The purpose of the paper is to study the differences between Chinese and IMF lending in Africa, in particular the effect on economic growth and the relationship between lending and risk of debt distress. The assumption starting out were that the Chinese loans would not be marginally worse than their IMF counterparts. To analyze this, panel data for 53 countries on the African continent during the timespan 2000-2019 were used and combined into five-year average values to account for the effects of the loans. Two different types of regressions were created, one on the effects of Chinese and IMF lending on economic growth and one on the distribution and probability of Chinese and IMF loans to go to countries in risk of debt distress. The results showed no statistical significance but the comparisons that were done showed only slight differences between the two creditors.

This research is an empirical effort to uncover the causal effect of political attitudes on economic growth. The case of study is a sample of OECD countries. Using identification strategy borrowed from Cahuc (2010), the hypothesis of the effect of political attitudes on economic growth is tested in two cross-sectional and fixed effect regression analysis. The result of OLS regression in cross sectional analysis shows a positive significant correlation between inherited political attitudes and economic growth. This means that countries with more social tendencies towards Right (versus Left in political context) are associated with higher economic growth rates. The result of OLS regression in fixed-effect analysis does not show a significant correlation between political attitudes and growth. As a result of weak first-stage, the 2SLS regression cannot provide statistically acceptable conclusion about the causal effect in neither of cross-sectional and fixed-effect frameworks. Thus, the question of causal effect of political attitudes on growth remains open at the end. Moreover, a strong correlations between political attitudes of individuals and their characteristics like gender, age, income, religion and country is detected.

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Foreign direct investment is a medium for technology transfers between countries, a stimulant to economic growth, trade promotion, and international economic integration between economies; thus, many studies have studied the relationship between growth and foreign direct investment. This study also aims to investigate the relationship between economic growth and foreign direct investment in the East African country of Kenya. The study used the growth accounting approach as the basis for an econometric model. The data used is a time series from 1970 to 2019. An ordinary least squares method is employed to investigate whether foreign direct investment is significantly associated with economic growth. The findings show that the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Kenya is negatively insignificant. These findings can further the economic growth and foreign direct investment research on individual African countries whilst considering a country’s individual circumstances, like economical history, in comparison to cross-country studies, where each country’s individual circumstances might not be considered.

This paper examined the nexus between health care expenditure and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is widely acknowledged that health is a type of human capital and a critical factor in the process of economic growth. Health production, in turn, is a major determinant of health outcomes. While the former relationship has been extensively researched in developed countries, very few studies have attempted to investigate this relationship in developing countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Furthermore, very few studies have been conducted in SSA to investigate the relationship between health determinants, health outcomes, and economic growth. This study takes on the challenge of investigating this three-way relationship for SSA countries. Different variables like population, saving and foreign direct investment were found to be statistically significant determinants of economic growth using the Arellano-Bond Dynamic GMM technique for 26 SSA countries, while food availability were found to be significant determinants of life expectancy. On the other hand, none of the health indicators are significant determinants of economic growth in the region, implying that health outcomes must be improved in order to have a significant impact on growth. The findings should prompt immediate policy changes to harmful indicators in order to better stimulate health-led economic growth in SSA.

