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This study aimed to analyze the impact of external debt on economic growth with mediating role of institutional quality by employing a heterogeneous panel Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model through a pooled mean group (PMG) estimator over periods of 22 years spanning from 1998 to 2019 in East African countries. The finding reveals a significant long-term positive relationship between the stock of external debt as a percentage of GNI and economic growth. However, its square revealed a significant long-term negative relationship, suggesting a non-linear relationship. The positive effect of external debt on economic growth is limited to a threshold level of 62.9%. According to the error term's coefficient, the rate at which short-run returns to long-run equilibrium became disequilibrium in the current year was 45.5%. Furthermore, the result shows that institutional quality's indirect effect on external debt interaction had a significant positive impact on economic growth, indicating that the negative impact of external debt on economic growth decreased as the region's institutional quality rose. Therefore, a comprehensive improvement in institutional quality is required to both lessen the negative effects of external debt and maximize the benefits of government borrowing. In order to stabilize the external debt, governments should cut back on wasteful spending and uphold sound fiscal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green economy aims to achieve economic growth and development without an adverse effect on the environment. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis explains the relationship between economic activity and environmental degradation. Using the EKC hypothesis as a theoretical framework, this study tested the EKC hypothesis for 12 East African countries using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) approach for the period from 1990 to 2013. The result shows that the relationship between per capita income and CO2 emissions (a proxy for environmental degradation) is bell shaped and thus is an extended version of the original inverted U-shaped curve relationship between economic activities and environmental degradation. Hence, one can conclude that the economic activities in East African countries do not lead to CO2 emissions. Therefore, environmental conservation policies, technological advancement and modern industrial policies are required to make the economic growth of East African countries effective in reducing CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diverse geographical areas involved in the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) possess different economic, political and social systems that create major challenges for Chinese companies. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) offers one potential risk mitigation strategy to sustain the MSRI's expansion, and relatedly Chinese investment, in places like Africa. As the research shows, though, CSR, as embraced by Chinese firms, has been specifically adapted to fit the Chinese context. Thus, they not only face obstacles in implementing CSR, but localizing Chinese CSR. Their success in surmounting such hurdles will impact the developmental outcomes of Chinese MSRI projects and subsequently African acceptance of these projects. This article concludes CSR remains an effective mechanism for empowering positive change and improving the livelihood and security of affected stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]