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The current energy structure of most economies must be upgraded to a renewable energy source (RES) to help mitigate ecological dilapidation and achieve sustainable development goals. The transition to RES has recently received attention from energy experts, international bodies and environmental scientists. However, there is contrasting evidence on what factors affect the evolution and deployment of RES, especially from the perspective of emerging African economies. Hence, the current analysis sought to explore the influence of economic development (ECD), carbon emission (CEM), human capital (HUC), financial development (FID), and the country's risk factors, such as political risk (POR) and institutional quality (INQ) on the development of RES. The research employed a panel dataset from 1990 to 2020 and used the newest estimation approach of Cross-Sectional Augmented autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) to establish the long-run connection among the variables. The study confirmed the prevalence of the "energy-led ECD hypothesis". In addition, the empirical findings indicated that RES deployment could be facilitated through ECD, CEM, FID and HUC. Moreover, the country's risk factors, which include POR and INQ, had an inverse connection with the deployment of RES. Lastly, there is a unidirectional causality between CEM, FID, HUC, INQ and RES, while a directional causality exists between ECD, POR and RES. The paper highlights a variety of policy angles to help with the expansion of RES in emerging regions. • The study confirmed the prevalence of the "energy-led ECD hypothesis. • RES deployment could be facilitated through ECD, CEM, FID and HUC. • POR and INQ, had an inverse connection with the deployment of RES. • A directional causality exists between ECD, POR and RES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper complements the literature on the determinants of financial development by offering one of the first studies on the effect of women's political empowerment on financial development. Across a sample of 43 African countries over the period 1996–2018, the main results show the positive effect of women's political empowerment on financial development. Our disaggregated analysis shows that women's political representation promotes both components of financial development; however, with a stronger effect for financial institutions. This result remains valid when we consider the subcomponents of these two indicators. Furthermore, the analysis of transmission mechanisms shows that control of corruption, democracy and human capital are the channels through which women's political empowerment affects financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue and demonstrate that human capital services—health, education and behavioral health—suffer from underutilized human capital. Healthcare providers, teachers, mothers and poor people have significant funds of knowledge about how to improve human capital that they do not use. This problem is not unique to Africa, but it is particularly pernicious in that setting due to historically low state capabilities. We demonstrate measurement methods that establish this gap and discuss approaches to research and policy that could be used to close the gap. • Africa has a pool of underutilized human capital: providers who have the knowledge and training to provide critical services but do not use them. • Africa suffers from know-do wedges: training providers and educating caregivers, though necessary, is rarely sufficient to improve quality. • Policymakers must focus on motivating knowledgeable providers to use their skills rather than continuously retraining them. • A source of motivation is activating social preferences: using social ties among providers to reinforce behavior already in their skill sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study analyzed the synergistic effect of digital infrastructure and human capital on innovation. • System generalized method of moments is employed on a sample of 28 African countries over the 2011–2019 period. • Digital infrastructure positively impacts innovation. • Digital infrastructure and human capital are complementary factors in promoting innovation. While both theory and empirical evidence have established the critical role of digital infrastructure in promoting innovation, there needs to be more understanding of factors mediating this nexus, especially from the African context, which is understudied. This paper argues that digital infrastructure spurs innovation, but the overall effect depends on countries' level of human capital. Relying on data from 28 African countries spanning 2011–2019 and the system Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimator, this study departs from the extant literature by examining the synergistic effect of digital infrastructure and human capital on innovation while placing much emphasis on the multidimensional measurement approach of digital infrastructure. The results show a positive relationship between digital infrastructure and innovation in Africa. Furthermore, the interactive effect of digital infrastructure and human capital is significantly related to innovation, implying that digital infrastructure can indirectly enhance innovation through human capital accumulation. To promote innovation, the study recommends that policies that improve digital infrastructure should be pursued simultaneously with policies that enhance human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uncovers the effect of income inequality on terrorism, delineated with four distinct markers: domestic, transnational, uncertain, and total, respectively, intermediated with the role of human capital, on a panel of 34 African countries, over the period 1980–2012. Thus, rather than presenting correlation analyses implied by exploratory analytics among these key variables of interest, this study further employs a zero-inflated negative binomial regression estimator due to the preponderance of zero values of the terrorism data. The following findings are consistently established. First, income inequality remains a substantive predictor of terrorism across the model specifications, with the exception of transnational terrorism. Second, human capital variables exert a positive first-order effect on both domestic and total terrorism. Third, the marginal impacts of interactions between human capital measures and income inequality indicators are negative at the higher levels of educational attainment. These findings remain