Investment incentive policies have been major policy instruments used in Canada and elsewhere to achieve economic growth and stabilization. In this study an attempt is made to isolate the specific effects contained in these policies, and to measure their impact on investment expenditures in Canada. There are three major sections to the study. First, various well-known models of investment behaviour are used to illustrate how investment incentive policies may be expected to influence investment expenditures. Secondly, a group of major Canadian incentive policies are described in detail, together with an outline of the institutional framework in which the policies were conceived and operated. Thirdly, these major policies are incorporated into investment functions to test for their impact on investment expenditures. From the empirical analysis, the investment incentive policies do not appear to have influenced investment expenditures to any substantial degree. At the same time the cost of these policies in terms of revenue foregone has been substantial. The major conclusion is that the case for investment incentive policies as instruments of short run stabilization policy is extremely weak. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Understanding the antecedents determining technology adoption in agriculture is essential to promote technology adoption to improve agricultural productivity in developing nations. The aims of this research were to understand the meaning of technology adoption for people involved in farming activities in developing nations, the antecedents determining technology adoption, their effect and how their interaction influences decision-making with regards to technology implementation in agriculture in developing nations. This study was qualitative in nature and followed an exploratory approach. This allowed the researcher to gain and understand new insights about the antecedents determining technology adoption in agriculture in developing nations. A total of 12 synchronous online semi-structured interviews were conducted with farmers and agriculture technicians from developing nations where the reliance on the agriculture sector is high. These interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis approach which led to the development of ‘The antecedents determining technology adoption in agriculture in developing nations’ Framework. This Framework refuted literature findings which highlighted the existence of four antecedents determining technology adoption in agriculture in these nations. Five predominant antecedents namely: awareness; financial assistance; applicability of technology; training and technical support; and demonstrations were identified in this study. This framework explains that the interaction of the identified antecedents is essential to foster technology adoption among farmers in developing nations and is important for stakeholders since it can provide a better understanding and guidance for the creation of integrated strategies to improve technology adoption in agriculture in developing nations. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The literature has shown that aggregate aid is mostly ineffective (Doucouliagos and Paldam, 2011). However, new studies on foreign aid also show that the effect of aid depends on both aid type and the donor type (Clemens et al., 2012; Isaksson and Kotsadam, 2018). Thus, the first essay investigates the impact of education aid on educational outcomes. The study uses panel data for 83 developing countries from 2000-2014 to examine World Bank education aid. The results suggest that there is no robust evidence that education aid is effective in improving educational outcomes. The paper finds some evidence that aid improves enrollment rates in primary and secondary but not tertiary education. The results show that aid's effectiveness is determined, to a large extent, by the type of aid and the economic outcomes aid targeted. Likewise, the second essay examines whether specific types of aid are more effective across different donors. The study uses factor analysis to separate aid flows into interpretable categories, economic purposes, social purposes, and infrastructure. In addition, the study compares three donors, the World Bank, the U.S., and China. Examining the growth effect of each aid type for each donor shows that the impacts depend on aid type. All the aid types are positive irrespective of the donor, though only the U.S. aid types show some improvements economic growth. The Chinese economic aid is a complement of the World Bank economic aid. However, the Chinese social aid and the World Bank social aid are both substitutes. Both studies show that most foreign aid to developing countries is not effective, but disaggregating aid by type can lead to moderate improvements in developing countries.

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Västvärlden har de senaste åren upplevt hög och stigande inflation, något som varit ovanligt de senaste decennierna. Ekonomisk tillväxt är av stort intresse för alla länder, och inflationens effekt på tillväxten var välstuderat under 90-talet. Därefter har bidragen varit färre, men är återigen intressant att analysera med bakgrund av rådande inflationsnivåer. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om inflation påverkar real BNP-tillväxt negativt på lång sikt. Det görs genom att med paneldata från OECD undersöka fem länder i en IV-regression mellan 1973-1984 och under en elvaårsperiod med start fem år efter respektive lands införande av ett inflationsmål. Resultatet visar att inflation haft en statistiskt signifikant negativ kausal effekt på den reala BNP-tillväxten i dessa länder och tidsperioder. Det är i linje med stor del av tidigare forskning på området. / The western world has during the last couple of years witnessed high and rising inflation, which has been of rare occurrence during the last decades. Economic growth is of great interest all over the world, and during the nineties the subject of the effects inflation has on growth was well studied. Thereafter the contributions have been fewer. Given the recent levels of inflation this is once again an interesting area of study. The purpose of this paper is to examine if inflation affects real GDP growth negatively in the long run. This is made possible through the usage of panel data, collected from the OECD, where five countries are included in an IV-regression during 1973-1984 as well as the eleven year period occurring five years after the introduction of inflation targeting. The results show that the negative causal effect inflation has had on real GDP growth in these countries and time periods is of statistical significance. That is in line with a major part of the published research on the subject.