Characteristics and Behaviour of African Factor Markets and Market Institutions and Their Consequences for Economic Growth

This paper provides a detailed characterisation of the structure and behaviour of African factor markets and the institutions that impact on their operations. It shows that the African factor markets are imperfect and inefficient, thus constraining economic growth. The paper posits that for the current reform programmes to succeed, policy that enhances the efficiency and competitiveness of the African factor markets must be put in place.

Energy Pricing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Predictive Information-Based Uncertainty Indexes with Machine Learning Algorithm

The study investigates the impact of uncertainties on energy pricing during the COVID-19 pandemic using five uncertainty measures that include the COVID-Induced Uncertainty (CIU), Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU), Global Fear Index (GFI); Volatility Index (VIX), and the Misinformation Index of Uncertainty (MIU). The data, which span between 2-January, 2020 and 19-January, 2021, corresponding to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study finds energy prices to respond significantly to the examined uncertainty measures, with EPU seen to affect the prices of most energy types during the pandemic. We also find predictive potentials inherent in VIX, CIU, and MIU for global energy sources

Characteristics and Behaviour of African Factor Markets and Market Institutions and Their Consequences for Economic Growth.

This paper provides a detailed characterisation of the structure and behaviour of African factor markets and the institutions that impact on their operations. It shows that the African factor markets are imperfect and inefficient, thus constraining economic growth. The paper posits that for the current reform programmes to succeed, policy that enhances the efficiency and competitiveness of the African factor markets must be put in place. JEL Classification: G1, J3, J4, J5, J6, O1. Keywords: Labour Markets, Financial Markets, Economic Growth, Africa. BIO-DATA Adeola F. Adenikinju is a Fellow at the Centre For Econometric and Allied Research (CEAR) and a lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr. Adenikinju is also a member of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi, Kenya. He participated in the preparation of Nigeria's first Perspective Plan. His areas of research include Economic Modelling, Industrial and Labour Economics,..