ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Forecasting progress: analyzing the trajectory of under-fve child mortality for Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone towards SDG3 using ARIMA time series model

This study employs the AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model to forecast under-fve mortal ity rates in Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone for the years 2030 and 2031. Using World Bank Indicators data from 1967 to 2021, the study evaluates these countries’ progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3), which aims to reduce under-fve mortality to less than 25 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. The objec tive is to provide data-driven insights into future mortality trends, supporting policymakers and healthcare profes sionals in designing targeted interventions to accelerate progress. The results reveal distinct mortality patterns among the four countries. Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone exhibit a consistent decline in under-fve mortality, while Niger shows a non-continuous decreasing trend, indicating potential stagnation or reversal. Projections for 2030 estimate mortality rates of 30.5 per 1,000 live births in Ghana, 109.5 in Niger, 84.5 in Nigeria, and 64.3 in Sierra Leone. By 2031, these rates are expected to reach 28.9 per 1,000 live births in Ghana, 110.4 in Niger, 81.7 in Nigeria, and 59.8 in Sierra Leone. The fndings indicate that Ghana is on track to meet SDG 3, provided that sustained and enhanced healthcare interventions are implemented. However, Nigeria, Niger, and Sierra Leone remain of-target, requiring signifcant reductions in mortality rates to meet the SDG 3 benchmark. These projections ofer valuable evidence for policymakers, emphasizing the need for urgent and data-driven strategies to combat under-fve mortality in these nations

Source: UG
Foreign Aid – Real Exchange Rate Nexus: Empirical Evidence from Ghana

The contentious effect of foreign aid on real exchange rate in developing countries leading to Dutch disease necessitates further research since its impact can only be determined empirically. Using annual data gathered from the World Bank Development Index database with reference period of 1980 to 2016, we test the Dutch disease hypothesis by empirically examining the effect of foreign aid on real exchange rate in Ghana. Contrary to the findings of studies which establish non-existence of Dutch disease in Ghana, the empirical results of this study reveal otherwise, both in the short-run and long-run. To mitigate Dutch disease menace in Ghana, it is important that the country utilize its ideal productive capacity to cushion its aid-induced increased demand. © 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Source: UG
Foreign Aid and the Human Development Indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa

The recent literature on aid effectiveness suggests the presence of non-linear effects as well as other country-specific effects in the aid-growth relationship, which may explain the different findings in the empirical literature. We argue that even after correcting for the above, the focus must be on welfare effects of aid in the recipient countries since other contemporaneous effects might be involved, that may not be captured in a traditional analysis of the aid-growth relationship. We present some exclusive evidence on the effect of aid on indicators of welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that is said to be the least probable to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Our findings suggest that aggregate bilateral aid does not show a significant effect on the human development indicators and other welfare variables. However, disaggregated aid in the form of sector specific and programme aid do show a significant effect on the HDIs. The article proposes that aid is scaled up but targeted at areas where these are most effective. Moreover, other innovative ways of aid delivery apart from the traditional project and programme assistance need to be considered.

Source: UG
Foreign aid-Economic Growth Nexus in Africa: Does Financial Development Matter?

This study explored the role of financial development in foreign aid (measured by agriculture, humanitarian, health, economic infrastructure and services, and education aid) and economic growth relationships for 37 African countries spanning the 2002–2018 period. Using the instrumental variable generalized method of moments model, our findings indicated that while foreign aid impedes Africa’s growth, financial development spurs economic growth. The conditional effect analysis showed that financial development conditions foreign aid to spur economic growth. The country-specific analysis further showed that foreign aid has a higher growth elasticity in countries with relatively better financial systems, such as Mauritius, South Africa, Gabon, Tunisia, and Botswana, whilst the growth elasticity of aid is smaller in countries with a relatively weak financial system, such as Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study recommended the need for for policymakers in Africa to implement innovative ways to improve domestic revenue mobilization. The study also recommended that policymakers in Africa should create an enabling environment that will enhance the development of Africa’s financial system to mitigate the adverse effect of aid on economic growth.

