1,721,037 research outputs found
Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Developing Countries
No full textFinancial inclusion—enhancing participation in formal financial system—has received attention from policymakers globally, particularly over the past two decades. Based on the proposition that financial inclusion is a multidimensional concept, with access and usage and efficacy as its three dimensions, the research objective in this chapter is to identify the key determinants of financial inclusion in developing countries. Using a large cross-country sample of developing economies, over a 14-year period from 2004 to 2017, findings suggest that physical access to banking services, advances in financial technology, government effectiveness and rural population are significantly associated with financial inclusion and should be the principal focus of policy initiatives. Sub-sample analysis shows considerable differences in the key determining factors of financial inclusion across six regions and three income groups
The Impact of External Shocks on Nigeria’s GDP Performance within the Context of the Global Financial Crisis
Full text linkThis research examines the impact of external shocks on Nigeria’s output performance for the period 1981 – 2015. It aims to bring to the fore the importance of considering external shocks during policy design and implementation. The multivariate VAR and VECM frameworks were used to evaluate the impact of the shock variables on Nigeria’s output performance and to achieve the stated objectives. Findings show that the external shock and domestic policy variables have short-run effects on Nigeria’s output performance. Also, all the measures of external shocks and domestic policies display some viable information in explaining the variabilities in Nigeria’s output performance over the horizon. The comparison between the results of the VECM and the unrestricted VAR shows that the unrestricted VAR model outperformed the VECM.
The overall result of the study confirms the view about the vulnerability of the Nigerian economy to external shocks. These shocks explain more than half of the variance in real output performance and have varying effects on output performance in Nigeria. The dynamic response of output performance to each of the defined shock variables show that output performance responds rapidly to the shock variables, while its response to the domestic economic variables is seemingly moderate. Finally, the variance decomposition show that international crude oil price and terms of trade have the largest share in accounting for the variability in output performance, followed closely by the shares of capital inflows and monetary policy
An Investigation into the Role of Local Government in Enhancing the Public Participation in Sindh, Pakistan: Policy and Practice in Service Delivery
Full text linkIt is generally recognised that the primary role of the decentralise local
governance is to establish closer relationship between rural communities and the
governing authorities in local development. In Pakistan, the system of local
governments has always been introduced by the non-democratic forces. The
decentralised governments have often been discontinued by the civilian
governments of Pakistan.
This study has sought to examine the role of the decentralised local governance
in initiating the local community participation in local development in the province
of Sindh, Pakistan. This thesis responds the questions about the initiatives taken
by the local government authorities and the genuine local community participation
in local community development programs. It further explores the main barriers
to local public participation in the local policy making and implementation in
Sindh.
The findings suggest that the challenges to participation have been ever
increasing. The military establishment’s hold on the central state policies has
weakened the public empowering national laws. Furthermore, the local
government’s role to initiate meaningful local community involvement in
development projects of the decentralised local governance has been engrossed
by the hold of feudal lords, corruption, favouritism, and the attitude of indifference
on the part of provincial and national governments. Thus, it is argued that, in such
dominant military state and feudal lords’ system, there is no positive link between
the local government reforms and the democratic participation in the local
decision-making. Based on these findings, a realistic model for participation is
introduced and relevant implications are considered
Domestic Public Debt and Private Sector Credit in Nigeria: Does Sectoral Impact Matter?
No full textThis study investigates the importance of sectoral effects in the domestic public debt-private sector credit nexus in Nigeria from 1981-2020 and finds that sectoral effects are essential for domestic public debt and private sector credit in Nigeria. Aggregated credit to the private sector and disaggregated credit to the manufacturing, agriculture, mining and quarry, real estate and construction, trade and general commerce, and services sectors responds heterogeneously to changes in domestic public debt, with the credit channel as the transmission channel at both levels. Domestic public debt crowds out aggregated credit to the private sector and in all sub-sectors at the disaggregated level except the agriculture and mining and quarry sectors, where there are crowding in and an uncertain effect. Also, domestic public debt has a threshold effect on aggregated credit to the private sector and credit to the trade and general commerce sector, with higher level of domestic public debt-to-GDP ratio having detrimental effects on credit. The study, therefore, shows that a healthy and robust banks’ balance sheet is important for increased lending to the private sector in Nigeria and recommends that the government should imbibe policies that promote investment friendly environment to mitigate incidences of loan defaults, thereby making the private sector less risky for domestic bank lending. Also, a framework for mobilising and properly channeling the under-utilised funds of the household sector should be developed and encouraged for increased private sector lending, while ensuring that domestic public debt stock growth does not surpass its optimal GDP threshold
The relationship between financial inclusion, economic growth and poverty: A study of Jordan
No full textThis thesis empirically investigates the relationship between financial inclusion, economic growth and poverty in Jordan during the period 1980-2020. The study argues that providing financial services to individuals is an effective way to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. It investigates the access to and usage of financial services in Jordan. This study applies the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to examine the annual time-series data collected from the CBJ, World Bank, and IMF. The Augmented Dickey Fuller test is used to test the stationarity of variables used in the ARDL model.
