Agricultural Export, Growth and the Poor in Africa: A Meta Analysis

Over the past decade, a growing number of studies have examined the role of agricultural export in economic growth in Africa. The literature, however, provides conflicting results about the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. In this study, we aim to examine the impact of agricultural export on economic growth by performing a meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis finds significant presence of negative publication bias in the literature. Using mixed-effect multilevel meta-regression, we find that after correction for publication bias, the average agricultural export elasticity to economic growth is 0.763 for the poor in Africa. Interestingly, agricultural export is growth for the rich in Africa, although the elasticity of GDP is 0.043. These results are consistent with the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. The implication is that export promotion should be targeted at agricultural output in low-income and lower middle-income countries whereas upper middle-income countries in Africa may focus on non-agricultural export

Remittances, ICT and Pension Income Coverage: The International Evidence

This study examines the impact of remittances and information and communication technology (ICT) on pension at the country level. Our empirical evidence, based on data from 96 countries, indicate a significant non-linearity between remittances, ICT and pension income coverage. First, we find a convex relation between remittances and pension income coverage, indicating that increases in remittance, initially decreases pension income coverage, but as remittance increases beyond a certain point, so too does pension income coverage. This inflection point, where the effect of remittances turns from negative to positive, is estimated to be around 3.09% of GDP. Second, we document a concave relationship between ICT (i.e. mobile subscription and internet penetration) and pension income coverage. An increase in ICT results in increased pension income coverage. However, when ICT reaches a certain point, any further increase is associated with lower pension income coverage. The estimated optimal point is found to be around 140.14 subscriptions (per 100 people) for mobile phone and 27.93 (per 100 people) for internet penetration, respectively. Other implications are discussed

Reputational risks in banks: A review of research themes, frameworks, methods, and future research directions

Reputation is an important factor for long-term stability, competitiveness, and success of all contemporary organizations. It is even more important for banks because of their systemic role in a modern economy. In this study, we present a review of the current body of literature regarding reputational risks in banks. Using the systematic literature review method, 35 articles published from 2010 to 2020 are reviewed and analyzed. It was found that only developed countries (i.e., the United States and Europe) have been actively contributing to research on reputational risks in banks, suggesting that reputational risks management of banks has not gained the global attention it deserves. Additionally, issues of mitigation of reputational risks are identified as the most frequently studied research theme with a paucity of research on measurement, determinants, and implications of reputational risks at both micro and macro levels. Furthermore, it was noticed that reputational risk management frameworks are still underdeveloped. In theory, this review should help with a strong conceptualization of reputational risks management in banks and guide further research

Elections, Political Connections and Cash Holdings: Evidence from Local Assemblies

We examine the relationship between elections, political connections, and cash holdings in Ghanaian local assemblies. Using a panel dataset of 179local assemblies over a period 2012 to 2017, a panel regression and the generalized method of moments estimation techniques was employed for the analysis. We find that local assemblies hold less cash during election years, which suggests that election may be one of the potential factors to mitigate agency conflict in weak governance environment. Further, we demonstrate that local assemblies that have political connections hold less cash; however, political uncertainty makes these entities conducive to agency problems than their non-connected peers because they hold more cash. Additional analysis indicates that one year prior to elections, managerial conservatism kicks-in and leads managers to hold more cash in local assemblies that have political connections, which continues and becomes more pronounced in election years. Our results have implications for regulations on the cash management practices of local assemblies

CEO power and board structure of banks: a developing country’s perspective

This study examines the implications of CEO power on the board structure of banks in the Ghanaian banking industry. Using a unique hand-collected dataset in respect of 21 commercial banks in Ghana for the 2009 – 2017 periods, the results show that CEO power underscores the absence or lack of gender composition of bank boards and constrains independent directors, while incentivizing larger board size in banks. Meanwhile, ownership structure and listing status critically underpin the CEO power effect on bank board structure, such that the actual sign of the marginal effect of CEO power on bank board structure varies with ownership structure and listing status. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of the global antecedent of bank corporate governance (i.e. board structure) by providing an understanding of the implications of social connection hypothesis on bank board structure in a developing country's context

Market power, efficiency and welfare performance of banks: evidence from the Ghanaian banking industry

The study analyses the welfare performance of banks’ lending services in the Ghanaian banking industry with emphasis on the role of market power and efficiency. We made use of pooled OLS regression with fixed effect model. For robustness, we adopted Prais–Winsten (1954) regression and two-stage least squares (2SLS) instrumental variables procedures on an unbalanced panel data of 24 banks for years 2009 through 2017. The results reveal that during our study period, there was a welfare loss of about 0.433 percent of observed total loans. Encouragingly, cost efficiency in the banking system fits well within the world’s mean efficiency but has been decreasing over time. Further, there is evidence that prices have not moved toward a competitive level. Cost efficiency estimates are found to be negatively associated with loss of consumer surplus estimates. Market power is found to be positively related to a loss in consumer surplus. Additional analysis shows that the market power effect is dominant in both domestic and large banks. Overall, the results indicate that market power and bank efficiency are competing interests for policymakers in their consideration of policy reforms geared toward an efficient and well-functioning banking system. An additional implication of these results suggests that antitrust enforcement may be socially beneficial to provide an incentive for competitive pricing in the lending business segment of banking. Other implications are also discussed

Board gender diversity, corporate governance and bank efficiency in Ghana: a two-stage data envelope analysis (DEA) approach

This study analyses the efficiency of banks under board gender diversity and examines the determinants of bank efficiency. Using a two-step framework, the first stage result shows that banks experience about 7.9 per cent improvement in their efficiency with board gender diversity on average. The second stage regression results reveal that gender diversity promotes bank efficiency up to a maximum of two female directors on a nine-member board, suggesting a threshold effect on bank efficiency. Board size improves bank efficiency. Board independence is negatively related to bank efficiency. Also, we find that powerful CEOs are detrimental for bank efficiency. Finally, we find that ownership structure, bank size, bank age and loan-to-deposit ratio are important factors affecting bank efficiency. The paper contributes to bank governance structure, namely gender composition of boards and provides an insight for regulators and shareholders to estimate the role of men and women on boards

[In Press] A review of studies on green finance of banks, research gaps and future directions

With growing global concern for environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently focused on green finance. In this study, existing studies on green finance in the context of the banking sector have been reviewed with considerations on products and determinants of green finance. The content analysis approach has been used to critically analyse and summarize forty-six (46) relevant studies. The results found green securities, green investments, climate finance, carbon finance, green insurance, green credit and green infrastructural bonds as part of key green finance products of banks. Pertinent determinants the study found to be influencing green finance policies from banks include environmental and climate change policies, interest rates, religion, risks, social inclusion and social justice as well as banking regulations. In theory, this study provides a guide for further studies. The results of the study will assist banks on the key issues to consider in adopting, developing and granting green finance