Is Grit the Best Predictor of University Students’ Academic Achievement?

This paper investigated the predictors of academic achievement of university students in two courses for second-year students in a public university in Ghana. Using a quantitative design, data were collected from 154 second-year trainee teachers (for the 2019/2020 academic year), randomly selected from the said public university. The study showed a direct significant relationship between gender, age, motivation to study, and academic achievement in two education courses. Again, age, gender, motivation, and grit were significant predictors of student academic achievement in two education courses, with grit as the best predictor contributing to 67% variability in student academic achievement. Based on the results, the study recommended that university authorities, among other things, should, through their academic and quality assurance sections, determine students' grit levels, identify those likely to have challenges, initiate appropriate measures to enhance perseverance and retention, thereby, improving academic achievement. Keywords: grit, economics, office management, academic achievement, motivation DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-29-08 Publication date:October 31st 202

Enhancing Teaching Through Innovation in the University: What Teachers should Know and Do.

Burgeoning literature in education have shown an affirmed resolve of educators to adopt modern productive teaching approaches to ensure maximum learning outcomes. There is indubitably a serious need for teachers in higher educational institutions to focus on ways of enhancing teaching and learning. However, few researchers appear to have focused on the subject. This working paper, by employing the narrative design, examined the teaching enterprise with emphasis on moving from pedagogy to andragogy as a harbinger for the creation of autonomous self-directed adults. The paper advocates for pragmatic teaching strategies for teachers at this level. It concludes that university teachers must necessarily take advantage of the-now-increasing avenues for knowledge nourishment widely provided by outstanding journals, conference, articles and scholarly books among other knowledge outlets. Teachers are urged to profiteer from the wide range of polished teaching options espoused and circulated via the media. It is the paper‘s view that implementing contemporary teaching methods is the only panacea to tackling the current phenomenon of qualification inflation that has virtually led to the reduction of the academic currency among graduates. The paper‘s firm belief is that with innovative teaching methods, teachers desire for excellence in the classroom is already a forgone conclusio

Enhancing Teaching Through Innovation in the University: What Teachers should Know and Do.

Burgeoning literature in education have shown an affirmed resolve of educators to adopt modern productive teaching approaches to ensure maximum learning outcomes. There is indubitably a serious need for teachers in higher educational institutions to focus on ways of enhancing teaching and learning. However, few researchers appear to have focused on the subject. This working paper, by employing the narrative design, examined the teaching enterprise with emphasis on moving from pedagogy to andragogy as a harbinger for the creation of autonomous self-directed adults. The paper advocates for pragmatic teaching strategies for teachers at this level. It concludes that university teachers must necessarily take advantage of the-now-increasing avenues for knowledge nourishment widely provided by outstanding journals, conference, articles and scholarly books among other knowledge outlets. Teachers are urged to profiteer from the wide range of polished teaching options espoused and circulated via the media. It is the paper‘s view that implementing contemporary teaching methods is the only panacea to tackling the current phenomenon of qualification inflation that has virtually led to the reduction of the academic currency among graduates. The paper‘s firm belief is that with innovative teaching methods, teachers desire for excellence in the classroom is already a forgone conclusio

Financial inclusion, vulnerability coping strategies and multidimensional poverty: Does conceptualisation of financial inclusion matter?

Policy emphasis on financial inclusion and deepening has shifted away from measures capturing formal financial services only and towards the development of more inclusive financial markets which account for both formal and informal services. This study examines the effect of financial inclusion and vulnerability coping strategies on multidimensional poverty, where the conceptualisation of financial inclusion is based on four perspectives—(i) one that focuses on only the formal financial sector, (ii) another that concentrates on only the informal financial sector, (iii) one that considers only the mobile money sector and (iv) finally, one that combines all financial markets (i.e., formal and informal including mobile money). Findings show that the conceptualisation of financial inclusion does not only matter in identifying the financially included but also has an implication on how financial inclusion influences multidimensional poverty. Financial inclusion measures that use only formal financial products and services understate their potential effects on multidimensional poverty, thus, justifying the need for a financial inclusion measure that considers both formal and informal sectors. Incorporating informal financial products and services in the measure reduces multidimensional poverty more for female-headed households and those in rural settings. Households' adoption of vulnerability coping strategies has the potential to reduce the likelihood of being multidimensionally poor

Corruption, Deprivation and Economic Development in sub-Saharan Africa

This thesis broadly examines the impact of lived corruption experiences on healthcare deprivation and tax evasion in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, Chapter 2 examines how corruption causes healthcare deprivation in 29 SSA countries. Employing the fifth, sixth and seventh waves of the Afrobarometer survey spanning 2011-2018, I find that corruption in the form of bribe payments within the healthcare sector increases healthcare deprivation. Additionally, corruption experienced in sectors outside health such as education, police, public utilities and identification authorities, have adverse spillovers on healthcare deprivation. Furthermore, I show that corruption impacts healthcare deprivation through two key channels: Loss of income and loss of trust in public institutions. Chapter 3 utilises individual-level datasets to explore the effect of people’s lived corruption experiences on their propensity to evade taxes. I show that the likelihood of tax evasion rises by 19–39.5 percentage points for individuals who have paid bribes to government officials in various sectors–health, education, police, public utilities and identification authorities, compared to their counterparts who have never been extorted. Chapter 4 documents the spillover effects of firm-level corruption (unrelated to taxation) on tax evasion decisions, with evidence from 17 SSA economies. Chapter 4 also examines (a) whether and how corruption in tax agencies impacts tax evasion and (b) the key mediating mechanisms through which corruption impact tax evasion among firms. In contrast to the extant literature, I demonstrate that while corruption involving tax authorities rises tax evasion, corruption outside tax authorities (i.e., bribes paid to obtain operating licenses and secure government contracts) has adverse spillovers on tax evasion. The thesis concludes in Chapter 5 outlining key policy implications