This research examines asymmetric price transmission and its link to market concentration in South Africa's dairy value chain, employing econometric techniques including Error Correction Models (ECM), Granger causality tests, and cointegration analysis. Using monthly price data (2000–2024) from farm-gate, processor, and retail levels. Employing ADF/PP unit root tests, Johansen cointegration, ECM, Granger causality, and HHI. The study identifies asymmetric price transmission characterized by stronger pass-through from retail to processor prices than from processor to farm-gate prices. Unit root tests confirm stationarity after first differencing (I(1)), while Johansen cointegration reveals long-run equilibrium between farm and retail pairs. ECM results demonstrate a 32% speed of adjustment to disequilibrium, with farmgate exerting disproportionate influence (51% long-run pass-through to retail). Granger causality tests confirm unidirectional relationships between farm prices and retail prices, reflecting market power in concentrated segments (HHI value of 2650). These findings underscore how market concentration distorts value chain equity. Policy recommendations include antitrust enforcement, transparency initiatives, and support for producer cooperatives to mitigate asymmetric power dynamics. Policies should also prioritize antitrust measures and cooperatives.
This research empirically examines the effect of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on Morocco’s economic growth over the period 1998–2022. It is based on an extended Solow growth model that incorporates ICT as a production factor complementing capital and labor. A composite ICT index is constructed using data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), encompassing dimensions of access, usage, and skills. The econometric approach adopted is the AutoRegressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, which captures both short- and long-term dynamics. The results reveal a cointegration relationship between ICT and economic growth, validated by the Bounds testing approach of Pesaran et al. (2001). In the short run, ICT has a positive and significant impact on growth, while inflation and the labor force have a negative effect. In the long run, ICT, foreign direct investment (FDI), labor force, and gross fixed capital formation contribute positively to economic growth. The study confirms the pivotal role of ICT as a driver of economic transformation and emphasizes the importance of sustained investment in technology and education. It recommends strengthening digital infrastructure, improving workforce skills, and attracting more foreign investment to foster inclusive and sustainable growth.
This study investigates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can improve Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance monitoring and its effect on corporate sustainability risks. Specifically, it examines the extent to which AI enhances the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of ESG disclosures, thereby reducing sustainability risk exposure. By using a quantitative research design, data was gathered from 320 publicly listed corporations across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific between 2016 and 2024, yielding a balanced panel dataset of 2,880 firm-year observations. The study used the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression model to examine the relationship between AI-driven ESG compliance monitoring and corporate sustainability risks. Results indicated a highly significant negative relationship: the AI_ESG coefficient was −6.84 (p<0.01), suggesting that a one-unit increase in AI-driven ESG monitoring adoption is associated with a 6.84-unit reduction in corporate sustainability risk, equivalent to approximately 0.53 standard deviations of the CSRISK distribution. Similarly, ESG performance scores were negatively associated with sustainability risk (coefficient = −0.39, p<0.01). Factors such as firm size and financial leverage were also found to have significant effects on levels of sustainability risks. Robustness checks, including lagged independent variables and subsample analyses, confirmed the stability of these findings. The implications of the findings are that AI integration in ESG reporting processes represents a strategic imperative for corporations seeking alignment with evolving regulations. Policymakers are encouraged to facilitate AI adoption, particularly among smaller firms, to promote broader ESG compliance and risk management across the corporate landscape.
This study examines the attractiveness of Saudi Arabia as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The study assesses the Kingdom's current position relative to other GCC countries, identifies the main factors affecting investor choices, and proposes policy steps to make Saudi Arabia a more attractive FDI destination. The study uses a comparative research design that covers multiple countries and is based on Dunning's eclectic OLI theory and location-specific factors. Secondary data for 2020–2024 were collected from the World Investment Report, World Bank, IMF, and other international sources. The findings show that Saudi Arabia is consistently ranked second among GCC countries in FDI inflows, with total inflows of about USD 95.2 billion during the study period. This reflects the positive effect of the Vision 2030 reform programme. The Kingdom is strong in market size, economic growth potential, and digital and innovation development. However, it still lags behind the UAE, the region's top FDI destination, in several key areas of institutional quality and competitiveness. The study concludes with policy recommendations on regulatory reform, talent attraction, sectoral diversification, and digital ecosystem development to help reduce this gap and make Saudi Arabia the top FDI destination in the GCC in the near future.