robust in the presence of endogeneity concerns, time and country-specific effects, alternative estimators, and regional effects, respectively. On the policy front, eliminating the gaps in income inequality remains an effective policy antidote to quell the ember of angers and frustration that may aggravate into arm taking by the aggrieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the belief that no country in the world can develop without a strong industrial sector, African leaders have consistently stressed the importance of industrialization for sustainable development. Despite the benefits of industrialization, Africa remains the least industrialized region in the world. Moreover, this is the region where the problem of energy poverty is most acute, with the lowest levels of access to and consumption of electricity. Thus, this study analyzes the effect of energy poverty on industrialization in a sample of 44 African countries. Using the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments, empirical results resilient to a set of robustness checks consistently show that reducing energy poverty is a necessary condition for the industrialization of African countries. Through a mediation analysis, this study identifies human capital and income as some channels through which the reduction of energy poverty favors the industrialization of African countries. The conclusions of this study have the main implication of inviting African decision-makers to improve the effectiveness of the various national and sub-regional initiatives aimed at guaranteeing access to clean, reliable, and modern energy for all in order to foster the industrialization of African economies. • The study analyzes the effect of energy poverty on industrialization in 44 African countries. • Static and dynamic panel estimation techniques are used. • Results suggest that energy poverty impedes industrialization. • Human capital, and income are some transmission channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate gains in human capital accumulation from reduction in remittance prices, this study constructs a general equilibrium model in which the choices to invest in human capital and to migrate are endogenous. The model is calibrated for a group of eight African economies which offer student loans, and the effect on human capital accumulation of decreasing the remittance price to the level recommended by the United Nations (3%) is numerically derived. It is found that reduction in remittance prices alters the decisions of households, leading in the aggregate to a decrease in interest rates, a curbing of the desire to migrate, and an increase human capital. Hence, the study offers the policy prescription that governments, both in nations where remittances originate and in those to which funds are sent, must continue to lower remittance prices, by, for example, improving access to mobile banking, especially since such policies are relatively immune to economic shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we model the non-linear effect of FDI on disaggregated levels of human capital development in selected African countries. Our sample is based on a panel data consisting of nine African countries from 2000 to 2017. To ensure robustness in our analysis, we employed a GMM instrumental variable estimation technique with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors to control for endogeneity, sectional and temporal dependency. The result indicates that different level of human capital reported mixed findings. The effect of FDI on primary education is characterised by an inverted U-shaped relationship, whereas tertiary education exhibits a U-shaped pattern. Conversely, the relationship between FDI and secondary education is insignificant. The non-linear term of FDI indicates that there is a turning point before/after which the human capital-augmenting hypothesis is supported. Policy implications drawn from this study suggest FDI can be used as a catalyst to augment primary and tertiary education enrolment rates, skills enhancement and human capital development. However, not all levels of FDI will result in positive gains. The optimal effect of FDI depends on the quantity of FDI before/after the turning point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of social media has grown significantly in Africa over the past two decades and is the subject of recent literature. In this article, we examine its direct and indirect effects on women's political empowerment (WPE) in Africa. Based on a sample of 45 African countries, we specify and estimate a panel data model using the Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (POLS) method and the System Generalized Method of Moment (S-GMM) over the period 2009–2019. Our results show that social media, as measured by the Facebook penetration rate, significantly increases WPE. Their effects are channeled through the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), electricity consumption, human capital and political stability. The robustness of the results is proven by alternative measures of WPE and social media. In order to strengthen WPE, public policies must increase women's access to social media. • The political emancipation of women has increased slightly in African countries. • People in Africa are increasingly connecting to social media and especially to Facebook. • Social media contributes to increasing women's political empowerment in Africa, including ICT dissemination, access to electricity, political stability and human capital. • To strengthen women's political empowerment in Africa, it is recommended to strengthen technological infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the debate on the possible impact of human capital on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and considers two alternative measures of human capital: health and education. The study employs a dynamic model based on the system generalized method of moments (SGMM) and analysed a balanced panel data covering 35 countries from 1980–2008. The empirical results show that the two measures of human capital have positive effects on economic growth, although the contribution of health is relatively larger than the impact of education. This finding emphasizes the importance of both measures of human capital and aligns with the argument in the literature that neither education nor health is a perfect substitute for the other as a measure of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally comparable test scores play a central role in both research and policy