IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v149y2020i3d10.1007_s11205-020-02277-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Business Regulations, Policies and Institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Adjei Dwumfour

    (University of Ghana Business School)

Abstract

The study investigates the impact of business regulations, policies and institutions on welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa. The HDI and GDP per capita are used as measures of welfare or poverty. The World Bank doing business indicators are used as business regulatory measures and the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment are also used as policies and institutional quality measures. The study employs systems GMM estimation technique in examining these relationships. The results show improved welfare in SSA countries to be associated with less burdensome regulations on starting business. The results reveal that merely pursing regulations in respect of business operations and closure such as those related to getting electricity, protecting minority interest, paying taxes and resolving insolvency as a strategy to improve welfare directly does not work unless done within a milieu of sound policies and institutions. There are however threshold values at which policy and institutional quality indexes can complement regulations to improve welfare. Following a formal sample-splitting, the study finds some differences in these relationships explained by the income status as well as the legal origin of the countries. Policy implications are well discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Adjei Dwumfour, 2020. "Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Business Regulations, Policies and Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 861-890, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:149:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02277-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02277-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-020-02277-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-020-02277-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    2. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    3. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    4. Magombeyi, Mercy Tsitsi & Odhiambo, Nicholas Mbaya, 2017. "Dynamic impact of FDI inflows on poverty reduction:Empirical evidence from South Africa," Working Papers 22006, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    5. John Anyanwu, 2013. "Working Paper 181 - Determining the Correlates of Poverty for Inclusive Growth in Africa," Working Paper Series 979, African Development Bank.
    6. Gohou, Gaston & Soumaré, Issouf, 2012. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Reduce Poverty in Africa and are There Regional Differences?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 75-95.
    7. Azzarri, Carlo & Signorelli, Sara, 2020. "Climate and poverty in Africa South of the Sahara," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    9. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    10. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian & Francesco Trebbi, 2004. "Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 131-165, June.
    11. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    12. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    13. Gupta, Sanjeev & Pattillo, Catherine A. & Wagh, Smita, 2009. "Effect of Remittances on Poverty and Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 104-115, January.
    14. Hanusch, Marek, 2012. "The doing business indicators, economic growth and regulatory reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6176, The World Bank.
    15. Akobeng, Eric, 2016. "Out of inequality and poverty: Evidence for the effectiveness of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 207-223.
    16. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "Institutions for High-Quality Growth: What They Are and How to Acquire Them," Chapters, in: Kartik Roy & Jörn Sideras (ed.), Institutions, Globalisation and Empowerment, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Alberto Chong & Mark Gradstein, 2007. "Inequality and Institutions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 454-465, August.
    18. Mr. Arvind Subramanian & Mr. Francesco Trebbi & Mr. Dani Rodrik, 2002. "Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions over Integration and Geography in Economic Development," IMF Working Papers 2002/189, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Jagdish Bhagwati, 2002. "Trade and Poverty in the Poor Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 180-183, May.
    20. Dwumfour, Richard Adjei & Ntow-Gyamfi, Matthew, 2018. "Natural resources, financial development and institutional quality in Africa: Is there a resource curse?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 411-426.
    21. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    22. Alberto Chong & César Calderón, 2000. "Institutional quality and poverty measures in a cross-section of countries," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 123-135, July.
    23. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Newey, Whitney & Rosen, Harvey S, 1988. "Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1371-1395, November.
    24. Dhrifi, Abdelhafidh & Jaziri, Raouf & Alnahdi, Saleh, 2020. "Does foreign direct investment and environmental degradation matter for poverty? Evidence from developing countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 13-21.
    25. Adams, Samuel & Opoku, Eric Evans Osei, 2015. "Foreign direct investment, regulations and growth in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 48-56.
    26. Dwumfour, Richard Adjei, 2017. "Explaining banking stability in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 260-279.
    27. Costa-Campi, M.T. & García-Quevedo, J. & Trujillo-Baute, E., 2018. "Electricity regulation and economic growth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 232-238.
    28. Djankov, Simeon & Georgieva, Dorina & Ramalho, Rita, 2018. "Business regulations and poverty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 82-87.
