IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jfrcpp/jfrc-10-2020-0095.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shadow economy in Africa: how relevant is financial inclusion?

Author

Listed:
  • Folorunsho M. Ajide

Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the possible relationship between financial inclusion and shadow economy in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses panel data estimation technique and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach. The data of selected African counties over a period of 2005–2015 are sourced from World Bank Development Indicators, International Monetary Fund International Financial statistics database and International Country Risk Guide. Findings - The results show that financial inclusion reduces the size of shadow economy. The causality results show that there is a unidirectional causality moving from financial inclusion to shadow economy. The results demonstrate that a country with lower level of corruption and higher level of growth can benefit more in reducing the size of shadow economy through financial inclusion. Originality/value - This study provides the first evidence of the link between financial inclusion and shadow economy from the Sub-Saharan Africa perspective. The study suggests that financial inclusion may be useful in affecting the size of shadow economy in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Folorunsho M. Ajide, 2021. "Shadow economy in Africa: how relevant is financial inclusion?," Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 297-316, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:jfrcpp:jfrc-10-2020-0095
    DOI: 10.1108/JFRC-10-2020-0095
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JFRC-10-2020-0095/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JFRC-10-2020-0095/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/JFRC-10-2020-0095?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. Giorgio Gobbi & Roberta Zizza, 2007. "Does the Underground Economy Hold Back Financial Deepening? Evidence from the Italian Credit Market," CEP Discussion Papers dp0789, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Andy Titus Okwu & Isiaq Olasunkanmi Oseni & Rowland Tochukwu Obiakor, 2020. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Enhance Economic Growth? Evidence from 30 Leading Global Economies," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 12(2), pages 217-230, May.
    3. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Leandro Medina & Mr. Friedrich Schneider, 2018. "Shadow Economies Around the World: What Did We Learn Over the Last 20 Years?," IMF Working Papers 2018/017, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro & Peralta-Alva, Adrian & Waller, Christopher, 2014. "The shadow economy as an equilibrium outcome," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Ozili, Peterson K, 2020. "Financial inclusion and business cycles," MPRA Paper 102054, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Mandira Sarma, 2008. "Index of Financial Inclusion," Working Papers id:1575, eSocialSciences.
    8. Cyn-Young Park & Rogelio Mercado, 2018. "Financial Inclusion, Poverty, And Income Inequality," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(01), pages 185-206, March.
    9. Mandira Sarma, "undated". "Index of Financial Inclusion," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 215, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    10. Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Mohammed Amidu & Haruna Issahaku, 2018. "Mobile Telephony, Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 430-453, July.
    11. Axel Dreher & Christos Kotsogiannis & Steve McCorriston, 2009. "How do institutions affect corruption and the shadow economy?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(6), pages 773-796, December.
    12. Andrew Ellul & Tullio Jappelli & Marco Pagano & Fausto Panunzi, 2016. "Transparency, Tax Pressure, and Access to Finance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(1), pages 37-76.
    13. Bittencourt, Manoel & Gupta, Rangan & Stander, Lardo, 2014. "Tax evasion, financial development and inflation: Theory and empirical evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 194-208.
    14. Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo & Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Kofi Achampong Osei & Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako, 2019. "Financial inclusion and financial sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel VAR approach," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 444-463, April.
    15. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    16. Dabla-Norris, Era & Gradstein, Mark & Inchauste, Gabriela, 2008. "What causes firms to hide output? The determinants of informality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 1-27, February.
    17. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Bernd Hayo, 2019. "Sanctions and the shadow economy: empirical evidence from Iranian provinces," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 501-505, March.
    18. Toda, Hiro Y. & Yamamoto, Taku, 1995. "Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1-2), pages 225-250.
    19. Claudiu Albulescu & Matei Tamasila & Ilie Taucean, 2016. "Shadow Economy, Tax Policies, Institutional Weakness and Financial Stability in Selected Oecd Countries," Managing Innovation and Diversity in Knowledge Society Through Turbulent Time: Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM Joint International Conference 2016,, ToKnowPress.
    20. Henri Njangang & Luc Ndeffo Nembot & Joseph Pasky Ngameni, 2020. "Does financial development reduce the size of the informal economy in sub‐Saharan African countries?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 375-391, September.
