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Background: According to economists, political instability is regarded as a serious malaise harmful to economic development, which results in frequent switches of policies, creating instability to impede economic performance. The widespread political instability in many developing countries, along with its harmful effects on social welfare and economic performance, has heightened the interest of policymakers and economists in understanding the factors that contribute to political instability to inform better policy formulation. It is therefore imperative to examine the interactive effect of geopolitical risk and natural resource rent on political instability to provide strong empirical grounds for policy implementation. Objectives: This study employs a long time series dating from the period of 1824–2020 to examine how natural resource rent and geopolitical risk influence political instability in Ghana. First, we examine long‐run effects using linear methods. Second, we employ nonparametric methods to investigate the nonlinear link between natural resource rent and political instability as well as between geopolitical risk and political instability. Methods: The study applied linear methods and nonparametric methods to historical time series data dating from the period of 1824–2020. Results: The results from the linear methods show that the interaction of natural resource rent and geopolitical risk exerts a positive and larger impact on political instability compared to their separate effects. The results from the nonparametric methods show a weak nonlinear link between these variables (i.e., natural resource rent, geopolitical risk, and political instability), although consistent with the linear long‐run results, the links are positive. Conclusion: Overall, the results demonstrate that the observed positive relationship between natural resource rent and political instability is not just a recent phenomenon but holds for over more than 100 years in Ghana. Therefore, to attain a stable political environment, both long‐ and short‐term policies on political stability should be formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seaports and their efficiency remain essential for the success of international trade globally. Notwithstanding this outcome, there is no empirical evidence on how seaport efficiency affect trade performance in Africa. This paper presents an empirical evidence of the effects of seaport efficiency on trade performance in Africa. To do so, we use data on 33 African countries for the period 2006 to 2018 and employ the gravity model for the empirical analysis. The results show that seaport efficiency enhances trade performance in Africa; the greater the level of seaport efficiency, the larger the extent of trade performance. Based on this finding, it is recommended that policy reforms that improve the efficiency of seaports in Africa should be targeted by policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of technology adoption and quality of institutions on the export performance of African countries. Data on 49 African countries for the period 1995–2019 is used while the two-step system generalized method of moment estimation technique is employed for analyses. The results reveal that, in both the short run and long run, technology adoption and quality of institutions are crucial in driving export performance in Africa. More importantly, our results clearly show that, in both periods, quality of institutions serve as important channel through which technology adoption has its largest positive impact on export performance in Africa. Based on these outcomes, policies designed to improve the technology adoption and quality of institutions would be beneficial to the performance of exports in African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing literature on the causal association between electricity supply and economic growth, little is known about the causal linkage between electricity transmission and distributional losses and economic growth, particularly in Ghana. The paper studies the causal association between electricity transmission, distributional losses and economic growth in Ghana. Further, we interacted ETDL with electricity price to examine their combined impact on Ghana's gross domestic product. We utilised time series data from the period 1971 to 2014. Given that our data span is relatively shorter, we utilised the Toda and Yamamoto and Autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) methods. This is so because these time series approaches can produce efficient, reliable and eliminate spurious regression estimates even if the sample size is relatively short. Our ARDL estimates suggest that ETDL exert an adverse impact on economic growth while the Toda and Yamamoto estimates suggest that economic growth has a strong influence on ETDL and not the other way round, supporting the growth‐led energy hypothesis. Also, the interactive effect of ETDL and electricity prices on economic growth was negative and statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the determinants of saving among individuals in the informal sector of Ghana with a focus on those engaged in commercial driving activities. The paper relies on primary data and employs descriptive analysis and the binary probit model as the estimation technique. The results reveal that commercial drivers who own the vehicle themselves, have a secondary occupation and have financial institutions close to their stations are more likely to save. In addition, the study reveals a negative relationship between age, education, financial literacy and saving. Based on these findings, relevant policy suggestions have been provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]