Suchergebnisse

While direct policies can ensure food security, this study poses that indirect policies can hinder or spur the expected success. Thus, the study examines the roles of government effectiveness and income growth on food security in West African Countries. Specifically, the study employed fixed effect Pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method using annual secondary data between 1990 and 2014. Data on food security, income growth and government effectiveness were obtained from the ERS International Macroeconomic Data Set, World Bank Databank and World Governance Indicators respectively. The study finds positive relationship among food security; government effectiveness; and income growth. This relationship was only statistically significant for income growth and food security. This result suggests that, the influence of government effectiveness and income growth in ensuring food security in West Africa is pertinent in promoting food security. The study recommends that policies and programs that ensure quality civil service, policy formulation, implementation and credibility of governments' commitment to such policies are fundamental for long-term food sustainability in West Africa.

In this paper, the authors test whether small states are any different from other states in terms of their income, growth, and volatility outcomes. The find that, controlling for location, small states have higher per capita GDP than other states and that they do not have different per capita growth rates. (DSE/DÜI)

Background: The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) faces pervasive income stagnation, high inequality, increasing population growth rates and poverty. For example, despite that half of SADC countries are low middle income (as opposed to low income), high inequality implies that many people in the region still live in poverty. While literature is replete with theories linking low incomes to population growth and savings, empirical evidence is context specific and often mixed. Aim: There is a dearth of strong empirical evidence that shows empirical linkages between population growth rates, incomes and savings in the SADC and this article aims to investigate these linkages. Specifically, the aim is to empirically understand the impact of population growth, savings and investment in human capital, on incomes. Setting: We focus our investigation on the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which comprises 16 countries namely, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros. Methods: To achieve the goals of this study, we analyse data from 1977 to 2014 obtained from the World Bank databases and use ordinary least squares, fixed effects, random effects and Arellano-Bond dynamic panel-data estimation techniques to investigate the relationships between incomes, population growth and savings. Results: Our findings support the existence of a negative relationship between high population growth rates and income per capita, as well as a positive relationship between capital accumulation (human capital), savings and income per capita growth. Shares of savings in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) of countries in the SADC stand at under 16% of GDP (compared to shares of over 30% in developed countries) and are particularly worrisome. Conclusion: There is a case for a concerted effort by the SADC Member States to control population growth, encourage schooling and, further, encourage a 'savings culture' in order for the SADC region to achieve its aspirations of eradicating poverty and hunger as outlined in Agenda 2063 and even the Sustainable Development Goals.