ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
An empirical analysis of the interrelationship between foreign capital inflows, financial development and economic growth in Africa

Financial markets are a key factor in producing strong economic growth because they contribute to economic efficiency by diverting financial funds from unproductive to productive uses. Countries with better-developed financial systems tend to grow faster over long periods of time, and a large body of evidence suggests that this effect is causal: financial development is not simply an outcome of economic growth; it contributes to this growth. It reduces poverty and inequality by broadening access to finance to the poor and vulnerable groups, facilitating risk management by reducing their vulnerability to shocks, and increasing investment and productivity that result in higher income generation. Despite these assertions however, there exists no study that focuses on the African economy that examines the interrelationship between foreign capital inflows, financial development and economic growth. The main objective of the study was to examine the moderating role of foreign capital inflows in the relationship between financial development and economic growth providing evidence from emerging African economies. In order to achieve this objective, the study uses an explanatory research design and a quantitative approach to the study. The study utilizes data from 2004 to 2018, combined with the selected sample of 35 countries, this amounts to a total of 525 observations. The study uses the random-effect regression model to analyse the relationship between the variables in the study. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that financial development has a negative effect on economic growth among the selected countries. The study further found that foreign capital inflows in the form of foreign direct investment has a positive effect on economic growth among these African countries. Despite this however, the study found that foreign capital inflows do not moderate the relationship between financial development and economic growth among these countries. The study therefore concludes that more finance is not necessarily good for economic growth and highlight that an ‘‘optimal’’ level of financial development is more crucial in facilitating growth. Based on the findings, the study recommended among other things that countries in Africa should put in policies and measures that could help them attract more foreign direct investments into the country in order to help promote their economic growth since foreign capital inflows is found in this study to affect economic growth positively.

Source: KNUST
An empirical evaluation of the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis in Ghana.

Doubts on the validity of the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis (REH) especially for developing countries have been raised by numerous economists and researchers considering the ‘strong’ fundamental assumptions required for its validity. This study attempts to analyze the validity of the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis (REH) in Ghana and the possible sources of deviation from its basic assumptions of infinite horizon and absence of liquidity constraints. Using annual time series data from 1960 to 2017, the Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) estimation approach is employed to estimate the model for testing the validity of the REH in Ghana. The study does not find any evidence in support of the REH, albeit the assumption of infinite horizon could not be rejected. The results of the study suggest that the presence of liquidity-constrained individuals may be the source of deviation from the REH. The Ghanaian capital market is highly imperfect with more than 74% of Ghanaians being liquidity constrained. The analysis also indicates that public spending is a poor substitute for private consumption and implies that temporary increases in public spending may have some expansionary effect on aggregate private spending. However, in line with the Keynesian perspective, increases in current consumption as a result of deficit financing reduces future consumption which indicates a serious plight on the welfare of the future generation.

Source: KNUST
An empirical investigation into the impact of real exchange rate misalignment on economic performance: The case of Ghana.

Misalignment of the real exchange rate (RER), whereby the actual RER deviates from its equilibrium value, has important implications on a country’s economic performance. This study, thus, investigates the impact of a misalignment in the real exchange rate on the economic performance in Ghana. Annual time series data covering the period from 1980 to 2013 were sourced from the World Bank development indicator CD-room and used in this study. Econometric procedures such as unit root testing, co-integration and the vector error correction models were followed. The single equation method, which is a model based approach for the estimation of the equilibrium exchange rate and hence the misalignment series was adopted for the study. The study reveals that the equilibrium exchange rate is determined by fundamental factors such as productivity, government expenditure, terms of trade, net foreign income and real relative interest rate. The study also shows a substantial misalignment of the real exchange rate over the study period. The real exchange rate was overvalued during the period from 1981 to 1983. The exchange rate was however undervalued over the remainder of the study period. Overall the study indicates a negative impact of the misalignment series on economic performance in Ghana both in the longrun and the short run. It is therefore encouraged, that government’s economic policy strategies be focused on strengthening the economic fundamentals such as productivity, terms of trade, better trade policies, attracting more inflows of foreign income etc. with sustained macroeconomic stability and growth being at the center.