Source: UG
Foreign and domestic private investment in developing and emerging economies: A review of literature

This study surveys and synthesizes the literature on foreign and domestic private investment over the period 1980–2022 witemerging economies. The documentary sources method was used to examine one hundred and forty (140) peer-reviewed articles (selected based on source, journal of publication, database, time frame, relevance language, geographical restrictions, and search descriptions) published in a broad range of internationally recognized journals, with special analytical focus placed on forty (40) recent articles. It provides fresh evidence that literature on overall private investment and that of foreign direct investment have been given paramount interest and attention, but domestic private investment has received relatively little attention to date. This review will serve as a roadmap, indicating the current state, contributions made, and unsolved issues in the existing studies as well as situating works to enrich the literature. It, therefore, offers specific directions for researchers, academics, and practitioners evidence from developing and

Source: UG
Foreign bank and banking stability in Africa: does strong and weak corporate governance systems under different regulatory regimes matter?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of foreign bank assets (FBA) and (FBP) presence is examined in terms of banking stability in the economies with strong and weak country-level corporate governance (CLCG) in Africa between 2006 and 2015. Design/methodology/approach: Using a Prais-Winsten panel data model of 86 banks in about 30 African economies: findings on how FBA and presence influence banking stability in strong and weak corporate governance economies under different regulatory regimes are reported for the first time in Africa. Findings: The findings show that foreign bank presence (FBP) and assets promote banking stability. However, the positive effect of FBA and presence is enhanced in economies with strong CLCG, whereas the positive effect of FBA and presence is weakened in economies with weak CLCG. After introducing different regulatory regimes, it is observed that the enhancing effect of FBP and assets on banking stability in the full sample and economies with strong and weak CLCG systems are deepened or improved under the loan loss provisional regulation regime. However, under the private and public sector-led financial transparency regulations, the reducing effect of FBP and assets on banking stability in economies with weak corporate governance systems is further dampened. Practical implications: These findings show that the relationship between FBP and assets is deeply shaped by corporate governance systems and regulatory regimes in Africa. Hence, policymakers must build strong corporate governance and sound regulatory regimes to enhance how foreign bank operations promote banking stabilityOriginality/value – This study presents first-time evidence on how FBA and presence influence banking stability under strong and weak governance systems while considering different regulatory regimes.

Source: UG
Foreign direct investment and employment: host country experience

This study investigates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on employment creation and wages in Ghana. A simultaneous panel regression model is used in estimating the effect FDI has on employment and wages. The results of this study indicate that FDI has a statistically significant and positive effect on employment levels in Ghana, but has an insignificant effect on wages. FDI can greatly augment domestic efforts by creating more jobs in the economy. The results clearly demonstrate that FDI flows affect employment quantitatively, but not necessarily qualitatively. The study identifies other factors including, productivity, wages, sub-sector, and location as important in influencing employment levels. Also, productivity, labour union, firm size, sub-sector, and location are noted as significant in affecting wages in Ghana. The main value of this paper is in respect of the fact that it provides insight into the effects of FDI flow on employment from a host country perspective. The study recommends that FDI should be considered as an integral part of the Ghanaian economic policy in order to spur on economic growth.

Source: UG
Foreign Direct Investment and Environmental Sustainability in Africa: The Role of Institutions and Governance

The African continent continues to explore more avenues to increasing its share of the global FDI inflows. In the midst of all these, very little has been said about how FDI among others contribute to the environmental degradation of the continent. Literature is sparse when it comes to how eco-unfriendly FDI flows could be, albeit it’s economic growth prowess. In this very study, we employ the use of a 24 year panel data (1990–2013) across Africa to investigate the impact of FDI inflows on the eco-system in order to situate Africa’s FDI flows within the sustainability development agenda popularized in the 80s. For the first time, we investigate how governance and institutions may regulate the impact of FDI on environmental sustainability. We do this conscious of the fact that other factors could also impact negatively on Africa’s eco-system which we control for in the empirical model. The empirical results compositely reveal an increase in FDI inflows significantly increases environmental degradation; hence causing a negative impact on sustainability of the environment. Year dummies indicate that environmental degradation in the post 2010 era is greater than degradation in 1990 which was used as the reference point. The study affirmed that, for FDI to have a positive impact on environmental sustainability, there need to be strong governance and quality institutions in place to check the conduct of businesses financed through the FDI flows. The study provides empirical evidence to anchor governance and institutional policy prescriptions towards reducing the negative impact of FDI flows on environmental sustainability within the sustainable development preposition.

