Finance-growth nexus and effects of banking crisis

Many economists have observed that the financial system has a positive and monotonic effect on economic growth. In this study we reaffirm the finance-growth nexus. We adopt a three-tier approach for the study’s methodology using panel data of 66 countries from 1986 to 2005. Firstly, we test for the finance-growth nexus with particular emphasis on financial sector indicators that best represent the effective financing activity in the economy. Secondly, we examine the financial market type that exacerbates or mitigates the effects of a shock (financial crisis). Thirdly, we investigate the causes of financial crisis by looking at both the macroeconomic and institutional, and micro-level determinants of banking crisis. Our results show that financial development enhances economic growth, more so, in the middle income countries. We also find that increased domestic private credit and activity reduces the effects of a financial shock on growth. In addition, openness of the economy in low income Sub-Saharan African countries is important for growth even where financial development indicators appear not to influence growth. In most economies the investment channel and openness are consistent in explaining economic growth

The quest for identity in African theology as a mission of empowerment.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.The thesis links African Theology with three notions: identity, mission and empowerment. Out of this linkage arise three interrelated themes that dominate the thesis. Firstly, different African theologies can be read as different modes of the quest for identity. The thesis demonstrates how the quest for identity in African Theology fits into political, philosophical, religious and other quests for identity in Africa, which are driven by historical factors such as the slave trade, imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism. The responses of inculturation and liberation theologies to these historical factors of disempowerment leads to the conclusion that being Christian can be both liberating and fully compatible with being African. Secondly, the quest for identity in African Theology properly belongs to the notion of mission understood as missio Dei. This conclusion is derived from an examination of critical aspects of missio Dei. These include determining the purposes of missio Dei as being the restoration of the imago Dei and the salvation and liberation of humankind. The conclusion is also derived from acknowledging that missio Dei is effected through missiones ecclesiae and missio hominum. Thirdly, constructing mission as missio Dei leads to the notion of the quest for identity as a mission of empowerment and an empowerment for mission. A multidiscipline theoretical framework of empowerment leads to a stipulation of ways in which African theology, through a quest for identity, is empowering or can empower its interlocutors. At the same time the mission of empowerment becomes an empowerment for mission. This is especially significant in the light ofthe acknowledged southward shift in Christianity's centre of gravity. That shift implies African Christianity having a missionary responsibility that extends to the rest of the world. The quest for identity in African Theology is fraught with ambiguities, dilemmas and risks. But this is a price various African theologies are willing to pay in order both to help uplift the historically disadvantaged Africans and also to secure the future of Christianity on the continent

The emotional effects of early orphanhood and the church’s response in the context of Zimbabwe : a pastoral approach

The SADC region has a high rate of children orphaned at an early age due to several factors which include the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Zimbabwean orphan population is estimated at 1.6 million children (Ntakazo 2011:1). An increasing number of orphans in Zimbabwe are under the care of elderly grandparents, and some have to fend for themselves. The breakdown of the extended family support system has caused orphans to be especially vulnerable. Against this background this qualitative study examines, from a practical theological perspective, the emotional effects of having been orphaned at a very early age on people’s later lives. The context of the study is Zimbabwe. Through “the multiple case studies design” (Leedy & Ormrod 2010:137) data were collected by means of narrative interviewing from three categories of participants who had been orphaned before the age of five. Two participants of primary school age, two of secondary school age and two young adults on a tertiary education level were interviewed. The primary theoretical framework for processing and interpreting the data was derived from Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development, supplemented by Kohlberg’s theory of the stages of moral development (1981) and Fowler’s theory of the stages of faith (1981). This study, located in human developmental studies and practical theology, focuses on the emotional effects of early orphanhood at different stages of life and the role of the faith community in caring for such people. The study found that children orphaned before the age of five years experience intense psychological and emotional pain throughout the various developmental stages and that this pain is expressed in a variety of ways. The study concludes with an exploration of how Scripture and the faith community can be utilised as potential sources of healing.Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Practical TheologyMAUnrestricte