Source: KNUST
An Enhanced Asymmetric Cryptosystem Based On Multiple Key Systems

An increase in network technology development has its own downside; thus as more connections are established with various global computer networks daily, the more exposed the connected systems are to unauthorized access, thus making security of data very important to address. Internet based transaction applications such as internet banking, online shopping etc involves sharing of very sensitive information between two or more parties that should be confidential. This requires very secure end-to-end connections that will ensure the data integrity, confidentiality, authenticity, etc. Cryptography is one of the most reliable and best, if not the best way to keep sensitive data from unauthorized users. This implies a good cryptosystem that maximizes security of the data/information been transferred and minimizes a substantial amount of delay time is needed. This is dependent on the particular cryptosystem one chooses to secure information. Also of the two known types of cryptosystems, the best in security is asymmetric cryptography, which uses two different keys; one for encryption and the other key for decryption, whiles symmetric cryptosystems use the same key for both encryption and decryption. The essential features of asymmetric cryptosystems that determines a cryptosystems efficiency and security are; encryption computation time, decryption computation time, performance, encryption throughput, decryption throughput, throughput, randomness, key length, Operation per Instruction (O/I).This research seeks to examine these properties of some asymmetric cryptosystems and subsequently develop a proposed one that is more secured and efficient. The results of this research clearly demonstrate that, the proposed cryptosystem has better results for all the properties stated above.

Source: KNUST
An empirical investigation of crude oil price volatility and inflation in Ghana.

Oil prices have both direct and indirect effect on the general price levels of the domestic economy. According to Arinze (2011) rising oil prices can have direct effect on the consumer price index (CPI) by directly influencing the prices of energy related products like motor fuels, electricity, gas and household fuels captured under the energy component of the CPI. Also because energy prices form a considerable portion of the production cost of most goods produced; usually in the form of fuelling machineries and transportations, rising oil prices can indirectly affect the core portion of CPI. The study had the main objective of investigating the effect of crude oil price volatility on inflation in Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to examine the effect of oil price volatility on consumer and producer prices in Ghana, and also assess the response of consumer and producer prices to oil price shocks. The study estimates separate VECM models for consumer prices and producer prices using time series data from 1980 to 2016. The study found that oil price volatility had a positive effect on both consumer prices and producer prices. The impulse response functions also showed the positive response of consumer prices and producer prices are likely to be permanent and exist in the economy for a long time. Also the study found that exchange rate reduces consumer prices whereas government expenditure and money supply leads to higher consumer prices. On the other hand, exchange rate and money supply reduces producer prices, imports increases producer prices. The study recommends that policy makers and the various authourities consider policies that can enable the country diversify its energy mix to help reduce the positive effect that oil price has on inflation. Also, government should implement policies that will help reduce the risk from the country’s vulnerability of the oil price volatility.

Source: KNUST
An enhanced ECC for securing data, comparative study.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to enhance a cryptographic system called the Elliptic Curve Cryptographic System. Elliptic Curve cryptosystem is a technique of public-key encryption which is rooted on the arithmetical construction of elliptic curves over finite fields. Elliptic Curve Cryptographic System necessitates smaller keys compared to non-ECC cryptography to offer equal security. Elliptic curves are valid for digital signatures, key agreement, generators, pseudo-random and other related tasks. The first phase of the project involves understanding the key exchanges of Diffie-Hellman and also applying the properties of the Elliptic Curves, and it is terminated with key facts that the Elliptic Curve Cryptography has a shorter key length, saves bandwidth which facilitates key generation during the encryption/decryption of data, also the assurance of faster encryption and decryption, and notwithstanding its efficiency and efficacy in small devices.

Source: KNUST
An Enhanced Model For Securing Password Authentication Using Typing Pattern

Data security is a critical concern for most organisations. Textual password is the commonest authentication system for verifying users though there are a number of well known vulnerabilities associated with it. The other alternatives like biometrics and graphical passwords also have their drawbacks. The aim of this study was to propose a scheme that provides another layer of security to textual password by using a typing pattern which does not require extra device. Therefore, making it cost effect. The cost of data breach is a universal concern and an area of importance for every modern organisation. Developing a scheme for enhancing password authentication, will improve the security of data therefore reducing data breach. Implementation of this scheme will provide security for users who lose their usernames and passwords since just the username and the password will not be able to log in a user. This scheme will reduce most of the attacks on textual password such as phishing, keylogging, brute force attacks, etc. The research questions that guided the study were, how can a model be developed to enhance the security of password authentication? And to what extent will user authentication model using typing pattern make password authentication more convenient and secure? Experiment method was used by the researchers to find answers to the research questions. 20 participants made up of equal number of novice and expert users representing the general populace of computer users were used in the study. The results of the study revealed a very low false rejection rate and false acceptance rate. The proposed scheme prototype demonstrated that the scheme is viable in practice and cost effective. The study also revealed that by using this model, users do not really need to pick a complex password that they might forget, but rather a good rhythm different from their natural typing rhythm that will be difficult to guess.