Source: UG
Foreign direct investment and inclusive finance: do financial markets and quality of institutions matter?

We examine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on financial inclusion. To identify the causal effect of FDI on financial inclusion, we use plausibly exogenous source of variations in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as a novel instrumental variable (IV) for net FDI inflows. Using annual data for a broad panel of 90 countries over the period 2004 to 2017, our results show that FDI improves financial inclusion for both “access to finance" and “use of financial services". This impact is more pronounced for relatively poor countries and developing countries compared to rich and developed countries. We also find that higher financial market development and quality institutions improve financial inclusion directly. Moreover, financial market development and institutional quality can serve as potential channels and moderating variables through which FDI affects financial inclusion. Our results are robust to various estimations and sample splitting and have important implications for policy on financial inclusion.

Source: UG
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FLOWS TO GHANA

Ghana, as a small developing African country, has attracted the non-market seeking type of FDI. One major FDI categories that have been attracted into Ghana have included investments to exploit the mineral resources in the country, mainly gold. The privatization of AGC by the government was also presumably aimed at sending signals that it was prepared to encourage the participation of the private sector. FDI responded positively to the privatizations of AGC, Ghana Telecom and privatizations in the non-traditional exports sector, especially in canned tuna, cocoa products and other manufactures.

Source: UG
Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers and the Ghanaian Local Financial Environment.

Using the bound cointegration test, we examine how Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) influences Ghana’s growth through the financial environment. We use data from different sources including the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, covering the period 1977-2010 to address this. Our key results are interesting. Specifically, our results show that, both in the short run and in the long run, FDI will have a better influence on growth in a sound financial environment. However, whiles the capital market is important to propel FDI’s influence on Ghana’s growth in the long-run; in the short run, developing the banking sector alone is not sufficient to achieve growth. Banking sector development needs FDI to influence growth. Our results justify enormous efforts made by Ghana to attract FDI and further suggest that the continuation of this policy will be beneficial to the economy given the relative progress made with regards to banking system and capital market development over the past two decades.

Source: UG
Foreign direct investment, anti-money laundering regulations and economic growth

This study seeks to establish the impact of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations on economic growth as well as how AML regulations influence the foreign direct investment (FDI)-growth nexus for 165 economies across the globe. We employ Prais-Winsten and Hansen (2000) panel threshold regression estimation techniques to test the hypotheses of the study. We use data ranging from 2012 to 2018. We provide evidence that AML regulations generally stimulate growth; however, AML regulations only stimulate growth below the threshold value. Again, although we report that FDI stimulates growth, the growth-enhancing impact of FDI is more pronounced at higher levels of AML regulations.

Source: UG
Foreign Direct Investment, Political Business Cycles and Welfare in Africa

This article examines the relationship among foreign direct investment (FDI), institutions and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa in different country environs. We employ a two-step generalized methods of moments estimator with Weidmeijer corrected standard errors and orthogonal deviations to examine the empirical relations. In the full sample, we do not find evidence that FDI promotes growth. We also do not find a significant relationship between institutions and economic growth. Finally, we do not find convincing evidence that institutions alter favorably the effect of FDI on economic growth. In the subsample that excludes countries with developed financial markets, again we do not find a significant relation between FDI and economic growth. However, we find evidence suggesting that institutions play a direct role in spurring economic growth. Further, the quality of institutions seems to alter favorably the relationship between FDI and economic growth. Finally, in the sample that excludes countries with abundant natural resources, we find a direct and positive relationship between FDI and economic growth. We also find a direct relationship between institutions and economic growth. The growth-enhancing effects of FDI, however, seem to reduce as the quality of institutions improves. The major implication from our study is that countries should take into consideration their own realities when they fashion policies to benefit from FDI in terms of achieving better growth outcomes.

Source: UG
Foreign Exchange Moments and FDI in Ghana

In this paper, we estimate the effect of exchange rate moments on foreign direct investment (FDI). Using data from a developing country (specifically Ghana) during the years 1990–2012 and robust regression and bootstrap method, the study finds that FDI increases as a result of the depreciation of the local currency. Secondly, using standard deviation as a measure of volatility, we find positive relationship between exchange rate volatility and FDI. Skewness did not show any significant relationship with FDI, which is straight to the heart of the mean reverting principle of the exchange rate. We find the political atmosphere as one of the main factors of drawing FDI into Ghana. These results are robust in the presence of all the standard control variables having significant coefficients under the various methodologies.