This study examines the impact of institutional risk management (IRM) and human resource risk management (HRRM) on crop production (CP) in the agricultural sector. This study aimed to investigate the direct impacts of IRM and HRRM on CP, as well as to evaluate the moderating role of IRM in the HRRM-CP relationship. A quantitative research design was utilised, employing structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse data from agricultural stakeholders. The findings indicate that both IRM and HRRM significantly positively influence CP, suggesting that enhancements in risk management practices can improve agricultural productivity. A 1% increase in HRRM results in a significant rise in CP, and IRM similarly exhibits a positive effect on crop production. When IRM was introduced as an interaction term, its moderating effect on the HRRM-CP relationship was statistically insignificant. This indicates that although both IRM and HRRM independently affect crop production, IRM does not significantly impact the strength of the HRRM-CP relationship. This study presents original findings indicating that HRRM and IRM are essential, yet distinct, factors affecting agricultural outcomes. The findings highlight the necessity for agricultural policymakers and stakeholders to prioritise HRRM and IRM within their risk management frameworks. This approach can promote increased crop yield and support sustainable agricultural advancement.
In the context of Botswana, the relationship between foreign portfolio investment and the stock market returns is unclear in both the short and long run. The study aims to empirically examine the relationship between foreign portfolio investments and securities markets performance at the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), covering the period 2004 to 2022. The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds model to test for cointegration and the Toda and Yamamoto and Dolado and Lütkepohl (TYDL) model to examine the direction of causality. The findings suggest that current investment flows significantly enhance current stock market returns in the short run; considering macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, market capitalization and exchange rates. The study also finds that past investment flows do not Granger cause stock market returns, indicating that past investment flows do not contain sufficient information to predict future stock returns and past stock returns do not predict future investment flows. The BSE is urged to enhance data transparency and availability, implement risk management frameworks, improve financial market infrastructure, support capital market development, monitor and manage volatility as well as developing strategies to attract stable foreign investment.
The objective of this study is to analyse the effects of market gardening on the monetary poverty of rural households in Senegal, particularly in the Sedhiou region. Data was collected from 280 households. A comparison of household monetary poverty indices calculated using the method developed by Foster, Greer and Thorbeck shows that poverty is more pronounced among non-market gardening households and that market gardening reduces the incidence of poverty by the 1.14%, its depth by 5.52% and its severity by 6.07%. Analysis of the Lorentz curve shows that market gardening helps to reduce income inequality within households that practise it. It also appears that market gardening is an important source of monetary income for households, as it accounts for 21% of their agricultural monetary income and 9% of their total monetary income. Policies promoting the development of market gardening would contribute significantly to increasing farmers' incomes and reducing monetary poverty.
This study examines the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to West African countries. Using a difference-in-differences approach with panel data from 25 African countries over the period 2015 to 2024, we compare FDI trends in 15 ECOWAS member states (treatment group) with 10 Central African countries (control group) before and after AfCFTA's operational launch in January 2021. Our fixed effects regression analysis reveals a positive association between AfCFTA implementation and FDI inflows, with ECOWAS countries experiencing approximately 2.4 percentage points higher FDI (as a share of GDP) relative to the control group in the post-implementation period. While this effect approaches statistical significance at the 10% level, the results suggest economically meaningful potential benefits of regional trade integration for attracting foreign investment. Inflation emerges as a significant determinant of FDI, with higher inflation rates negatively associated with investment inflows. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on AfCFTA's economic effects and provide policy-relevant insights for West African governments seeking to leverage regional integration for investment promotion.