Source: KNUST
An enhanced RSA algorithm using Gaussian interpolation formula

Data security is a crucial concern that ought to be managed to help protect vital data. Cryptography is one of the conventional approaches for securing data and is generally considered a fundamental data security component that provides privacy, integrity, confidentiality and authentication. In this paper, a hybrid data security algorithm is proposed by integrating traditional RSA and Gaussian interpolation formulas. The integration raises the security strength of RSA to the fifth degree. The Gaussian first forward interpolation is used to encrypt the ASCII values of the message after which the traditional RSA is used to encrypt and decrypt the message in the second and third levels. The last stage employs Gaussian backward interpolation to decrypt the data again. The integration helps to cater to the factorisation problem of the traditional RSA. Comparative analysis was performed using four different algorithms: RSA, SRNN, two-key pair algorithms and the proposed algorithm. It is proven that when the data size is small, the encryption and decryption times are lower for the proposed algorithm but higher when the data size is big.

Source: KNUST
An evaluation of internal control system in the public sector: a case study of the Ghana cocoa board (cocobod)

An internal control system is seen as very crucial and plays an indispensable role in organizations. Notwithstanding the indispensable nature of internal controls, existence of controls is not just adequate but the effectiveness of internal controls is very essential for achieving organizational objectives. This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of internal controls in the Ghana Cocoa Board. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the effectiveness of internal controls, to determine if there is evidence of management override of internal controls, and to establish the conformity of internal controls to international standards. The study employed the quantitative research approach based on the cross-sectional case study design. The population consisted of personnel of COCOBOD. Using the multi-stage sampling approach of stratified and simple random sampling, 120 participants were sampled for the study. Data was obtained from primary source using questionnaire. The field data was then analyzed by means of descriptive statistics with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Excel software. The study found that internal controls in COCOBOD is fairly effective but have some inherent weakness which compromise on effectiveness. The study also found evidence of management override of internal controls. Lastly the study found that some of the internal control components namely control activities and control environment to effectively conform to international standards although there is presence of some weakness in them but other aspects of internal control such as the risk assessment, information and communication, and monitoring activities weakly comply with international standards. The study recommends that all aspects of internal control are reinforced to ensure an overall effectiveness and also board oversight of management activities as well as the internal monitoring unit be improved.

Source: KNUST
An Evaluation Of Health Finance And Its Impact On Quality Health Delivery In Hospitals In The Techiman Municipality In Bono East Region

The Study Looks At Health Funding Systems In Ghana And Their Impact On Quality Health Provision In The Municipality Of Techiman. It Evaluated The Various Systems Of Health Funding And Their Impact On The Delivery Of Quality Health Services In The Municipality. Quality Health Delivery Is Evaluated Using The Donabedian Model Which Categorised Quality Into Structure, Process And Outcome. The Study Included Management, Employees And Patients Within Hospitals In The Techiman Municipality. Specifically, Employees Within These Hospitals Were Considered For The Study. In All, 61management Staff And 88 Employees Were Selected For The Study. A Total Of 232(Employees And Management) Were Involved In The Study. The Study Used Primary Source Of Data With Questionnaires Used As A Data Collection Instrument. Both Descriptive And Inferential Analysis Were Adopted In The Study. The Results Indicated That Risk Pooling And Health Service Purchasing Were Highly Effective Among The Health Institutions In The Municipality. However, Revenue Raising Was Found To Be Ineffective. Patients Positively Perceive That It Is Better For One’s Health To Be Financed Through Social Insurance Schemes; That They Could Not Have Afforded Hospital Services Without NHIS And That The Amount They Pay In Hospitals Is Worth The Services They Receive. However, There Was The Assertion That Patients Who Directly Pay For Health Care Services Receive Better Quality Health. The Results Also Indicated A Positive Correlation Between Quality Health Delivery And Revenue Raising, Fund Pooling As Well As Health Service Purchasing. Revenue Raising Health Service Purchasing And Fund Pooling Predict 79% Increment Of Quality Health Delivery In The Selected Health Facilities. The Creation Of Social Insurance Systems Should Therefore Be Stimulated By Bringing Together Large Out-Of-Pocket Spending On Private Care And By Extending The Income Collected To Low-Income Groups.