    21. Niloy Bose & Salvatore Capasso & Martin Andreas Wurm, 2012. "The impact of banking development on the size of shadow economies," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(6), pages 620-638, October.
    22. Canh, Nguyen Phuc & Thanh, Su Dinh, 2020. "Financial development and the shadow economy: A multi-dimensional analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 37-54.
    23. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance, entrepreneurship and growth: Theory and evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 513-542, December.
    24. Terral Mapp & Winston Moore, 2015. "The informal economy and economic volatility," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1-2), pages 185-200, July.
    25. Joseph Keneck-Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2019. "Shadow economy and educational systems in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1467-1478.
    26. Rajeev Goel & James Saunoris, 2014. "Global corruption and the shadow economy: spatial aspects," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 119-139, October.
    27. Biswas, Amit K. & Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza & Thum, Marcel, 2012. "Pollution, shadow economy and corruption: Theory and evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 114-125.
    28. Rajeev K. Goel & James W. Saunoris, 2019. "Does variability in crimes affect other crimes? The case of international corruption and shadow economy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 239-258, January.
    29. Colombo, Emilio & Onnis, Luisanna & Tirelli, Patrizio, 2016. "Shadow economies at times of banking crises: Empirics and theory," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 180-190.
    30. Abdelghani Echchabi & Dhekra Azouzi, 2015. "Islamic Finance Development and Economic Growth Nexus: The Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 7(3), pages 106-111, August.
    31. Niloy Bose & Salvatore Capasso & Martin Andreas Wurm, 2012. "The impact of banking development on the size of shadow economies," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 39(6), pages 620-638, December.
    32. Peterson K. Ozili, 2018. "Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 18(4), pages 329-340, December.
    33. Suman Dahiya & Manoj Kumar, 2020. "Linkage between Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study of the Emerging Indian Economy," Vision, , vol. 24(2), pages 184-193, June.
    34. Goel, Rajeev K. & Nelson, Michael A., 2016. "Shining a light on the shadows: Identifying robust determinants of the shadow economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 351-364.
    35. Fredrick Ikpesu & Olusegun Vincent & Olamitunji Dakare, 2019. "Growth effect of trade and investment in Sub-Saharan Africa countries: Empirical insight from panel corrected standard error (PCSE) technique," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1607127-160, January.
    36. Peterson K. Ozili, 2020. "Financial inclusion and business cycles," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 180-199, August.
    37. Anh The Vo & Loan Thi-Hong Van & Duc Hong Vo & Michael Mcaleer, 2019. "Financial Inclusion And Macroeconomic Stability In Emerging And Frontier Markets," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(02), pages 1-15, June.
    38. Fedotenkov Igor & Schneider Friedrich, 2018. "Military Expenditures and Shadow Economy in the Central and Eastern Europe: is There a Link?," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 5(52), pages 142-153, January.
    39. Gamze Oz-Yalaman, 2019. "Financial inclusion and tax revenue," Central Bank Review, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, vol. 19(3), pages 107-113.
    40. Ozili, Peterson Kitakogelu, 2018. "Impact of Digital Finance on Financial Inclusion and Stability," MPRA Paper 84771, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    41. Mandira Sarma, 2008. "Index of Financial Inclusion," Finance Working Papers 22259, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    42. Bailey, Delia & Katz, Jonathan N., 2011. "Implementing Panel-Corrected Standard Errors in R: The pcse Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 42(c01).
    43. Cong Minh Huynh & Tan Loi Nguyen, 2020. "Fiscal policy and shadow economy in Asian developing countries: does corruption matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1745-1761, October.
    44. Susan Johnson & Steven Arnold, 2012. "Inclusive Financial Markets: Is Transformation Under Way in Kenya?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 30(6), pages 719-748, November.
    45. Roberto Dell'Anno & Offiong Helen Solomon, 2008. "Shadow economy and unemployment rate in USA: is there a structural relationship? An empirical analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(19), pages 2537-2555.
    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. Ajide Folorunsho M., 2021. "Financial Inclusion and Labour Market Participation of Women in Selected Countries in Africa," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 15-31, June.
    2. A. Ajisafe, Rufus & D. Odejide, Adekunle & M. Ajide, Folorunsho, 2021. "Monetary Policy And Financial Stability In Nigeria," Ilorin Journal of Economic Policy, Department of Economics, University of Ilorin, vol. 8(2), pages 17-35, June.
    3. Aamir Aijaz Syed & Farhan Ahmed & Muhammad Abdul Kamal & Juan E. Trinidad Segovia, 2021. "Assessing the Role of Digital Finance on Shadow Economy and Financial Instability: An Empirical Analysis of Selected South Asian Countries," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(23), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Ada Aliaj & Rovena Vangjel, 2023. "Financial Development and Its Impact on the Shadow Economy in Albania," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 12, May.