China has become one of the leading sources of FDI in Africa. However, the distribution of Chinese FDI across African countries is concentrated. This suggests that some countries are more attractive than others. In this study, we aimed to estimate the attractiveness of African countries to Chinese foreign direct investment, identify trends in attractiveness, and estimate the potential to improve country attractiveness to Chinese FDI. Our analysis is based on annual data for Chinese foreign direct investment in 42 African countries for the period 2008-2022. We used Data Envelopment Analysis to generate efficiency scores that measure a host country's attractiveness relative to peers. Our analysis also identified potential to improve attractiveness based on input and output slacks for each country. The average efficiency score, based on variable returns-to-scale technology, was 84.8%, indicating that African countries are highly attractive to Chinese FDI. However, the efficiency scores fluctuated over the study period; only five countries had consistently high efficiency scores. These include Mauritius, South Africa, São Tomé and Principe, the Seychelles, and Zambia. Our analysis also reveals potential to enhance the attractiveness of African countries to Chinese FDI. Policy-makers should therefore benchmark their performance against peer countries to learn and assess the performance of their investment promotion strategies.
Africa’s persistent paradox of resource abundance and economic dependence underscores a structural gap between abundant natural resources and institutional capabilities. This study synthesises multidisciplinary evidence on how governance quality and digitalisation jointly promote sustainable, self-reliant resource economies in Africa. Adopting the PRISMA methodology, we reviewed research outputs (2017-2025) and applied a tightened inclusion criterion requiring governance or digitalisation-related content in the titles, abstract and keywords. The study adopts an integrated framework that incorporates institutional theory, the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory to explain how institutional factors and digital readiness co-develop resilience and inclusivity in value creation. From the search, twenty-one (21) studies met the criteria, concentrated in energy (12) and extractive sectors, with institutional analyses distributed across Micro (2), Meso (3) and Macro (16) levels. Findings reveal a sharp rise in scholarship between 2023 and 2025, reflecting increased attention to digital governance reforms and sustainability-driven policy frameworks aligned with IFRS S1/S2 and the Agenda 2063 framework. Thematically, findings reveal that: (i) governance transparency and enforcement are drivers of accountability, (ii) digitalisation is a catalyst for traceability, fiscal efficiency and stakeholder inclusivity, and (iii) sustainability is achieved through the integration of governance and digitalisation. The study proposes a triadic conceptual framework that links institutional capacity, digital transformation and sustainability, highlighting the need for unified regional standards, adaptive and flexible governance, and capacity-building across Africa. The study concluded with actionable pathways, including regulatory coherence, data transparency, cross-border digital infrastructure, green industrial policies, and public-private partnerships, all aimed at Africa’s energy and extractive sectors.
This paper examines the relationship between capital structure and firm performance, specifically focusing on 13 major South African banks within the Financial 15 (FINI 15) Index between 2013 and 2022. The objectives include analyzing capital structure dynamics using debt-to-equity ratios, examining the relationship between capital structure indicators of long-term debt, short-term debt, and total debt and firm accounting performance metrics of return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA), and interpreting the results through prominent capital structure theories, including the trade-off and pecking order theories. The key results show no statistically significant relationship between capital structure indicators and profitability metrics, suggesting factors beyond leverage policy drive performance. The research is significant for providing empirical evidence on major South African banks and for addressing a gap in the literature. The results offer practical implications for bank executives, policymakers, shareholders, and investors when evaluating financing decisions and performance objectives.
This study investigates whether sustainability management leads to firm value and how the relationship is moderated by earnings management. Based on stakeholder theory and agency theory, we argue that although sustainability management can generate long-term value for firms. However, its credibility and value relevance may be questioned through earnings opportunistic activities. This study employs panel data of publicly listed firms across Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries over the period 2015–2022 using panel regression analysis with robust estimates. Our findings show that sustainability management positively influences firm value. However, this positive effect is significantly reduced when firms engage in higher levels of accrual earnings management. These results add to the existing literature on ESG credibility, greenwashing issues, and sustainable value creation. This study offers several contributions. First, it expands the ESG and SDGs approach in the sustainability literature by including earnings management as a moderating factor. This offers a clearer understanding of how sustainability practices are viewed by capital markets. Second, it provides valuable evidence for investors, regulators, and policymakers interested in sustainable finance and corporate transparency.
