Does Saving Really Matter For Growth In Developing Countries? The Case Of A Small Open Economy

The study employed the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lutkepohl (1996) –TYDL methodology to uncover the direction of causal relationship between savings and economic growth in Nigeria between 1970 and 2006. The empirical results suggest that savings and economic growth are positively cointegrated, indicating a stable long-run equilibrium relationship. Further, the findings revealed a unidirectional causality between savings and economic growth and the complementary role of FDI in growth

Stock Market and Economic Growth: The Nigerian Experience

The study examined stock market-economic growth nexus in the Nigerian economy. It specifically investigates the effects and the causal relationship between the two variables in Nigeria. This was with the view to providing empirical evidence for stock market operation to stimulate economic growth with maximising the welfare of the people. The study employed annual time series data from 1981 to 2008 collected from various issues of Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical Bulletin and Annual Report and statement of Account of Nigeria Stock Exchange 2009 edition. An Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) Model was adopted in the analyses of the interaction between stock market and economic growth. The granger causality pairwise test was conducted in determining the causal relationship among the variables. The empirical results showed that, there was unidirectional causality between stock market and economic growth, which ran from economic growth (GDP) to stock market (MCAP) at 5 percent significant level., stock market has negative effect on economic growth in the short run but positive effect in the long run with (t=1.6, P>0.05) and (t = 4.6, P<0.05) respectively. However, the effect was statistically significant at 5% level of significance only in the long run. The study concludes that, the Nigerian stock market is no exception to other developing countries which are working towards reforming and deepening their financial systems through the expansion of its stock markets in order to improve their ability to mobilize resources and efficiently allocate them to the most productive sectors of the economy so as to enhance economic growth. Keywords: Market Capitalization, Total Value of Transactions, Total New Issues, Gross Domestic Product and Bank Total Asse

Disaggregated Public Expenditure Patterns and Private Investment Outcomes in Nigeria

This study sought to find out the extent of relationship (if any) between the short- and long-term effects of the disaggregated component of government expenditure on private investments. Using the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, the study determined that components of both recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure are significant determinants of the relationships with private investment in the long run only. The results indicates that there is a significant crowding-in effect between components of government expenditure and private investments in Nigeria. This is consistent with the Keynesian school, particular for Nigeria’s economy which requires government to spend heavily in order to create the enabling environment for inflows of private investment while increasing aggregate demand and jobs. The study determined the optimal recurrent and capital expenditure models for the economy and also showed that lending rates inflation rates, exchange rates, and GDP growth rates, are significant determinants of private investments. Keywords: ARDL, Capital Expenditure, Private Investment, Recurrent Expenditure DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-16-03 Publication date: October 202

Foreign Assistance, Institutional Quality and Economic Growth in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries: 1990 – 2021

This study adopts the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator to analyse the impact of institutional quality and foreign assistance on economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries, using time series data sourced from the World Bank Development Indicators (WDI) and World Bank Governance Indicators (WGI) for the period 1990 to 2021. The study went a step further to determine whether there is a significant interactive development effect of foreign assistance and institutional quality in sub-Saharan African countries.   The results show that foreign assistance has a positive conditional marginal effect on per-capita GDP, institutional quality has a positive conditional marginal impact on per-capita GDP and their interaction is also positive. The results are all statistically significant at 10% level of significance. Thus, foreign assistance and good quality institutions improves economic growth. This does not imply that; sub-Saharan African region should heavily rely on foreign assistance, without putting in place specific developmental efforts. Thus, it is opined that policymakers should regulate the allocation of foreign assistance and improve the quality of institutions. In doing so, the production capacity of the region would increase and the region would attract huge amount of foreign direct investment (FDI). Consequently, there would be a distinction between the amount of foreign assistance needed to lessen poverty and the levels of foreign assistance required to achieve economic growth. Keywords: Foreign Assistance; economic growth; AMG Estimator, CCEMG Estimator, Institutional Quality and Sub-Saharan Africa DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-8-07 Publication date: April 30th 202

Plasma lipid profile, atherogenic and coronary risk indices in some residents of Abeokuta in south-western Nigeria

The incidence of chronic degenerative diseases like stroke and myocardial infarction in African subpopulations is reported to be increasing. In view of the association between dyslipidemia and these chronic degenerative diseases, we investigated some well-established cardiovascular risk factors (plasma cholesterol and its fractions as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride, adiposity and blood pressure) in 92 subjects (43 males and 49 females) in Abeokuta, Nigeria. LDL cholesterol was significantly higher in the women compared with men (128.58mg/dl vs 108.73mg/dl; p = 0.028). Total cholesterol, although slightly higher in women, was not significantly different from that of men (155.71mg/dl vs 147.26mg/dl). HDL cholesterol and triglyceride were not significantly different between the two sexes, although women tended to have lower HDL cholesterol when compared with men. LDL/HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol were significantly higher in women compared with men (4.20 vs 2.97; p = 0.004; 5.03 vs 4.06; p = 0.024, respectively). Systolic blood pressure was higher in men compared with women (117.58 vs 104.84; p = 0.002). Results indicate that the association between cholesterol and chronic degenerative diseases is continuous with no single cholesterol level separating those who are at high risk from those who are not. Rather in defining cardiovascular risks in African populations, the ratios LDL/HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol should be considered. It might be appropriate at this time in Nigeria to consider physical activity and pharmacological interventions in lowering blood lipids