The study shows that financial inclusion has a significant positive effect on economic growth. Moreover, the study also indicates that financial inclusion has a significant positive effect on income per capita, which reduces poverty. Finally, the outcome shows that economic growth enhances financial inclusion.
Consequently, the study confirms finance and growth theory, which asserts that financial services are a positive function of economic growth and reduce poverty. Consequently, this study recommends that extending and enhancing financial inclusion in Jordan needs to be afforded greater effort due to its positive effect on the Jordanian economy generally and on economic growth specifically.Mut’ah University (Jordan
Rethinking the design and implementation of financial services for poverty reduction: A case of Northern Ghana
Full text linkThe thesis empirically examines how microfinance products are designed and
implemented, and the implications for clients’ households and sources of
livelihood. The study argues that the design of products and implementation
that reflect the livelihood needs and poverty context of clients is one of the
effective ways to reduce poverty. It investigates the microfinance operations of
three financial institutions: Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT), St Joseph’s Cooperative
Credit Union (CCU) and Sonzele Rural Bank (SRB) in Jirapa, a municipality in
Northern Ghana. The study deployed a mixed-methods approach to collect data
from six rural and urban communities. Data was sought from secondary
sources, 20 interviews, 10 focus group discussions and 120 questionnaires.
The research adopted the Sustainable Livelihoods and the Making Markets
Work for the Poor approaches as a guide in the framework of analysis. The
study, using qualitative and quantitative analytical tools found that product
designs of SAT and SRB did not reflect the needs and poverty context of the
majority of their clients. Clients of SAT and SRB were found to be less involved
in the product design processes, suggesting a top-down institutional approach
that seldom incorporated the needs of the poor. The method of group formation
has a substantial implication on members’ poverty outcomes. Groups involving
only females had a significant and positive relationship with members’
household and business outcomes, while members of male-only groups had a
negative relationship with their household outcomes. The thesis concludes that
accessible interest on loans and incentives to encourage savings would make
microfinance markets work more sustainably for the rural poor. The findings
challenge a reconsideration of the design of microfinance products to integrate
financial technology as an efficient approach to deliver financial services,
especially in rural areas
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
An Investigation into the Relationship Between Economic Growth, Energy Consumption, and the Environment: Evidence from Nigeria
Full text linkThis thesis employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL), Toda-Yamamoto causality analysis, and ordinary least square (OLS for robust estimation) techniques to empirically investigate the impact of economic growth and energy consumption on the environment in Nigeria from 1980 to 2020. The results of cointegration demonstrate a long-term link between the model's input variables. The outcome of the first objective of the study shows that trade and economic development in Nigeria worsen the state of the environment. Environmental quality is accelerated by financial development; nevertheless, FDI is proven to be insignificant in predicting environmental quality. The result demonstrates that FDI and energy use both have the potential to significantly speed up the rate of environmental degradation. Nevertheless, trade has a negligible impact on the environment in the country, and financial development slows down environmental deterioration. The study also finds that the combination between energy and economic development improves Nigeria's environmental quality. The outcome of the fourth objective shows that economic expansion and energy consumption have a favorable impact on the environment. Additionally, environmental degradation, energy use, and economic growth are all causally related. Moreover, the outcome of the robust estimation reveals a positive and significant relationship between economic growth and energy consumption in the environment.
Therefore, the study suggests economic policies with environmental control measures. This could be through an emphasis on the use of other alternatives of low-emission energy, that will mitigate the level of C02 and enhance energy utilization for a better environment in the nation
Leveraging the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area to Address Trade Facilitation Challenges in Southern African Borders
Full text linkThis study undertakes a qualitative analysis to provide a comprehensive review of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trade facilitation measures and the associated challenges of implementing them. It demonstrates how the SADC region can leverage the implementation of the AfCFTA to increase intraregional trade. Incorporating evidence from border crossing reviews, and key informant interviews of trade facilitation experts and practitioners in the SADC region, the study undertakes a detailed inductive thematic analysis of the SADC cross-border environment to investigate the potential opportunities to increase efficiency at SADC commercial borders and benefit from the AfCFTA trade facilitation measures. The analysis presents trade facilitation in the legal framework of the AfCFTA, introducing trade facilitation as a regional trade policy
tool to increase intra-SADC trade. The study finds that the AfCFTA trade facilitation measures broaden the scope of preferences and bridges the gap between the segregated and segmented markets in the SADC region, thus giving SADC Member States increased market access to other African markets outside its traditional trading routes. However, the results also show that this is insufficient to eliminate the plethora of trade barriers in the region and further strengthen intra-SADC trade without complementary measures. It contributes to the literature as it proposes and validates a conceptive policy framework for effective implementation of the AfCFTA trade facilitation measures in the SADC region
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