This study examines how firm-level characteristics influence external auditor choice among companies operating in Cameroon. Using survey data from 300 non-financial firms located in Douala, Yaounde, and Buea, the analysis focuses on organisational complexity, ownership structure, and selected financial characteristics. Audit choice is considered through three configurations: engagement of a Big 4 auditor, adoption of joint audits, and the use of two Big 4 audit firms. Binary logistic regression results show that organisational complexity, captured by sectoral diversification and geographical dispersion, significantly increases the likelihood of selecting higher-quality audit arrangements, particularly joint audits and dual Big 4 engagements. Conversely, institutional ownership is consistently associated with a lower propensity to engage high-quality auditors, suggesting a substitution effect between internal ownership-based monitoring and external audit assurance within the Cameroonian context. Financial characteristics, including leverage and disclosure costs, exhibit conditional effects that vary across audit configurations. By providing firm-level evidence from a developing African economy, this study contributes to the corporate governance literature by highlighting how institutional constraints, ownership power, and organisational structure jointly shape audit choice. The findings offer relevant insights for managers, regulators, and policymakers seeking to enhance audit quality and financial transparency in African markets.
This study investigates the determinants of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Cambodia’s banking sector, with particular focus on the impact of lending rates within a highly dollarized financial system. Cambodia’s banking industry has experienced rapid credit expansion over the past decade; however, the post-pandemic period has been accompanied by a significant rise in NPLs, raising concerns about financial stability and credit risk management. Using annual data from 2020 to 2025, this study employs an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model to examine the effects of lending rates, house prices, GDP growth, and loan restructuring policies on NPL dynamics. The empirical results indicate that lending rates have a positive and statistically significant impact on NPLs, suggesting that borrowing costs are the primary driver of credit risk in Cambodia. GDP growth is negatively associated with NPLs, implying that favorable macroeconomic conditions enhance borrowers’ repayment capacity and reduce default risk. House prices exhibit a negative but statistically insignificant relationship with NPLs, indicating that collateral value plays a relatively limited role in explaining credit risk. Additionally, loan restructuring policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily suppressed reported NPL ratios by delaying the recognition of distressed loans. The findings underscore the importance of managing interest rate risk and implementing macroprudential supervision in highly dollarized economies. This study contributes to the literature by integrating financial, macroeconomic, and policy-related factors into a unified analytical framework and by providing empirical evidence from a relatively under-researched emerging market.
This study examines the causal relationship between capital structure, measured by the capital–asset ratio (CAR), and the joint dynamics of competition, efficiency, and stability in African commercial banks. Using panel data from 66 banks across 12 African countries over the period 2010–2021, the study employs the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to address endogeneity and dynamic effects. To capture the combined influence of banking market conditions, a composite Competition–Efficiency–Stability Index (CESINDEX) is constructed. The empirical results reveal a bidirectional causal relationship between CESINDEX and CAR, indicating that capital structure both influences and is influenced by the interaction of competition, efficiency, and stability in the banking sector. Robustness checks using an alternative measure of capital structure—the liabilities–asset ratio (LAR)—confirm the consistency of the findings. These results highlight the interdependence between bank capitalization and market dynamics, suggesting that regulatory policies aimed at strengthening bank capital can have broader implications for competitive behavior, operational efficiency, and financial stability. The study contributes to the limited empirical literature on African banking systems and offers valuable insights for policymakers and bank managers seeking to promote a resilient and efficient financial sector.
Fiscal incentives of pension plans in the Spanish Income tax consist of tax credits on contributions of the taxpayer, although the incomes obtained are taxed at the individual's marginal rate. Nowadays, occupational and personal private pensions (the second and third pillar of social insurance) are differentiated. Since 2009, the latest reform of the Financing System of the Autonomous Communities of common regime and Cities with Statute of Autonomy (AFS), the Income tax collection has been transferred to regional governments, up to 50%, with the state and regional tax base remaining the same, while the regional tax rates differ across Autonomous Communities. Subsequently, savings from tax credits on contributions to pension plans and taxation of pension payments differ across communities. This work aims to study the relationship between the regional Income tax (RIT) yield and the tax credit variable in RIT from contributions to private pensions (TBD). Estimates are obtained from Dynamic Panel Data for the fifteen Autonomous Communities of the common regime for 2003-2022, using the Instrumental Variables (IV) estimator and its generalization, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The main result is that the elasticity of RIT to TBD is negative at 0,19; also, fiscal incentives generated vertical and horizontal externalities in reference to Income tax.
