African growth convergence: role of institutions and macroeconomic policies

Muftau Olarinde and Zakari Abdullahi Yahaya

International Journal of Development Issues, 2018, vol. 17, issue 3, 346-371

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the role of institutions and policies on growth convergence in Africa. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses different methods of panel modelling on a panel of 50 African Countries covering a period of 1990-2014. Findings - The results confirmed the presence of conditional convergence among countries in the region. On the average, technology accumulation and fiscal policies indicators are positive function of growth, while human resources, monetary policies indicators and ineffective institutions partly necessitated by poor level of development negatively impact growth. The study concludes, though traditional growth variables and policies are imperative in achieving growth in income, they remain insufficient in an environment characterize by extractive and absolutist institutions. Therefore, institution remains the link that bridges the gap in between proper mix of resources and policies. Research limitations/implications - Based on the results, policy-makers in the region should allocate certain percentage of their resources (on a sustainable basis) towards building a qualitative institution. Also, future studies on Africa should be focused on the rate at which poor level of economic development determines the quality of institutions which in turn impacts the level of growth in income. Originality/value - The study contributes to the existing literature on institutional convergence with particular focus on African countries using system GMM to capture the endogeneity among the series.

Keywords: Africa; Policies; Institutions; System GMM; Convergence; N4; N20; O1; O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijdipp:ijdi-12-2017-0212

DOI: 10.1108/IJDI-12-2017-0212

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Development Issues is currently edited by Dr Dilip Dutta

More articles in International Journal of Development Issues from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().