    29. Richard Adjei Dwumfour & Elikplimi Komla Agbloyor & Joshua Yindenaba Abor, 2017. "Correlates of poverty in Africa," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2033-2051, December.
    30. Liyanage Devangi H. Perera & Grace H.Y. Lee, 2013. "Have Economic Growth And Institutional Quality Contributed To Poverty And Inequality Reduction In Asia?," Monash Economics Working Papers 37-13, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    31. Sharma Basu & Gani Azmat, 2004. "The Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Human Development," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, December.
    32. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    33. Perera, Liyanage Devangi H. & Lee, Grace H.Y., 2013. "Have economic growth and institutional quality contributed to poverty and inequality reduction in Asia?," MPRA Paper 52763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    34. Edinaldo Tebaldi & Ramesh Mohan, 2010. "Institutions and Poverty," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1047-1066.
    35. World Bank, 2013. "World Development Indicators 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13191, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Davidmac O. Ekeocha & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Patterson C. Ekeocha & Anthony Orji, 2023. "Analysis of Sectoral Outcomes and Institutional Quality Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.
    2. Elena Bárcena-Martín & Samuel Medina-Claros & Salvador Pérez-Moreno, 2021. "Economic Gender gap in the Global South: How Public Institutions Matter," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 459-483, December.
    3. Dwumfour, Richard Adjei & Pan, Lei & Harris, Mark N., 2023. "FDI and development redux: Is R&D a substitute for FDIs?," MPRA Paper 116117, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Rafiou Raphaël Bétila, 2021. "The impact of Ease of Doing Business on economic growth: a dynamic panel analysis for African countries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-34, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2016. "Do institutions alleviate poverty? New Empirical Evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 145-154.
    2. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 115610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," EconStor Preprints 269878, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Slesman, Ly & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Ra'ees, Wahabuddin, 2015. "Institutional infrastructure and economic growth in member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 214-226.
    5. Tristan Canare, 2018. "The Effect of Ease of Doing Business on Firm Creation," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 19(2), pages 555-584, November.
    6. Rafiou Raphaël Bétila, 2021. "The impact of Ease of Doing Business on economic growth: a dynamic panel analysis for African countries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-34, October.
    7. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Marco Di Cataldo, 2015. "Quality of government and innovative performance in the regions of Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 673-706.
    8. Koffi Délali Kpognon & Henri Atangana Ondoa & Mamadou Bah & Peter Asare-Nuamah, 2022. "Fostering Labour Productivity Growth for Productive and Decent Job Creation in Sub-Saharan African Countries: the Role of Institutional Quality," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 1962-1992, September.
    9. Daniel Oto Peralías & Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2012. "Tracing the Link between Government Size and Growth: The Role of Public Sector Quality," EcoMod2012 4015, EcoMod.
    10. Takuma Kunieda & Keisuke Okada & Akihisa Shibata, 2017. "A Simple Model of Contract Enforcement Institutions," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 410-434, August.
    11. Kezia De Lucas Bondezan & Joilson Dias, 2014. "Crescimento Econômico De Longo Prazo No Brasil: Uma Abordagem Sobre O Da Acumulação De Capital E Das Instituições," Anais do XLI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 41st Brazilian Economics Meeting] 096, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    12. Dias, Joilson & Tebaldi, Edinaldo, 2012. "Institutions, human capital, and growth: The institutional mechanism," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 300-312.
    13. Azman-Saini, W.N.W. & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Law, Siong Hook, 2010. "Foreign direct investment, economic freedom and economic growth: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1079-1089, September.
    14. Rougier, Eric, 2016. "“Fire in Cairo”: Authoritarian–Redistributive Social Contracts, Structural Change, and the Arab Spring," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 148-171.
    15. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    16. Bluhm, Richard & Crombrugghe, Denis de & Szirmai, Adam, 2012. "Explaining the dynamics of stagnation: An empirical examination of the North, Wallis and Weingast approach," MERIT Working Papers 2012-040, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    17. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    18. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2015. "The Impact of Fundamental Development Factors on Different Income Groups: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113128, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Vu, Khuong M & Asongu, Simplice, 2020. "Backwardness advantage and economic growth in the information age: A cross-country empirical study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    20. Osvaldo Lagares, 2016. "Capital, Economic Growth and Relative Income Differences in Latin America," Discussion Papers 16/03, Department of Economics, University of York.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Welfare; Sub-Saharan Africa; Doing business; Policies; Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • K15 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Civil Law; Common Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:149:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02277-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.