Source: UG
Foreign exchange moments and foreign direct investment in Ghana

Abstract In this paper, we estimate the effect of exchange rate moments on foreign direct investment (FDI). Using data from a developing country (specifically Ghana) during the years 1990–2012 and robust regression and bootstrap method, the study finds that FDI increases as a result of the depreciation of the local currency. Secondly, using standard deviation as a measure of volatility, we find positive relationship between exchange rate volatility and FDI. Skewness did not show any significant relationship with FDI, which is straight to the heart of the mean reverting principle of the exchange rate. We find the political atmosphere as one of the main factors of drawing FDI into Ghana. These results are robust in the presence of all the standard control variables having significant coefficients under the various methodologies.

Source: UG
Foreign participation and internationalization intensity of African enterprises

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between foreign participation in enterprises in Africa, their internationalization intensity and the associated moderating conditions. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilized data from the World Bank enterprise surveys in 46 African countries across seven years. The hypothesized relationships are estimated using the Heckman two-stage pooled cross-sectional model to correct for selection bias. Findings: The findings show that foreign participation in enterprises has a positive effect on internationalization intensity in Africa. While we observe this positive effect, we also found that there is a lot of heterogeneity that accompanies this effect based on enterprise size, financial performance and local market competition. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to the internationalization literature by showing that foreign participation in local enterprises can have a positive effect on the internationalization propensities of these enterprises. It also shows that the main effect is heterogeneous as it is moderated by other enterprise and environmental factors. Practical implications: Enterprises should recognize the positive effect that foreign participation in them can have on internationalization intensity. Managers of African enterprises need to look beyond the investments into enterprises that foreign owners offer and take advantage of their foreign market knowledge and legitimacy. Discrimination in local markets could be considered as a push factor to internationalize. Originality/value: While the study is not the first to explore the relationship between foreign ownership and internationalizing behavior, it is one of the earliest to show that the relationship is heterogeneous, and it provides some key moderators. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Source: UG
Foreign Policy Decisions During Pandemics: The Case of Ghana’s Response to Covid-19

This study aimed to examine Ghana's handling of the pandemic and its impact on the nation's foreign policy. Many studies on COVID-19 in Ghana focused on the pandemic's effects on Ghana and the country's international and domestic responses to the pandemic. This study, however, examined Ghana's foreign policy choices and actions taken during the epidemic to ensure the safety of its inhabitants and support the worldwide pandemic response, as well as investigate the pandemic's effects on the country's sovereignty. The theory of rational choice and the notion of national interest were both used as the analytical framework for the study's aim to answer the central research questions. The study employed both primary and secondary data sources to gather information in answering the central research questions. One of the study's key findings was that Ghana's borders were closed, which decreased the rate of viral infection and community spread. This action limited the virus's spread and served to safeguard the nation's population. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, also made clear that Ghana's emergency health response system had serious flaws. The government was forced to move quickly in response to the crisis since the nation's healthcare system was not prepared to handle it. Although the study's findings showed that some state responses to foreign policy, like closing land, sea, and air borders, along with some diplomatic ones, like vaccine diplomacy, were excellent at protecting the populace, some unfavourable effects on the identity and reputation of the country were also observed. The study's findings showed that although Ghana's responses to the epidemic had many positive effects, they had also restricted several crucial aspects of the country's foreign policy, such as the idea of good neighbourliness. The borders' restriction hampered the free flow of people and products over them, which had a detrimental effect on trade and business between Ghana and its neighbours. Considering these findings, the study suggests making a financial investment in Ghana's healthcare infrastructure to prepare it for potential catastrophes. The country will be better prepared to address upcoming health crises attributable to this investment in its emergency response infrastructure. A well coordinated and integrated approach to managing health emergencies is crucial for the nation's foreign policy goals and national interests, according to the study's recommendations.

Source: UG
Forensic Science and The Forensic Biochemist First Edition

Forensic science has received more attention lately and this has led burgeoning of University courses being embedded with it. This book has new case studies with probable exams - oriented questions as well as uncovering the various activities of the forensic biochemist and the need for standardization of protocols. Target group for this book include undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, and forensic practitioners.

Source: UG