Coping with negative shocks and the role of the farm input subsidy programme in rural Malawi

This study uses household panel data from Malawi's 2010/11 and 2012/13 Integrated Household Panel Survey to investigate the mitigating role of its Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) against the deleterious impacts of negative rainfall shock on households’ welfare in rural Malawi. The study finds that the FISP has a cushioning role on the negative impact of rainfall shocks. The use of a farm input subsidy scheme enables rural households to substantially increase their food consumption and overall food security, despite the increasing threat of climate change. The results of this study highlight the importance of agricultural policy, such as the FISP, in rural households’ mitigation of weather risk

Inclusive human development in pre-crisis times of globalisation-driven debts

The paper verifies the Azzimonti et al. (2014) conclusions on a sample of 53 African countries for the period 1996-2008. Authors of the underlying study have established theoretical underpinnings for a negative nexus between rising public debt and inequality in OECD nations. We assess the effects of four debt dynamics on inequality adjusted human development. Instrumental variable and interactive regressions were employed as empirical strategies. Two main findings were established which depend on whether debt is endogenous to or interactive with globalisation. First, when external debt is endogenous to globalisation, the effect on inclusive human development is negative, whereas when it is interactive with globalisation, the effect is positive. This may reflect the false economics of pre-conditions. The magnitudes of negative estimates from endogenous related effects were higher than the positive marginal interactive effects. Policy implications were discussed

Aid, Terrorism, and Foreign Direct Investment: Empirical Insight Conditioned on Corruption Control

This paper examines the effect of foreign aid in the terrorism-FDI nexus while considering the extent of domestic corruption-control (CC). The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 78 developing countries. The following findings are established: the negative effect of terrorism on FDI is apparent only in countries with higher levels of CC; foreign aid dampens the negative effect of terrorism on FDI only in countries with high levels of CC. The result is mixed when foreign aid is subdivided into its bilateral and multilateral components. Our findings are in accordance with the stance that bilateral aid is effective in reducing the adverse effect of terrorism on FDI. Multilateral aid also decreases the adverse effect of other forms of terrorism that can neither be classified as domestic nor as transnational. Policy implications are discussed

Foreign Direct Investment, Aid and Terrorism: Empirical Insight Conditioned on Corruption Control

This study checks the effect of foreign aid on terrorism and FDI, conditioned on domestic levels of corruption-control (CC). The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 78 countries for the period 1984-2008. The following findings are established: the negative effect of terrorism on FDI is apparent only in higher levels of CC; foreign aid dampens the negative effect of terrorism on FDI only in higher levels of CC; when foreign aid is subdivided into its bilateral and multilateral components, the result is mixed. While our findings are in accordance with the stance that bilateral aid is effective in reducing the adverse impact of transnational terrorism, the position that only multilateral aid is effective at mitigating the adverse impact of domestic terrorism on FDI is not confirmed because multilateral aid also curbs the adverse effect of transnational terrorism on FDI. Moreover, multilateral aid also decreases the adverse effect of unclear and total terrorisms on FDI. Policy implications are discussed

Foreign Direct Investment, Aid and Terrorism: Empirical Insight Conditioned on Corruption Control

This study checks the effect of foreign aid on terrorism and FDI, conditioned on domestic levels of corruption-control (CC). The empirical evidence is based on a sample of 78 countries for the period 1984-2008. The following findings are established: the negative effect of terrorism on FDI is apparent only in higher levels of CC; foreign aid dampens the negative effect of terrorism on FDI only in higher levels of CC; when foreign aid is subdivided into its bilateral and multilateral components, the result is mixed. While our findings are in accordance with the stance that bilateral aid is effective in reducing the adverse impact of transnational terrorism, the position that only multilateral aid is effective at mitigating the adverse impact of domestic terrorism on FDI is not confirmed because multilateral aid also curbs the adverse effect of transnational terrorism on FDI. Moreover, multilateral aid also decreases the adverse effect of unclear and total terrorisms on FDI. Policy implications are discussed

Aid in Modulating the Impact of Terrorism on FDI: No Positive Thresholds, No Policy

We investigate how foreign aid dampens the effects of terrorism on FDI using interactive quantile regressions. The empirical evidence is based on 78 developing countries for the period 1984-2008. Bilateral and multilateral aid variables are used, while terrorism dynamics entail: domestic, unclear, transnational and total number of terrorist attacks. The main finding is that foreign aid cannot be used as a policy tool to effectively address a hypothetically negative effect of terrorism on FDI. The positive threshold we cannot establish is important for policy makers because it communicates a cut-off point at which foreign aid completely neutralizes the negative effect of terrorism on FDI. From the conditioning information set, we also establish for the most part that the effects of GDP growth, infrastructural development and trade openness are an increasing function of FDI. Policy implications are discussed

FDI, Aid, Terrorism: Conditional Threshold Evidence from Developing Countries

We investigate how foreign aid dampens the effects of terrorism on FDI using interactive quantile regressions. The empirical evidence is based on 78 developing countries for the period 1984-2008. Bilateral and multilateral aid variables are used, while terrorism dynamics entail: domestic, unclear, transnational and total number of terrorist attacks. The following findings are established. First, while the effects of multilateral aid are consistently significant with positive threshold evidence, bilateral aid is only positively significant in bottom quantiles. Second, with the slight exception of transnational terrorism in bilateral aid regressions, the impacts of terrorism dynamics are unexpectedly positive, in: (i) bottoms quantiles with domestic terrorism and the 0.25th quantile with total terrorism, for bilateral aid regressions, and (ii) the 0.25th quantile with domestic terrorism and bottom quantiles of transnational terrorism, for multilateral aid regressions. Third, interactions between terrorism and foreign aid dynamics unexpectedly yield negative effects in: (i) bilateral aid and domestic terrorism in bottom quantiles and (ii) multilateral aid and domestic (transnational) terrorism in the 0.25th(bottom) quantile(s). The modifying threshold value of bilateral aid is higher than that of multilateral aid. Fourth, there is positive threshold evidence from GDP growth, infrastructural development and trade openness. Policy implications are discussed

Inclusive human development in pre-crisis times of globalisation-driven debts

The paper verifies the Azzimonti et al. (2014) conclusions on a sample of 53 African countries for the period 1996-2008. Authors of the underlying study have established theoretical underpinnings for a negative nexus between rising public debt and inequality in OECD nations. We assess the effects of four debt dynamics on inequality adjusted human development. Instrumental variable and interactive regressions were employed as empirical strategies. Two main findings were established which depend on whether debt is endogenous to or interactive with globalisation. First, when external debt is endogenous to globalisation, the effect on inclusive human development is negative, whereas when it is interactive with globalisation, the effect is positive. This may reflect the false economics of pre-conditions. The magnitudes of negative estimates from endogenous related effects were higher than the positive marginal interactive effects. Policy implications were discussed