debates on education. However, the main international testing regimes, such as PISA, TIMSS, or PIRLS, include almost no low-income countries. Instead, many developing countries opt for regional assessments sponsored by the United Nations. This paper exploits an overlap between the regional test for Southern and Eastern Africa, SACMEQ, and the TIMSS test – in both country coverage, and questions asked – to assesses the feasibility of constructing global learning metrics by equating regional and international scales. I find considerable variance when comparing three commonly-used equating methods, suggesting precise country rankings are unreliable. Across all methodologies, however, learning levels in this sample of African countries are consistently (a) low in absolute terms, by roughly one-and-a-half standard deviations or more compared to OECD pupils of a similar age; (b) significantly lower than predicted by African per capita GDP levels; and (c) converging slowly, if at all, to the rest of the world during the 2000s. The robustness of these simple facts suggests even crude linking methods may suffice for many international policy questions, such as tracking the UN’s development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Africa has immense non-renewable energy resources and an unexplored renewable energy potential, this region is relatively less studied with regard to energy substitution. Using a non-linear modeling through the PSTR technique in 43 countries during the period 2005–2021, this paper fills the existing gap, and also includes human capital and institutional factors to capture the characteristics of populations and governance in succeeding to energy substitution. The results support the existence of one transition or two regimes. The findings show that energy substitution is effective when economic growth reaches the optimal threshold of 7.23%. Only beyond this threshold, institutional quality and human capital facilitate transitioning towards green energy respectively by 0.414% and 0.524%. These results are unchanged regardless of the institutional quality or financial development indicators used. However, cross-regional differentiation effects are underlined between Eastern, Middle, and Western Africa on the one hand, and Northern and Southern Africa on the other. The first three regions show similar path, and improving the corruption perceptions index or anti-corruption measures are inefficient in the low-growth regime. In Northern and Southern Africa, human capital, once the full potential is reached in the third regime, becomes ineffective. • Energy substitution has two regimes with cross-regional differentiation effects. • In both regimes, all financial development indicators improve renewables. • The quality of governance, corruption perceptions, and education fuel energy transition in the second regime. • When growth exceeds the second threshold in Northern and Southern, energy substitution fades. • Urbanization and R&D stimulates low-carbon technologies in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the value-added link between infrastructure and industrialization is fundamental to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, which consists of building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. The objectives of this paper are to analyse the effect of infrastructures on industrialization and how financial development and human capital modulate this effect in 33 African countries during the period 2003–2019 through the system GMM methodology. The results show that infrastructural development has a direct enhancing effect on industrialization in Africa. When the indirect effect regressions through the modulating effects of financial development and human capital are considered, the net effects are equally positive though the results vary across the different specifications of infrastructure and the specific transmission channel considered. For instance, the indirect effect through the interaction of electricity and transport infrastructures with financial development and human capital produced a negative net effect. The thresholds of financial development and human capital required to nullify these negative effects are provided and practical policy implications are discussed. • The effect of infrastructures on industrialisation is examined. • The modulating effects of financial development and human capital are put into evidence • The sample constitutes 33 African countries during the period 2003-2019 through the system GMM methodology. • Infrastructural development has a direct enhancing effect on industrialisation in Africa. • Financial development and human capital are have heterogeneous positive the net effects on industrialisation when interacted with infrastructures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate the relationship between children's cognitive ability and parental investment using a rich dataset on a cohort of children from Ethiopia. The data come from Young Lives, a long-term international study of childhood poverty in four countries. Ability is measured by scores on a cognitive test. A child's enrollment in school, participation in work and work hours are employed as measures of parental investment in human capital. The results provide strong evidence of reinforcing parental investment - higher ability children are more likely to be enrolled in school and less likely to work and, conditional on participation, also work fewer hours. These results are mostly robust to addressing potential feedback effects between schooling and test scores and household heterogeneities. On the policy front, the results suggest that the seeds of adulthood inequality in human capital and earnings capability may be sown quite early in childhood, and thereby underscore the importance of interventions that, among others, attempt to improve prenatal and early life health and nutrition, which are often cited as the sources of deficiencies in children's cognitive ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study synthesizes endogenous growth model with Okun's Law on unemployment. • Examines the nexus between energy efficiency improvements and unemployment. • Energy efficiency improvements help reduce unemployment. • Countries with better human capital experience greater reduction in unemployment. • Education complements the unemployment-reducing effects of energy efficiency. The Sustainable Development Goal 7 seeks universal access to energy, substantial increase in the share of renewable energy and doubling of energy efficiency efforts. The success