IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/95139.html

Have economic growth and the quality of governance contributed to poverty reduction and improved well-being in African countries?

Author

Listed:
  • Aloui, Zouhaier

Abstract

This study examines the impact of economic growth and quality of governance on poverty and well-being in African countries for the period 1996-2016. The static panel estimation method is used to estimate the equations. Although economic growth does not seem to have an effect on poverty, the results confirm that this growth leads to improved well-being in West Africa. Although corruption and the quality of regulation have been found to increase poverty, improving government efficiency appears to reduce levels of poverty. Similarly, the results also show that corruption and government effectiveness are associated with a deterioration of welfare, but the rule of law and the way and responsibility seem to improve well-being. This study shows that governance indicators in African countries address the issues of poverty and improving well-being. Economic growth has been cited as one of the main drivers of poverty reduction, and the persistent problem of poverty in African countries has raised doubts about the effectiveness of economic growth. Recent evidence has shown that growth in Africa has been accompanied by an increase in poverty. Increasing poverty can slow the improvement of well-being and create social unrest. The quality of governance can also influence the extent to which economic growth reduces poverty. This study shows that improvements in these institutional (government efficiency) and legal (rule of law) measures tend to decrease levels of poverty and increase well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Aloui, Zouhaier, 2019. "Have economic growth and the quality of governance contributed to poverty reduction and improved well-being in African countries?," MPRA Paper 95139, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:95139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/95139/1/MPRA_paper_95139.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huck-ju Kwon & Eunju Kim, 2014. "Poverty Reduction and Good Governance: Examining the Rationale of the Millennium Development Goals," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(2), pages 353-375, March.
    2. Ravallion, Martin, 2001. "Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Looking Beyond Averages," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1803-1815, November.
    3. Donaldson, John A., 2008. "Growth is Good for Whom, When, How? Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Exceptional Cases," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2127-2143, November.
    4. 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.
    5. Santonu Basu & Sushanta Mallick, 2008. "When does growth trickle down to the poor? The Indian case," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 32(3), pages 461-477, May.
    6. Gough,Ian & Wood,Geof & Barrientos,Armando & Bevan,Philippa & Davis,Peter & Room,Graham, 2004. "Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521834193, January.
    7. Edinaldo Tebaldi & Ramesh Mohan, 2010. "Institutions and Poverty," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1047-1066.
    8. Kraay, Aart, 2006. "When is growth pro-poor? Evidence from a panel of countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 198-227, June.
    9. Adams, Richard Jr., 2004. "Economic Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Estimating the Growth Elasticity of Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1989-2014, December.
    10. Keefer, Philip & Knack, Stephen, 1997. "Why Don't Poor Countries Catch Up? A Cross-National Test of Institutional Explanation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 590-602, July.
    11. Javier Herrera & Mireille Razafindrakoto & François Roubaud, 2007. "Governance, Democracy and Poverty Reduction: Lessons Drawn from Household Surveys in Sub‐Saharan Africa and Latin America," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 75(1), pages 70-95, April.
    12. Sanjeev Gupta & Hamid Davoodi & Rosa Alonso-Terme, 2002. "Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 23-45, March.
    13. World Bank, 2003. "World Development Indicators 2003," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13920, April.
    14. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    15. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2007. "China's (uneven) progress against poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 1-42, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Kouadio, Hugues Kouassi & Gakpa, Lewis-Landry, 2022. "Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 41-63.
    3. Kodila-Tedika, Oasis & Mulunda Kabange, Martin, 2018. "Constitutional instability and Poverty: Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 84501, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2017. "Ethnic Diversity and Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 285-302.
    5. Eric Akobeng, 2017. "Gross Capital Formation, Institutions and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 136-164, April.
    6. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2023. "Do unilateral trade preferences help reduce poverty in beneficiary countries?," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 249-288, February.
    7. Dieu Ne Dort Talla Fokam & Benjamin Fomba Kamga, 2023. "Ethnic diversity and poverty: the role of institutional quality," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 70(1), pages 27-61, March.
    8. Fosu, Augustin Kwasi, 2017. "Growth, inequality, and poverty reduction in developing countries: Recent global evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 306-336.
    9. Dieu Ne Dort Talla Fokam & Paul Ningaye & Celestin Chameni Nembua, 2020. "Ethnic Diversity Management and Poverty in Developing Countries," Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Pro Global Science Association, vol. 19(1), pages 47-60, June.
    10. Bluhm R & Crombrugghe D.P.I. de & Szirmai A., 2013. "The pace of poverty reduction - A fractional response approach," MERIT Working Papers 2013-051, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    12. Fabrizio Carmignani, 2011. "The Making of Pro‐Poor Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(5), pages 656-684, November.
    13. Tarlok Singh, 2022. "Economic growth and the state of poverty in India: sectoral and provincial perspectives," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1251-1302, August.
    14. Bluhm, Richard & de Crombrugghe, Denis & Szirmai, Adam, 2018. "Poverty accounting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 237-255.
    15. Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2010. "Poverty reduction without economic growth?: Explaining Brazil's poverty dynamics, 1985-2004," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 20-36, September.
    16. Rui Benfica & Heath Henderson, 2021. "The Effect of the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth on Rural and Urban Poverty," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(1), pages 248-284, March.
    17. Christiaensen, Luc & Demery, Lionel & Kuhl, Jesper, 2011. "The (evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reduction--An empirical perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 239-254, November.
    18. Ms. Valerie Cerra & Mr. Ruy Lama & Norman Loayza, 2021. "Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey," IMF Working Papers 2021/068, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Richard Bluhm & Denis de Crombrugghe & Adam Szirmai, 2016. "Poverty Accounting. A fractional response approach to poverty decomposition," Working Papers 413, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    20. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "Do Unilateral Trade Preferences Help Reduce Poverty in Beneficiary Countries?," EconStor Preprints 247346, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    More about this item

    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
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:95139. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.