Financial Development and Economic Growth in a Post Financial Liberalization Era in Ghana: Does the Measure of Financial Development Matter?

This paper investigated the long-run effect of financial sector development on growth in Ghana. The result showed that the sensitivity of financial sector development to growth depends on the choice of proxy for financial sector development. The result showed that ratio of private credit to GDP, ratio of total domestic credit to GDP, ratio of currency to GDP, ratio of currency to broad money and ratio of broad money stock to GDP are statistically significant and negatively affects growth. The result from the indexes created from principal component analysis confirmed the sensitivity of the effect to the choice of proxy. The findings therefore suggest that one will judge financial sector development as having negative or positive effect on growth depending on the choice of indicator as a proxy for financial sector development. The research therefore recommends that policy makers exercise caution in the choice of proxy for financial development in policy design

Glossophobia: The Fear of Public Speaking in ESL Students in Ghana

Glossophobia, an individual’s anxiety of public speaking, has been observed to be a common phenomenon among students. The present study explores factors associated with glossophobia among ESL students of a tertiary institution in Upper-West Ghana, the Dr. Hilla Limann Technical University, Wa and makes recommendations for improvement in their public speaking skills. The study combined both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in an opinion poll involving 46 participants from the Level 300 class of the Secretaryship and Management Studies of the Business School. Participants acknowledged the importance of public speaking, but conceded that at some point in their student lives, when they had to speak in public, glossophobia prevented them from making a good impression on the audience. Speaking English before a crowd was identified as the most dreaded experience. Low self-confidence in speaking in public; lack of constant speaking experience and lack of knowledge in public speaking; fear of making mistakes and being laughed at; inadequate preparation and timidity were also identified as challenges affecting participants’ ability to speak English in public. To help students overcome that phobia, the study recommends that lecturers should adopt an interactive approach combined with the appropriate communication strategies to promote positive attitudes and create the desirable atmosphere for boosting students’ confidence. Lecturers should also organise seminars on public speaking skills and encourage regular individual oral presentation in class so students can practise to develop positive attitudes towards public speaking

THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ON SMEs PERFORMANCE IN GHANA: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT POLICIES

The primary purpose of this study was to propose a conceptual framework on the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on SMEs performance in Ghana: The role of social capital (SC) and government support policies (GSPs). The study re­viewed existing literature pertaining the five dimensions of EO and used measures of SC, and GSPs in relation to SMEs performance in Ghana. This study would be anchored on two theories thus the resource-based view and the social capital theories stressing the need for SMEs to focus more on their unique resources that existed with­in their social network relations. The study would further provide new insight to prac­titioners to understand and appreciate the role of SC and GSPs on SMEs performanc

Career Choices of Students in Senior High Schools in Ghana

Deciding on the educational path to pursue to arrive at one’s preferred career destination is important. Based on a survey that adapted Germeijs and Verschueren’s (2006) Study Choice Task Inventory (SCTI) to gather relevant data from 1,006 senior high school student respondents, this research assesses the decisional process of how senior high school students choose programmes of study in higher institutions and explores the career guidance and counselling services senior high schools in Ghana provide for their students. Our findings showed that high school students in Ghana were well-oriented about the study choice task and quite decided about the programmes of study to pursue in higher education. The study also found that senior high schools lack the career guidance and counselling infrastructure needed to support students in their efforts to make informed educational career decisions. Also, to a large extent, students relied on themselves for information as they consider the options available in their choices of programmes to study in higher education. Keywords: Career choice, high school students, Ghana, guidance and counselling, decisional tasks DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-10-10 Publication date: April 30th 2021

Export Variety and Imported Intermediate Inputs: Industry-Level Evidence from Africa

Imported intermediate inputs offer access to lower-priced, higher quality, and a wider variety of inputs that can increase the possibility of producing and selling more diversified products in foreign markets. In this paper, we examine this relationship using a novel manufacturing industry-level data across 26 African countries over the 1995-2016 period. We find strong evidence of a positive relationship between imported intermediate inputs and the variety of exported products. Further analyses in the study indicate that imported intermediate inputs positively affect the variety of exported products because they offer lower-priced, and higher-quality/technology embodied inputs. However, the positive effect of imported intermediate inputs on the variety of exported products depend on industry's absorptive capacity, especially when the inputs are sourced from advanced countries. We discuss the implications of our findings

Productive efficiency, structural change, and catch-up within Africa

This paper studies the dynamics of labor productivity convergence and technology catch-up within Africa, shedding light on two important and inter-related issues that are central to Africa’s growth: (i) convergence of relative productivity among African countries and (ii) the role of technological change and technological catch-up in driving productivity change across and within African countries. We do this by using a nonparametric method to estimate an African production frontier. Productivity change in Africa is decomposed into two components: technological change and technological catch-up. Our results show that Botswana and Mauritius are the only two countries in Africa that have converged to the productivity as well as the efficiency level of the frontier. This successful convergence is driven more by technological catch-up and less by technological change. We explore the special role of technological catch-up by decomposing it into within-sector convergence, between-sector convergence and initial specialization using a structural model (Shift and Share catch-up decomposition). The results highlight the special role of structural change in closing the productivity gap with the frontier. This paper contributes to recent evidence suggesting that countries can climb up the income ladder at a faster rate through a two-pronged transformation – i.e., structural change and technological catch-up

Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of glaucoma patients at a tertiary referral facility in Zimbabwe

PurposeTo evaluate the clinical and socio-demographic profile of patients living with glaucoma and receiving care in a tertiary eye center in Zimbabwe.MethodA hospital-based retrospective study of clinical records of glaucoma patients from January 2014 to December 2018. The study involved collating demographic information of patients, visual acuities, (VA) intraocular pressure, (IOP), cup-to-disc ratios, (CDRs), average retinal nerve fibers thickness, (RNFL), cup volume, cup-to-disc area, vertical cup-to-disc ratio, (VCDR), rim area, disc area, glaucoma hemifield test, visual field indices and the management of glaucoma.ResultsNine thousand one hundred and eighty-five (9,185) folders were retrieved. Out of these, 432 (4.7%) qualified for the study and were analyzed. There were 267 (61.8%) males and 165 (38.2%) females. The mean age (± Standard deviation, SD) of the patients was 62.66 ± 15.94 years, (range 10 - 110 years). The means visual acuity (VA): OD =1.30 ± 1.06 Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution, (logMAR), OS = 1.33 ± 1.06 logMAR; IOP: OD = 29.51 ± 12.89 mmHg, OS: 29.17 ± 12.59 mmHg; CDRs: OD = 0.91 ± 0.14 D, OS = 0.92 ± 0.14 D; and the average RNFL thickness was 72.76 ± 18.26 µm and 71.24 ± 23.17 µm in the right and left eye respectively. The mainstay of treatment was medication only. ConclusionThere were more males than females receiving glaucoma care at the tertiary level. Glaucoma cases included juveniles but the mean age was mostly the elderly. It was characterized by high IOPs, large CDRs, and thin RNFL suggestive of late presentation