of these targets most likely depends on maximizing, where they exist, positive synergies or trade-offs with other development outcomes. Studies investigating the relationship between energy efficiency and (un)employment remain inconclusive and mainly focus their analysis on the energy-supply side, neglecting the demand side. Moreover, these empirical studies lack a sound theoretical framework that links unemployment to energy efficiency. Synthesizing the neoclassical endogenous growth model with Okun's Law, this study adopts a demand-side approach to examine the nexus between unemployment and energy efficiency, conditioning for heterogeneities in education. We apply the stochastic frontier approach and the generalized method of moments to an unbalanced panel dataset for 51 African countries, spanning 1991–2017. We conduct several robustness checks to assess the stability of the estimated relationship. The results confirm our theoretical prediction that, directly, energy efficiency reduces unemployment. However, further empirics show that economies with better human capital experience greater reduction in unemployment than those with less-developed human capital. This implies that investing in education is a key complementary factor to enhance the unemployment-reducing effects of energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We estimate fixed-effects and Arellano–Bond GMM equations using panel data from a large group of developing countries and test whether trust-based social capital, proxied by contract-intensive money, complements the role of institutions in promoting development. The results we obtain provide robust evidence that social capital enhances the contribution of institutions when we focus on political institutions and weaker evidence when we use civil liberties. Both social capital and institutions have positive effects on income but the relationships these variables have with income tend to be non-monotonic. Moreover, social capital has a positive influence on the effectiveness of human capital. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Policies, saving rates, human capital, etc., are possible explanations for poor economic performance, but while these factors are changeable, underdevelopment persists. Looking for an unchangeable factor, we construct a theory for the effect of cultural values, such as moral values, risk-taking, and responsibility to others, on economic performance, and demonstrate it using a model in which responsibility for parents prevents development. We construct data of economic performance and values of seven tribes in Kenya, and use it to support the model. Thus, we suggest a methodology for the quantitative analysis of the effect of values over the economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Support to farmer nurseries is classified as either “hard” referring to material inputs (tree seed, water, inoculum, tools and fencing) or “soft” (information, training and backstopping advice). Against a background of poor services for smallholder farmers in southern Africa, it was hypothesized that a number of support agents operating at the grass root level together with farmers themselves provide the different support functions needed in farmer nurseries. A study was conducted to evaluate the role of support systems in farmer nurseries in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. Furthermore, the early tree planting impact of farmer nurseries was assessed in Malawi. Support for hard inputs came largely from single service providers, with significant and increasing contributions coming from farmers themselves. Soft inputs came from a larger diversity of providers with collaborative effort gaining importance. There is an urgent need to facilitate grassroot level support systems with larger participation from the private sector for tree seed and from the national extension services for provision of training and backstopping advice. It was noted that individual nurseries achieved larger transplanting impact, but this did not translate into higher impact at the landscape level, because group nurseries were the predominant type. Strengthening the human capital of farmers and service providers emerged as critical in increasing impact. Farmer nurseries are shown to play a number of important and interrelated functions in building natural, human and social capital. Monitoring and evaluating farmer nurseries in catalyzing these three functions should therefore receive proper attention in assessing the impact of sustainable land use systems. Policies need to be articulated to address some of the major constraints identified. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Trees play a critical role in the development of sustainable land use systems in the southern Africa region, but access to tree germplasm is limited. It was hypothesized that facilitating the establishment of farmer nurseries would promote decentralized tree seedling production in an efficient way, while at the same time provide opportunities for building natural, human and social capital. A study was conducted in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania over 2 years to analyze the productivity of farmer nurseries and their functions in sustainable development. With limited outside support, farmers produced an estimated 6.2 million tree seedlings from 1901 nurseries across the three study areas over two years. Productivity of nurseries depended greatly on access to scarce water sources during the dry season. Farmers located the majority of nurseries therefore in ecologically sensitive dambo locations and along riverbanks, both posing possible land use conflicts in the future due to increasing human populations. Farmers organized two types of nurseries, with group nurseries producing significantly fewer tree seedlings compared to individual nurseries. This was attributed to larger transaction costs associated with organization and capacity building of group nurseries. On the other hand, the success of individual nurseries appeared to depend on human and social “start-up” capital being provided by group nurseries through previous training. In the absence of rigorous valuation of the longer-term effects of both types of nurseries in building natural, human and social capital, it appears that both have a role to play in meeting local demand for tree seedlings. Results generally suggest that smallholder farmers can play a pivotal role in providing tree germplasm for the development of sustainable land use systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]