David O Fadiran

Vusi Gumede * Abstract This article views Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) as any illegal and corrupt practice done to acquire money without due process that is in line with international financial and trade regulatory frameworks. Based on this working definition, the article explores IFFs in the mining sectors in four countries (i.e. the Republics of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) with a specific focus on socio-economic implications for communities in the mining or former mining areas. Measurement issues are also attempted. Indeed, IFFs have severe implications for the communities (as it is for countries). Although the results are mixed, regarding the quantification of IFFs in the mining sector, it is clear that IFFs have major negative effects on welfare and political stability. Estimates show high levels of IFFs through trade misinvoicing in all the four countries for the mining sector.

“Institutions matter†has become a generally accepted premise in development economics. The growth and development problems in Nigeria are also common knowledge. To better understand these problems a proper characterization of institutions in Nigeria is essential. Conducting empirical test of the role of institutions in Nigeria’s growth and development can prove challenging due to lack of institutional data set that span over a long time. In the event that short span data set is available, Glaeser et al. (2004) highlight the many flaws implicit in such measures constructed by political scientists in literature. In this paper, we construct an index of institution quality for the period 1862 through to 2011 for Nigeria, in doing so, we adopt a new method of measuring institutions, which makes use of pre-existing (de jure) legislations, ordinances and constitutions in constructing three institutional indicators; civil and political liberties, freehold property rights, and non-free...

The primacy of factors of production, such as labour and capital, over Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in stimulating economic growth, has long been a contentious subject in discussions on the underlying causes of economic growth. While the roles of labour and capital have been exhaustively explored, TFP still has room for further exploration, more specifically in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study empirically examines the link between institutions and TFP in SSA, while controlling for other frequently explored variables, for example, research and development, human capital, infrastructure and financial development. The estimations provided in the study are based on a panel of 26 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1990–2011. We find that, while some of these factors affect TFP in the long-run, there is a consistent relationship with institutions as well. We also find that market-based institutions play a more prominent role than the more frequently explored political ...

Path dependence theory, within the institutions context, means that the path of institutions promulgated within a system historically determines the nature of institutions that will ensue within the same system in the present and in the future. The paper makes use of a newly constructed index of institutions quality, and addresses three related questions; the existence of path dependence in institutions, the interdependence and causality between political and economic institutions, and lastly the interdependence between economic development and institutions. In addressing the first question, I use unit root tests to test the hypothesis that institutions promulgated during colonial times still influence institutions promulgated during the post colonial era. I also test for interdependence between institutions in Nigeria using an error correction model in analysing the extent of interdependence between political and economic institutions. Lastly, I test the critical juncture hypothesi...

In this study, the role of institutions as a determining factor in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction into a developing country such as Nigeria is investigated. The study makes use of recently constructed measures of institutions' quality that cover three separate categories: civil and political liberties, freehold property rights and non-freehold (Customary) property rights, with particular attention given to the two property rights. The findings suggest that, in the case of Nigeria, in the short run, institutions do play a role in determining FDI attraction. In addition, the study highlights the need to unbundle institutions, given that specific aspects of freehold property rights have a positive and significant impact on FDI, even though freehold property rights as whole does not have a significant impact.

We construct three measures of political and economic institutions that cover a 150-year period (1862–2011) for Nigeria. To do so, we rely on a theoretical definition of the institutional measures, broken down into relevant components that assess the extent to which the Nigerian legal framework provides for specific rights and freedoms. We make use of preexisting (de jure) legislations, ordinances, and constitutions to assign scores to every relevant component. The newly constructed indicators (civil and political liberties, freehold property rights, and customary property rights) provide a platform for a comprehensive analysis of institutional change in Nigeria since 1862. We document the manner in which the evolution of these de jure institutional measures are shaped by Britain’s colonial objectives of gaining administrative control over the region to facilitate trade endeavors, the introduction of indirect rule, the amalgamation (unification) of the northern and southern parts of the country as well as postindependence military rule. We show that our measures of institutional quality are strongly correlated with existing and popular measures (for overlapping periods spanning at most 50 years). This finding bodes well for the reliability of our institutional indicators.

