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This paper examined the short‐ and long‐run impacts of gasoline price, macroeconomic factors and road length on road traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities in Nigeria. Annual data from 1995 to 2019 and autoregressive distributed lag approach were employed. Results suggest that gasoline price, per capita income, road length and population density significantly influence road safety outcomes. Gasoline price has a positive short‐run impact on crashes, injuries, and fatalities contrary to findings in developed countries. Road crashes tend to decrease when income increases in the short term. Population density leads to improvement in road safety outcomes while road length exacerbates it. Government's policy on gasoline price increase could worsen road safety outcomes unless it is accompanied by improvement in road infrastructure, safe public transport and economic growth, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the asymmetric non-linear relationship between insurance and economic growth in Nigeria between 1976 and 2010. Prior studies have examined the direction of causality between insurance and economic growth with mixed conclusions in the insurance-growth literature. Moreover, the majority of these studies assumed symmetric causal relationships by concentrating mainly on testing the supply-leading and demand-following hypothesis. This paper, therefore, contributes to the literature by examining the asymmetric causality test between insurance and economic growth in Nigeria. After the cointegration, the asymmetry causality and the asymmetric impulse responses show a robust significant relationship between high gross domestic product (GDP) and low insurance in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamic effects of external debt on economic growth in Nigeria from 1970 through 2013. We begin by constructing an external debt sustainability index using principal component analysis to capture the overall effects of external debt indicators on economic growth. The empirical analysis is based on the ARDL bound test. The results show a long-run cointegration relationship between the variables. While external debt exerts an adverse effect of −0.069 per cent on growth in the long run, the external debt sustainability index shows a positive effect of 0.072 per cent and 0.024 per cent on growth in the long and short run. The findings suggest the government should reduce its expenditure and mobilize revenue through domestic sources to invest in projects with a high rate of return to enable debt repayment and stimulate growth. To maintain debt ratios within a manageable threshold so as to avoid being debt trapped, foreign loans should only be contracted on concessional terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to estimate the productivity change of Nigerian insurance companies and to rank the companies analysed in the sample according to their productivity score. This benchmark exercise provides the companies analysed with a view of how their relative productivity can be upgraded. For this purpose, the non-parametric Luenberger productivity model is used. For comparative purposes, the non-parametric Luenberger–Hicks–Moorsteen productivity indicator is also used. The companies are ranked according to their total productivity for the period 1994–2005, using both models, which produce variations in the respective results. Economic implications arising from the study are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a widely accepted fact that persistent inequality between men and women constrains a society's productivity and ultimately slows its rate of economic growth. The economy pays for this inequality in reduced labour productivity today and diminished national output tomorrow. Motivated by this, the study aim is to assess the possibilities of enhancing productivity gains by improving the efficiency of small-scale agriculture through gender-responsive intra-household allocation of resources in south-western Nigeria. The study adopts a stochastic parametric decomposition method which yields efficiency measures that are not distorted by statistical noise to estimate the efficiency level of resource allocation by small-scale cassava producers. The results indicate that average overall productive efficiency in the sample was 75.78 per cent, implying that small-scale cassava farmers in the sample could reduce total variable cost by 24.22 per cent if they reduce labour, fertilizer, land and capital applications to levels observed in the changing input mix (technical efficiency) and then obtain optimal input mix for the given input prices and technology (allocative efficiency). The average technical efficiency and allocative efficiency indexes for the sample were 82.2 per cent and 92.2 per cent respectively. Also, evidence from empirical analysis of data from the male respondents showed that the average economic, technical and allocative efficiency indexes were 88.06 per cent, 89.34 per cent and 78.67 per cent respectively while the same computed for the female sample were 94.9 per cent, 74.85 per cent and 71.03 per cent respectively. Labour was the most limiting factor in cassava production suggesting that the technologies that enhance the productivity of labour are likely to achieve significant positive effects on cassava production. The paper shares the notion that producers' control over the means of production and impact of development are related and has influence on the economic efficiency and growth of society. Again, technical inefficiency constituted a more serious problem than allocative inefficiency, thus most cost savings will accrue to improvement in technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the structure, evolution and performance of the Nigerian capital market. The number and branches of financial institutions increased significantly since its inception in 1960. So also did the listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange market. Some of the factors responsible for the increase are the indigenization programmes, various economic reforms and government imposition on banks to invest a significant portion of their reserve capital in priority sectors. However, the increase is only in naira terms since a rapidly depreciating naira pushed share prices lower in dollar terms. The pattern of growth is, therefore, far from impressive when compared with other emerging markets. In recent years, a combination of new listings, manifested by privatization and commercialization of state owned firms, as well as higher prices increased total market capitalization. Investor optimism, regulatory and tax benefits have contributed. The naira-based performance is misleading, however, since the dollar-based performance shows a decline rather than an increase. One endemic problem seems to be market liquidity. Using liquidity as a measure of stock market development, therefore, it seems that the Nigerian stock market is illiquid and that it has contributed very little to the growth of the Nigerian economy. Le document examine la structure, l'évolution et le comportement du marché des capitaux au Nigeria. Depuis la mise en place de ce marché en 1960, les institutions financières et les succursales se sont multipliées; il en est de même pour les entreprises cotées à la Bourse nigériane. Parmi les facteurs sous-jacents à cette expansion figurent les programmes d'indigénisation, les réformes économiques et l'exigence faite aux banques par le gouvernement d'investir une importante fraction de leurs réserves dans les secteurs prioritaires de l'éco... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]