Decreased wheat production in the USA from climate change driven by yield losses rather than crop abandonment

An increase in global average surface temperature over the 21st century will affect food production. There is still uncertainty if the source of the production losses caused by climate change could be driven either by lower yield or reduced area harvested. We use county-level production data on winter wheat coupled with fine-scale weather outcomes between 1981-2007 to examine the impact of climate change on winter wheat production in Kansas. We decompose the total impact of weather variables through both the yield and harvested acreage channels. We find that an insignificant portion—both in terms of magnitude and statistical significance—of the production losses are due to reduced harvested acres (i.e., crop abandonment). The proportion harvested only account for 14.88% and 21.71% of the total damages under RCPs 4.5 and 8.5 and neither effect is statistically significant. An implication of this result implies that studies that only examine climate impacts on harvested yields are not significantly underestimating the climate change impacts on production

Synergetic effect of enzymes and probiotic in improving sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) based diets for broiler chickens

The study was carried out to assess the synergetic effect of the combination of enzymes and probiotic in sorghum based diet for broiler chickens. Three hundred and ninety-six (396) Ross broiler chicks were allotted to six (6) dietary treatments with three (3) replicates, each having twenty-two (22) birds in a completely randomized design. Treatment 1, maize based diet; T2, sorghum based diet; T3, Sorghum based diet with Ronozyme® ProAct and Enviva® Pro 202 GT; T4, Sorghum based diet with Roxazyme® G2G and Enviva® Pro 202 GT; T5, Sorghum based diet with Axtra XAP® 101 TPT and Enviva® Pro 202 GT, and T6, Sorghum based diet with Enviva® Pro 202 GT. Diets were formulated to meet standard requirements. Results showed significant (P < 0.05) difference in the growth performance of birds in starter and finisher phase. Results for digestibility and carcass values in some parameters showed significant (P < 0.05) difference across the different treatment diet, with birds fed sorghum based diet alone having the least values. The net profit (‎₦/bird) for birds fed sorghum based diet without feed additive was low compared with birds fed sorghum based diet with enzyme and probiotics in combination. It was concluded that the synergetic effect of exogenous enzymes and probiotics in sorghum based diets showed complementary effect on performance and increased net profit of broiler production. Keywords: Poultry; sorghum; enzymes; probiotic

The Effects of Globalization on an Emerging Economy: The Case of South Africa

This dissertation examines how globalization influences selected aspects of an emerging economy, using South Africa as a case study. The dissertation consists of three chapters: two microeconomic studies and one macroeconomic paper on the effects of globalization on some of the factors affecting economic growth. One micro paper explores the impacts of openness on inequality (Chapter 1), another investigates the impacts of trade liberalization on manufacturing sector wages (Chapter 2), and the macro study, which is the final chapter, examines the effects of inflation targeting on exchange rate pass through to domestic prices (Chapter 3). In 1994, apartheid ended in South Africa and the re-integration of the country into the global economy began. As international sanctions were lifted, South Africa’s development strategy shifted from export promotion with import controls to greater openness through economic and financial liberalization. There is a distinct effect of this integration on South Africa’s economy, judging by the difference between the GDP and the GNP. Many studies in this area of research have focused on developed countries and some emerging and newly industrialized economies. The following three essays highlight the implications of openness on different aspects of South African economy. The first essay examines the relationship between globalization and income inequality in South Africa. Despite the importance that is often attached to globalization, its impact in developing countries remains poorly understood. To the best of our knowledge, there is as yet no conclusive empirical study of its impact on inequality in South Africa. Although the economic and social progress achieved in South Africa has been impressive, there is a growing concern about the adverse impact of trade liberalization on the country’s industries. Thus, the second essay extends the discussion in the first essay by looking at the impact of a specific aspect of globalization, i.e. trade reforms, on wages in South Africa’s manufacturing sector. After the currency crashes of the late 1990s, a growing number of emerging economies moved away from exchange rate rigidity to the adoption of a combination of flexible exchange rates and inflation targeting. The third and final essay explores whether the direction and size of changes in the exchange rate have different pass-through effects on import prices. That is, whether the exchange rate pass-through is symmetric or asymmetric

A Study of Sacral Hiatus in Dry Human Sacra in Southern Nigeria

The opening present at the caudal end of sacral canal is known as sacral hiatus. The aim of this study is to determine the anatomical variations of sacral hiatus in dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. This study was carried out on 54 dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. Various shape of the hiatus were observed which includes inverted U- shape (24.1%), inverted V-shape (33.3%), irregular (13.0%), Dumbbell (9.3%) and Bifid (5.6%). The apex of sacral hiatus was commonly found at the level of 4th sacral vertebra in 66.7%. The mean length of sacral hiatus was 23.65mm. The mean anteroposterior diameter of sacral canal at the apex of sacral hiatus was 6.11mm. In conclusion, the sacral hiatus has anatomical variations and understanding of these variations may improve reliability of caudal epidural block. Keywords: sacral hiatus, dry human sacra, southern Nigeria