    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. US Thathsarani & Jianguo Wei & GRSRC Samaraweera, 2021. "Financial Inclusion’s Role in Economic Growth and Human Capital in South Asia: An Econometric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Chletsos, Michael & Sintos, Andreas, 2021. "Hide and seek: IMF intervention and the shadow economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 292-319.
    3. Berdiev, Aziz N. & Saunoris, James W., 2016. "Financial development and the shadow economy: A panel VAR analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 197-207.
    4. Amit Pandey & Ravi Kiran & Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2023. "Investigating the Determinants of Financial Inclusion in BRICS Economies: Panel Data Analysis Using Fixed-Effect and Cross-Section Random Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Guillermo Boitano & Deybi Franco Abanto, 2020. "Challenges of financial inclusion policies in Peru," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 12(1), pages 89-117, June.
    6. Henri Njangang & Luc Ndeffo Nembot & Joseph Pasky Ngameni, 2020. "Does financial development reduce the size of the informal economy in sub‐Saharan African countries?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 375-391, September.
    7. Joseph Keneck-Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2019. "Shadow economy and educational systems in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1467-1478.
    8. Salvatore Capasso & Franziska Ohnsorge & Shu Yu, 2022. "Informality and financial development: A literature review," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(5), pages 587-608, September.
    9. Bhanu Pratap Singh & Annu Kumari & Tanya Sharma & Abhishek Malhotra, 2021. "Financial inclusion, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna Scheme and economic growth: Evidence from Indian States," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 50(3), November.
    10. Luc Jacolin & Massil Keneck & Alphonse Noah, 2019. "Informal Sector and Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries: Does Financial Innovation Matter?," Working papers 721, Banque de France.
    11. Luc Jacolin & Joseph Keneck Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2021. "Informal sector and mobile financial services in emerging and developing countries: Does financial innovation matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2703-2737, September.
    12. Melingui Bate Adalbert Abraham Ghislain, 2022. "Does the diffusion of information and communication technologies affect the shadow economy in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(4), pages 513-526, December.
    13. Ada Aliaj & Rovena Vangjel, 2023. "Financial Development and Its Impact on the Shadow Economy in Albania," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 12, May.
    14. Khalil Mhadhbi & Chokri Terzi, 2022. "Shadow economy threshold effect in the relationship finance–growth in Tunisia: A nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 636-651, April.
    15. Folorunsho Monsuru Ajide & James Temitope Dada & Johnson Kolawole Olowookere, 2022. "Shadow economy and foreign direct investment in Nigerian manufacturing industry," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 23(2), pages 156-180.
    16. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2022. "Does economic complexity matter for the shadow economy?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 210-227.
    17. Imamoglu, Hatice, 2021. "The role of financial development on the underground economy in regards to Europe’s 2020 strategy," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    18. Elbahnasawy, Nasr G., 2021. "Can e-government limit the scope of the informal economy?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    19. Canh, Nguyen Phuc & Thanh, Su Dinh, 2020. "Financial development and the shadow economy: A multi-dimensional analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 37-54.
    20. Loan Thi-Hong Van & Anh The Vo & Nhan Thien Nguyen & Duc Hong Vo, 2021. "Financial Inclusion and Economic GROWTH: An International Evidence," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 239-263, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial inclusion; Informality; Panel data; Africa; C23; G20; H26; O17;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

    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:eme:jfrcpp:jfrc-10-2020-0095. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.