Promoting small-scale mining sector businesses and the role of institutions - a conflict prevention and resolution study in Ghana

This study was designed to answer the question of whether resource performance depends more on good governance or rather on effective institutional structures. The specific aim is to make clear the extent to which good governance and institutions promote small scale gold mining businesses, to explain empirically the nature of human rights challenges in the small-scale mining (SSM) industry from the perspective of mining mangers, to investigate the nature, determinants, and frequency of conflicts associated with SSM, and to discuss the challenges facing SSM operations and ways to confront them. The findings show that, in the context of efforts to spur economic development, the exploitation of mineral resources has the potential to bring about far-reaching environmental and social changes. These changes can create opportunities, but they also represent a business risk for corporations and a social risk for communities. There is as a consequence a pressing need to investigate recent threats to mineral resource exploration relating to economic development, peace and stability, and the survival of private businesses. These threats are particularly serious for less-developed countries that are net exporters of natural resources. Such countries could use these resources to drive economic development and decrease their dependence on aid from developed countries. In most of them, however, owing to a lack of strong institutions, mismanagement of mineral and other natural resources has fueled social conflict without producing meaningful development. In addition, there is often the perception in countries such as Ghana, which is the subject of this study, that mining, whatever its benefits, is responsible for significant environmental damage and for Human Rights Adverse Impacts (HRAI), including child labor and exploitation, displacement of rural households, and violence. For these reasons, investment in the mining sector and associated businesses has often faced stiff resistance. Given the right governmental institutions, small-scale gold mining and associated activities can prove beneficial to and be accepted by a society and can attract further investment; under the wrong circumstances, this type of mining can impact society negatively. At the very least, when SSM is poorly managed, the anticipated benefits to the business community and the broader society are unlikely to materialize. The evidence from large-scale mining, particularly in the wake of Ghana’s civil war, indicates a correlation between mineral resources and conflict. Less is known about the nature, frequency, and causes of conflicts that afflict households in Ghana’s artisanal mining communities. There is accordingly a need for research into ways to prevent human rights violations and to create share value in the SSM sector through social development and renewed incentives for investment in it. This thesis represents an attempt to fill this need by exploring whether the capacity of resources—in this case, gold mining—to spur economic development—here, by creating competitive SSM businesses, improving livelihoods, or reducing poverty—depends on governance structures and whether there is a correlation between SSM and conflict outside the context of civil war. This thesis is informed by three broad insights. The first concerns the challenges facing the SSM activities that play a vital role in the Ghanaian economy. Second, there is the importance of the role played by institutions in the development of SSM amid renewed attraction of investment in the sector. Third, changing social expectations are a crucial aspect sustainable mining and the protection of human rights

A simplified model to enhance SMEs’ investment in renewable energy sources in Ghana

Although the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act, 832) was enacted to facilitate development and investment in the Renewable Energy sources in Ghana as part of the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7, the actual impacts of the policy are yet to be felt as manifested in the amendment Act 2020 (Act, 1045). There is a need to develop an alternative model to enhance investment in the renewable energy sector. Drawing from the Resources Based View (RBV) and Porter’s Five Forces this paper is aimed to develop a simplified model to explain Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)investment determinants in the renewable energy sources in Ghana. We argued that the simplified integrated model provides robust predictability and wider generalization. Our paper is anchored on the positivists’ epistemology and quantitative methodology. Our hypotheses have been tested using cross-sectional data from the Ghanaian SMEs. Variance Based Partial Least Squares (PLS) method has been used to analyze the survey data. Our results indicate that entrepreneurial competency, financial resource, marketing capability, and technological usage significantly relate to investment in renewable energy. Moreover, the results have shown that competitive rivalry, the threat of entry, and bargaining power of customers significantly relate to investment in renewable energy. These results substantiate the well-known argument that industry forces and resource competitive strategies are significant determinants of a firm’s competitiveness and behavioral intentions. Overall, these results have theoretical and practical implications to facilitate the capacity of SMEs and create enabling renewable energy local content policy to enhance SMEs ’ participation in the sector.         &nbsp

