Scholars' attention to the association between access to financial services (FS) and nutritional intake has been profound, looking at the worsening levels of malnutrition worldwide. This research adds to literature by assessing the association between access to FS and nutritional intake among rural dwellers in a developing nation, Ghana. We used the endogenous treatment Poisson regression model to address the problem regarding potential selection bias. The findings emanating from our analysis depict that the linkage between access to FS and nutritional intake is positive. After analyzing potential pathways in the linkage between access to FS and nutritional intake, our findings showed that the adoption of farm technologies and entrepreneurship could serve as essential pathways. Our findings indicate that providing incentives or policies to encourage the establishment of branches of financial institutions in rural areas should be prioritized by policymakers. Also, policies aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship and farm technology adoption should be prioritized. For instance, training programs to empower farmers to adopt new farm technologies and avenues to enrich farmers' entrepreneurship ideas should be considered by policymakers.

This study investigated the effects of credit constraints on the technical efficiency (TE) of artisanal fishers in Ghana. Survey data was collected from two regions and applied using an instrumental variable (IV) approach to estimate the stochastic frontier of the sector. The study found evidence of inefficiency among fishers. This study identifies fishers' years of fishing experience, education level, credit constraint, and off-farm income as the most important determinants of technical efficiency. Whiles credit constraint and off-fishing income had a detrimental effect on technical efficiency, years of fishing experience and education level help improve efficiency. The study provides several policies that can promote credit accessibility for the fishers; hence, improving household and national development.

This study analytically examines the structure and characteristics of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and African trade networks by applying network analysis techniques through a critical and in-depth description of the international trade of Eastern African countries as part of the world trade network. Sixty-four countries' trade flow data between 2000 and 2018 from the International Monetary Fund, was used, and the network indices indicate that the BRI significantly enhances the trade network's connectivity. The empirical results indicate that density, the degree of centralization, and average node intensity are typically growing, and China is in the central position of the network. Furthermore, East African intra-regional trade tends to be more densely connected under the BRI. This, in effect, demonstrates that the BRI countries have experienced a rise in intra-regional trade at different levels of economic development. Therefore, this study recommends that policymakers should consider the BRI's critical role in reforming trade policies to build a resilient and sustainable African economy.

The rate of youth unemployment has been a major challenge for preceding and consecutive Ghanaian governments. There is evidence to suggest how different economic interventions to bridge this gap have failed to yield the expected results. The intended beneficiaries of these interventions are caught in a quagmire of what they perceive as opportunities within the environment which are sometimes divergent from that of government. This is due to the influencing role of two main factors: their knowledge and perception. We carry out a study to reveal the relationship that exist between entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial intentions and how knowledge and perception of the youth mediate this relationship. A sample survey of 187 youth using questionnaires were administered and the results analyzed using the partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Overall, entrepreneurial knowledge and perception variables showed a partial mediation in their relationship with entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial perception showed a higher mediating effect of the two mediators on the target construct, entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial perception showed the highest Cronbach’s alpha of .90 of all the variables. We advance the theory of entrepreneurship intention to show how the dual mediating interactivities are influenced by the entrepreneurship environment. The need to build a supportive entrepreneurial environment is critical in transforming the youth perception to boost their knowledge in entrepreneurship to engage in business enterprises. These are critical for policy makers, implementers, and entrepreneurial trainers.

In this paper we investigate the reasons behind the pirated textiles and try to address the questions of why copycats are rampant on the African textile market, their impact on textile clusters and why it is ineffectively being controlled. Taking Ghana as a sample, this study employed grounded theory methodology to explore the key factors that account for copycat prevalence in African textile industry. This study reveals that economic foundations, political factors and stakeholder interactions in the textile ecosystem have influenced copycat popularity in Africa. More specifically, the blame game among stakeholders with no one accepting responsibility for copycat prevalence gave space for perpetrators of copycat textiles to breed. The study extends the stakeholder and cluster theories particularly within the confines of developing regions, the interplay of actors and how their actions promote or revert the fight against copycats. This article implores governments should proactively lead in collaborative inter-agency actions to fight the copycat menace by repackaging and designing strategies/approaches through the employment and increasing of stakeholder consultations.