending can crowd out private investment
Multilevel governance and Smart Specialization in EU regions: an evidence-based critical review
No full textThis paper critically reviews the literature on multilevel governance issues in support of implementing Smart Specialization policies in EU regions. Using an evidence-based critical review approach, key literature that draws on three critical concepts is explored: multilevel governance, regional innovation policy, and Smart Specialization in various governance conditions and diverse regional resources. The evidence reviewed points to the critical role of multilevel governance in implementing Smart Specialization. Effective coordination mechanisms are essential building blocks to encounter the challenges of multilevel governance for Smart Specialization. More consequential, however, are substantial synergies that are solid, harmonious, and balanced among multi-stakeholders within institutions and across levels of government. This paper contributes to the limited literature on multilevel governance in support of the Smart Specialization policy. Further studies considering different types of regions are recommended to enrich future literature
Brain drain and economic growth: evidence of productivity growth from brain circulation
No full textThis paper analyzes the effect of the so-called ‘brain drain’ on economic growth through the channel of growth in total factor productivity. We analyze panel data that measure the severity of brain drain, which are from IMD and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our analysis shows that middle-income countries have more brain drain compared to the group of high-income countries. Also, emerging economies that grow fast tend to experience more brain drain. Our results from fixed effects regression models show that that brain drain has a significant and positive impact on economic growth, and the main channel is productivity growth. This can be considered as evidence of the positive effects of ‘brain circulation’, which is one of the brain drain phenomena that settlement of the talents in advanced countries can eventually help improve the productivity of home country by the sharing of advanced technologies and skills around them with colleagues in motherland. Therefore, a strategy of utilizing overseas resident talents should also be considered, alongside the brain-attraction policy
Governance and net-import dependency on food and agricultural products in Sub-Saharan Africa: does any causality exist?
No full textThough most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are agricultural-based, the region is a net importer of food and agricultural products and experiences the highest level of food insecurity globally. The government have a joint goal of achieving a favourable balance of trade and food security; hence this study examines the causal relationship between quality of governance and net-import dependency on food and agricultural products for 25 SSA countries during the period 1995-2015. Principal component analysis is employed to develop a governance index based on the six worldwide governance indicators and a multivariate panel vector error correction framework applied to infer causality in the short and long run. The results reveal that a higher governance index is correlated with a lower net-import dependency ratio and the relationship is statistically significant. Evidence of unidirectional causality running from governance to net-import dependency is reported in 14 SSA countries, mainly in the long run. In conclusion, improving governance quality could support reduced food and agricultural net-import dependency through promoting agriculture production, exports and consequently reduced trade deficits in the long run. Hence, governance reforms in the region should be placed at the heart of the agricultural development agenda
Assessing the optimality of euro adoption in Romania through shock correlations
No full textThe present paper is concerned with the prospect of euro adoption in Romania. The study starts from the relevant literature of the Optimum Currency Areas and identifies the most widely acknowledged meta property and methodological model for this purpose: the SVAR Blanchard and Quah decomposition for identifying the supply and demand shocks. Employing the indicated model and the most recent data, we are able extract and analyse the underlying shocks that hit 34 European economic entities in the period 1995-2019, while also taking into account two crucial structural changes for the Romanian economy – central bank independence and EU accession. After performing the pairwise correlations between Romania and the rest of the economic entities for both the supply and demand disturbances, we map them on a bidimensional graph. We discover that while there is relevant integration and connectedness that ensures relatively high correlations between supply shocks, the politically-motivated monetary and fiscal policy disturbances that created ample and hectic demand side movements, are a factor of great concern for the prospect of single currency adoption in this Eastern European country. The findings support the view that there is room for the conduct of macro policies to become more supportive to the process of euro adoption and that the respect of convergence criteria would help in this respect. To our knowledge, this is the first study performing pairwise shock correlations between Romania and many other European economic entities, while also isolating the effect of post 2005 structural changes
The definitive VAT system and its impact on tax collection
No full textValue Added Tax (VAT) is a significant source of fiscal revenues in the EU. However, the VAT treatment of cross-border supplies enables large-scale tax frauds, such as the Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC), which takes each year billions of euros from Member States' public budgets. In 2016 a definitive VAT system was proposed by the European Commission to respond to the shortcomings of the current temporary system. This new system should reduce the possibilities of MTIC fraud for intra-community transactions through the collection of VAT by the supplier in the same way as for domestic transactions. The tax collection by the supplier would impact the administrative costs of the financial authorities. This paper contributes to the discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the newly suggested system. The analysis focuses on the study of the change in administrative costs and VAT revenues for individual Member States and across the EU. The results are that after implementing the definitive VAT system, total administrative costs of the Member States would increase at least by EUR 107 million, whereas total VAT revenues would rise by EUR 40 billion. This indicates the overall positive impact of the definitive VAT system for the EU. However, individual Member States would not benefit equally. The net exporters, whose intra-community supplies exceed the intra-community acquisitions, would spend more than others for the collection of VAT in connection with the international trade of goods