Financial Development and Economic Sustainability in ECOWAS Countries: the Role of Institutional Quality

The literature explored the relationship between financial development and economic sustainability, taking into consideration the roles played by institutional quality in the ECOWAS region. Most literature still debates on the roles of institutional quality on economic growth. The study used data from 1996-2017 for 15 emerging economies within the ECOWAS by applying two-step SYS GMM (SGMM) estimators.  The study discovered that financial development has no significant and positive alliance on economic sustainability in the ECOWAS region. Besides that, regulatory quality and control of corruption, considered institutional quality variables have conflicting results with control of corruption reducing growth as well as regulatory quality increasing growth. Again, the results came out that capital formation has a positive association with growth and labor force influencing negatively on growth.  Finally, due to a lack of proper corruption control systems in the region and poor financial sector development, growth cannot improve.JEL Classification: O11, O43, C23How to Cite:Li, F., Appiah, M., & Korankye, B. (2020). Financial Development and Economic Sustainability in ECOWAS Countries: The Role of Institutional Quality. Etikonomi: Jurnal Ekonomi, 19(1), 41 – 50. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v19i1.13709

Foreign investment & growth in emerging economies: panel ARDL analysis

Recently, the contributory role of foreign investment growth in Africa has been considered by researchers and policymakers. Studies in this area are not yet clear. Besides, foreign direct investment has emerged as a determining factor of economic growth. Concerning this evidence, the current study tries to investigate the contributions of foreign direct investment on economic growth or for developing the economy of Africa. This study used yearly panel data for the period 1995-2015 for 5 developing the economy of Africa. The results of Panel ARDL indicate that foreign direct investment has a positive effect on economic growth as well as a positive sign of trade openness, inflation, and labor. The study also stresses that, for increasing economic growth, there is a need to seek more foreign investments, increase trade openness and inflation, and at the same time, to improve the employment condition in the selected African developing countries

Financial Development, Institutional Quality and Economic Growth: Evidence from ECOWAS Countries

Most of the literature that explored the relationship between financial development and economic growth taking into consideration the roles played by institutional quality in the ECOWAS region still debates on the roles of institutional quality on economic growth. This study used data from 1996-2017 for 15 emerging economies within the ECOWAS by applying two-step SYS GMM (SGMM) estimators. The following conclusions were developed: first, the study discovered that financial development has no significant and positive impact on economic growth in the ECOWAS region. Secondly, regulatory quality and control of corruption, which are considered as institutional quality variables, have opposing results with control of corruption reducing growth as well as regulatory quality variable increasing growth. Again, the results indicate that capital formation has a positive association with growth and labor force influencing growth negatively. Finally, due to a lack of proper corruption control systems in the region and poor financial sector development, growth cannot improve

Investigating the Impact of Sustainable Procurement on Economic Growth and Development

The usage of public procurement to accomplish economic growth and development is extensive, but through evidence about its operations are often imprecise and challenging to discover. This study in effect is to look at the impact and linkage between sustainable procurement and economic growth in Ghana from 1975-2015. The article considers the Solow-Swan growth model and came out with the findings and a result that is consistent with most studies. It was realized that there is a positive and strong relationship as well as the significant impact between sustainable procurement and economic growth. Also, it was recorded that trade openness can be a catalyst for economic growth and development as the results proved there is a significant impact. A Johansen cointegration was employed to determine the long run relationship between economic growth and sustainable procurement and it was found out that there exists a long run relationship. Vector Error Correction Model was employed to study the long run and short run impact of sustainable procurement on economic growth. The study also came out that recently, procurement is employed as a tool to promote economic growth as well as attain sustainable development goals. The study contains some reflections on the connections between procurement and economy, society and environment

Analysing governance‐led infrastructural development nexus in sub‐Saharan Africa : Does the moderating role of institutional quality matter?