Ghana’s tax-to-GDP ratio approximately stands at 13.40%, which is well below the World Bank’s recommendation of 25% for sustainable economic growth. Tax systems play a crucial role in the development of the national economy with the provision of necessary revenues for the operations of government and the public services. Yet, the effectiveness of these systems is largely dependent on the compliance behaviour of the taxpayers. To address this challenge and enhance individuals’ tax compliance behaviour in fulfilling their tax obligations, this paper aimed to develop a robust model to explain the determinants of tax compliance behaviour by adopting the theory of planned behaviour with slight variation and the mediating role of attitude towards tax and tax environment. This study is built on the positivist paradigm, the quantitative research approach and the survey research design. The data was collected from a cross-section of Ghanaian small and medium enterprises in Ghana between August and December 2024. The structural equation modelling approach was used in analysing the survey data. The study has revealed that tax knowledge, awareness and perception of fairness are significant determinants of attitude towards tax. Moreover, there are mediating roles of attitude towards tax and the overall tax environment in shaping tax compliance behaviour. The implication of the results is that there is a need for tax authorities to prioritise educational programmes in enhancing tax knowledge and awareness among citizens. The newly developed model could be used to guide major stakeholders to ensure a sustainable, transparent and fair tax system in the emerging economy context.
This paper investigates the dynamics within the Casablanca Stock Exchange topology during crisis and non-crisis periods using daily historical log-returns of sectoral indices spanning the period from January 4, 1993, to September 9, 2021. The study applies Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering to the Dynamic Time Warping distance matrix across ten sub-periods encompassing major financial crises, from the Subprime Mortgage Crisis to the European Debt Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting clustering outcomes are aggregated into a network representation to reveal the cumulative interconnections among sectoral indices. The findings indicate the interconnections among the Casablanca Stock Exchange sectoral indices appear to be trend-dependent, with the O\&G sector emerging as a central hub within the network. Extending this analysis to a finer level, the study examines the dynamics of stocks composing the MASI index. Daily historical log-returns of stocks are collected for MASI constituents over the period from January 2, 2013, to October 27, 2022. Using a Granger causality–based topological approach, the study investigates the evolving interdependencies among stocks, providing deeper insights into the microstructure of the Casablanca Stock Exchange at the stock level.
Banking regulation has progressively evolved as a central mechanism for enhancing bank performance, financial stability, and systemic resilience. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, regulatory frameworks have shifted from predominantly microprudential approaches toward more integrated macroprudential perspectives. Nevertheless, despite the expansion of the literature, its intellectual structure and global influence remain insufficiently synthesized. Against this backdrop, this study aims to systematically map the scientific production on international banking regulation and banking performance. To this end, a large-scale bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, SSRN, and EconLit, covering the period up to January 2026. After deduplication, 9,095 publications were examined using bibliometrix, SciVal, and VOSviewer, with a focus on thematic structures, collaboration networks, and normalized citation impact. The findings indicate a marked increase in publications, particularly after 2015, in line with Basel III implementation and post-pandemic regulatory challenges. Moreover, the literature is primarily structured around financial stability, systemic risk, and risk management. Citation indicators further reveal a strong global impact, with a significant share of highly cited publications and an average FWCI above the world benchmark. Overall, the results point to a growing shift toward a resilience-oriented regulatory paradigm, offering relevant insights for both researchers and policymakers.
This study examines the relationship between financial development and capital investment in emerging economies, with particular attention to macroeconomic conditions and institutional quality as transmission factors. Using panel data for 30 emerging economies from 2002–2021, the analysis employs fixed-effects estimation with clustered standard errors and alternative institutional indicators to assess the robustness of the finance–investment nexus. The results indicate that financial development has a strong, statistically significant positive effect on capital investment (a one-standard-deviation increase in financial development is associated with about a 2 percentage-point rise in investment-to-GDP). Macroeconomic conditions also influence investment dynamics: economic growth is positively associated with investment, whereas external debt exerts a consistently negative effect, suggesting that debt burdens may constrain capital formation. In contrast, institutional quality does not significantly modify the financial development–investment relationship. These findings suggest that financial deepening promotes capital investment largely independently of cross-country institutional variation, although macroeconomic stability remains important for sustaining investment capacity.
