Governance, institutional quality and economic complexity in Selected African countries
- Authors: Mini, Litha
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Political stability -- Africa , Knowledge economy
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/57917 , vital:58416
- Description: African has relatively low levels of economic complexity as the continent is centred on the production and exporting of natural agricultural goods, non-renewable natural resources, minerals, and crude oil, additionally the agricultural sector continues to be the prevalent employer. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between governance, institutional quality, with economic complexity in Africa. Panel data for the period 1996 - 2019 is employed and the generalised method of moments (GMM) technique was selected due to the number of countries (36 countries) being more than the time periods (22 years). The Granger non-causality test of Juodis, Karavias, and Sarafidis (2021) is used to figure out the direction of causality between the variables used in the study. The GMM results indicate that governance and institutional quality have a positive effect on economic complexity. The Granger causality test suggests that there is one directional causality from governance to economic complexity and from institutional quality to economic complexity. It is recommended that African countries improve governance through electing selfless leaders whose goal is improve the lives of its individuals. With regards to institutions, Africa needs to adopt strategies that support institutional quality which in turn will promote economic complexity. Policy makers should also create an environment or policies that are conducing for domestic and foreign investments, which in turn would improve the continent’s economic complexity. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-04
Simulating the economic impact emerging from the strategic decision-making of firms: A macroeconomic agent-based model
- Authors: Giovannoni, Amalio Dino John
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Decision making Economic aspects , Industrial management Decision making , Industrial management Computer simulation , Knowledge economy , Technological unemployment , Economic development Computer simulation , Employees Training of
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191887 , vital:45175
- Description: The key research problem addressed in this project is: how does the strategic decision making of firms affect an economy? While this is a difficult question to answer, insights may be gained through the use of computational techniques such as agent-based modelling (ABM). An agent-based model is developed that simulates micro-level economic interactions between individuals and _rms in different markets, resulting in emergent macro-level features. Technological progress is an important determinant of economic growth and has been decomposed into two complementary factors: knowledge and technological sophistication. The model is used to explore the long-term, macroeconomic consequences of _rms investing more heavily in knowledge development. The simulations show that a shift towards a knowledge-based economy (KBE) has an insignificant impact on GDP over the long-term. However, the shift does produce a significant increase in unemployment. The higher unemployment is shown to be particularly high for the unskilled sectors of the population. It is therefore paramount that companies embark on skills development, training and educational initiatives when following a path of technological and knowledge innovation. A transformation of the education system to one that is inclusive, focused on quality, adaptive, encourages creativity, aligned with the needs of industry, and stimulates R&D is crucial. Without a coordinated strategy between industry, academia, and government in attempts to achieve a KBE, economic growth may be constrained, while the levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty may deteriorate. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-10-29