Governments engage in infrastructural developments across the globe, and the level of success often colligates with institutional quality levels. However, despite the presence of governance, the lack of well-developed infrastructure has bedevilled sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for decades. Therefore, this study investigates the governance-led infrastructural development hypothesis for the SSA region from an institutional quality perspective towards addressing the infrastructural deficit challenges of the region. A combination of advanced panel econometric techniques was applied to data collected from the African Development Bank, World Bank World Development Indicator, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to investigate the governance-led infrastructural development hypothesis in SSA while controlling for financial development, economic growth, and industrialization in the region. The findings show that the interaction of institutional quality measures and governance indicators significantly and positively induces infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Additionally, while economic growth and financial development yield no expected significant influence on infrastructural developments, industrialization plays a crucial role, as its spillover effects are not confined to boosting economic growth alone but also to infrastructural transformations. Thus, the provision of policy frameworks by authorities to strengthen institutions and promote good governance is vital for articulating and facilitating infrastructural development plans for SSA.© 2024 The Authors. Growth and Change published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The Linkage Between Fiscal Policy and Financial Development: Exploring the Moderating Role of Institutional Quality in Emerging Economies

This paper investigates the role of fiscal policy on financial development in Sub-Saharan African economies, drawing on a sample of 23 countries from 2000 to 2021 using the panel ARDL method after evidencing stationarity and co-integration properties among the variables. Our results show that an increase in fiscal policy and institutional quality decreases financial development in the long run. An increase in taxation and expenditure by the government affects the development of finance in SSA countries. Our results also show that an increase in foreign capital and industrial growth increases financial development in the long term. The outcome evidence that the interaction between fiscal policy and institutional quality exhibits a positive effect on financial development. Causality results reveal no directional link between fiscal policy, foreign capital, industrialization, and financial development with institutional quality indicating a single direction. The study suggested that SSA countries should focus on developing policies to track the implementation of adequate fiscal policy systems and structures. Institutional coherence within and between SSA nations is required for efficient fiscal policy development

Modeling in ethnocomputing: replacing bi-directional flows with recursive emergence

Ethnocomputing is the study of the intersections between culture and computing. In addition to cultural analysis of computing, it also utilizes computing to model artifacts or practices from a given culture. In this essay, we consider three modes of modeling. In the first mode, the knowledge flow is unidirectional: the researcher analyzes indigenous designs and provides a computing model. In the second mode, the knowledge flow is bidirectional with researchers bringing a technical etic (outsider) perspective and informants bringing a cultural emic (insider) perspective. In the third mode, knowledge flow is recursive; there are bidirectional flows nested within other bidirectional flows. Our case study begins with computer simulations of log curves in Adinkra symbols in Ghana. Thus, we show that there are nested flows between nature and the indigenous artisans who model nature’s growth patterns; between our own ethnocomputing simulations and the students and teachers in Ghanaian classrooms; and finally between the history of computing in the West and the implementation of educational technology. Our data indicates that a recursive model that can account for these nested flows better enables researchers to integrate social justice and sustainability with education and research in both social and technical domains

The Relationship between Stock Prices and Exchange Rates of Ghana-Empirical Analyses

本文研究加纳的股票价格和汇率之间的协整关系、格兰杰因果关系。使用的数据为从1998年1月2日到2011年12月20日的加纳股票市场、汇率市场的日数据。利用ADF方法检验数据的单位根过程，结果显示，汇率和股价都具有一阶差分平稳性I（1）。利用Engle-Granger（1987）两步协整检验法检验汇率和股价之间的协整关系。结果显示，汇率和股价之间不存在协整关系。而且，本文发现，自从2007年7月3日，加纳货币（塞地）重新选币定值后，汇率和股价的关系存在结构性突变。事实上，本文选取选币定值前后的子样本，对股价和汇率进行了VAR估计，并且检验了两者的格兰杰因果关系。结果发现，在选币定值前，从汇率到股...This study investigates the cointegration relationship and the Granger causality between exchange rates and stock prices of Ghana using daily data spanning from January 2, 1998 to December 20, 2011. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller test is employed to test for unit root process in the data series and the results show that both variables are integrated at order one, I (1). I use Engle-Granger (1987) two...学位：金融硕士院系专业：王亚南经济研究院_金融学(含保险学)学号：2772010115447