Source: KNUST
An evaluation of recruitment and selection practices at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale .

The study seeks to evaluate the recruitment and selection practices at the University for Development Studies. Recruitment and selection have become an inevitable HRM function in every organisation. This is in view of the fact that it has the power of strengthening the human resource base of an organisation for effective performance. This study purposely examined the recruitment and selection practices at the University for Development Studies. The research design used in this study was the mixed method; quantitative and qualitative methods. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, data was collected using multi-stage sampling technique to select 20 management staff and 214 employees, totalling 234 respondents. Out of the 214 questionnaires administered, 156 were retrieved and all the 20 management staff interviewed resulting in a response rate of 75%. Data was analysed using Ms Excel 2013 and SPSS version 21. Empirical results from the study revealed that UDS relies more on internal sources of recruitment and thus used promotions and upgrading. Unsolicited applications and employees’ referrals were also identified as the predominant recruitment methods. It was also revealed that interview has been the commonly used selection method by UDS. In addition, the recruitment and selection practices at UDS were found to have significant and positive effect on employees’ performance and were also reliable and valid. Difficulty in attracting qualified applicants, and inadequate qualified applicants were identified to be the major challenges to recruitment and selection in the University. Based on these findings, the study recommended that UDS employs innovative recruitment and selection practices such as E-Recruitment, networking with HR Professionals, social media and teaching demonstrations as the most effective recruitment and selection methods that could help attract and select the most qualified and suitable candidates for job offers.

Source: KNUST
An evaluation of internal control systems of second cycle institutions in Ghana

The main objective of this research is to study and evaluate the internal control systems in Second Cycle Institutions within the volta region. The study adopts qualitative data analysis. The researcher administers Questionnaires to staff and management of second cycle institutions. The researcher receives 83 questionnaires back from the respondents out of 100 were collected for analysis. Face to face interviews helps to get an in-depth understanding of the challenges of internal control in such organization. Aside the interview, the research relies on some secondary data and this data is analysed thematically. Based on the findings the study makes on the analysis, it concludes that internal controls are in place in second cycle institutions and such controls are consistent with international standards. However, the study identifies some challenges with the internal controls including lack of empathy on the part of supervisors and management staff, Manual Processes/Human Error, Lack of Accurate Data, Too Many Controls, Inconsistent Controls, Collusion/Fraud, Management Override of Internal Controls, Static Controls, Lack of Stakeholder Engagement with Reporting. The study recommends that Senior High Schools should continue to strengthen the internal controls of the schools in order to continue to prevent improper financial management and stealing of school assets. It also recommends for management to endeavour to motivate its employees by educating them well on the functioning of internal control procedures and also considering granting them incentive packages that will help boost their ego and make them give out their best at all times.

Source: KNUST
An evaluation of the Christ’s ascension gifts among selected Penteco/Charismatic leaders in Kumasi.

The New Testament presents diverse gifts which includes Christ’s Ascension Gifts found in Ephesians 4:1:1-16. These gifts are crucial in Penteco/Charismatic churches. However, there are misunderstandings of these gifts among Christians, attracting diverse opinions among biblical scholars. This is because there is emphasis on some of the gifts at the expense of others. This had led to a growing concern among some Penteco/Charismatic Christians over these gifts and their abuse in the church. This study undertook an exegetical interpretation of Ephesians 4:1:1-16, and also evaluated the understanding of the text among Penteco/Charismatic churches. The study revealed that though the gifts are supposed to work to ensure unity in the church, misunderstanding has resulted in disunity and abuse of the gifts. This has engendered various confusion among Penteco/Charismatic churches. Therefore, the study proposes that a proper interpretation of Ephesians 4:1:1-16 is a key to streamline the activities of the Christ’s Ascension Gifts and overcome the confusion thereof.

Source: KNUST