We construct three measures of political and economic institutions that cover a 150-year period (1862–2011) for Nigeria. To do so, we rely on a theoretical definition of the institutional measures, broken down into relevant components that assess the extent to which the Nigerian legal framework provides for specific rights and freedoms. We make use of preexisting (de jure) legislations, ordinances, and constitutions to assign scores to every relevant component. The newly constructed indicators (civil and political liberties, freehold property rights, and customary property rights) provide a platform for a comprehensive analysis of institutional change in Nigeria since 1862. We document the manner in which the evolution of these de jure institutional measures are shaped by Britain’s colonial objectives of gaining administrative control over the region to facilitate trade endeavors, the introduction of indirect rule, the amalgamation (unification) of the northern and southern parts of the country as well as postindependence military rule. We show that our measures of institutional quality are strongly correlated with existing and popular measures (for overlapping periods spanning at most 50 years). This finding bodes well for the reliability of our institutional indicators.

Path dependence theory, within the institutions context, means that the path of institutions promulgated within a system historically determines the nature of institutions that will ensue within the same system in the present and in the future. The paper makes use of a newly constructed index of institutions quality, and addresses three related questions; the existence of path dependence in institutions, the interdependence and causality between political and economic institutions, and lastly the interdependence between economic development and institutions. In addressing the first question, I use unit root tests to test the hypothesis that institutions promulgated during colonial times still influence institutions promulgated during the post colonial era. I also test for interdependence between institutions in Nigeria using an error correction model in analysing the extent of interdependence between political and economic institutions. Lastly, I test the critical juncture hypothesis-which argues that better institutions lead to economic development and the modernisation hypotheses-which argues that economic development leads to better institutions. The results show support for early path dependence in both political and economic institutions. I also find evidence in support of interdependence running from economic to political institutions. Lastly, there is evidence of a long-run association between institutions and economic development, with the evidence supporting the critical juncture hypothesis , more than the modernisation hypothesis.

Using comprehensive, anonymized tax administrative data for the 2008–14 period, we examine firm-level productivity in South Africa. Measures of firm-level productivity are included in a spatial autoregressive model that assesses spillovers from total factor productivity originating
from agglomeration economies and the spatial diffusion of productivity shocks. We find that across South Africa’s firms, intermediate inputs have the highest impact on firm productivity. The results from the spatial analysis indicate that for a firm in a particular region, its clustering
with other firms, having increased market power, and an extended length of stay in a particular region have a greater impact on productivity than do market conditions and firm-specific characteristics associated with firms located in neighbouring regions or municipalities.

In this study, the role of institutions as a determining factor in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction into a developing country such as Nigeria is investigated. The study makes use of recently constructed measures of institutions' quality that cover three separate categories: civil and political liberties, freehold property rights and non-freehold (Customary) property rights, with particular attention given to the two property rights. The findings suggest that, in the case of Nigeria, in the short run, institutions do play a role in determining FDI attraction. In addition, the study highlights the need to unbundle institutions, given that specific aspects of freehold property rights have a positive and significant impact on FDI, even though freehold property rights as whole does not have a significant impact.

This article views Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) as any illegal and corrupt
practice to acquire money without the due process that is in line with
international financial and trade regulatory frameworks. Based on this
working definition, the article explores IFFs in the mining sectors in four
countries (the Republics of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) with a specific focus on the socio-economic implications for communities in the mining or former mining areas. Measurement issues are also attempted. Indeed, IFFs have severe implications for the communities (as for countries). Although the results are mixed, regarding the quantification of IFFs in the mining sector, it is clear that IFFs have major negative effects on welfare and political stability. Estimates show high levels of IFFs through trade misinvoicing for the mining sector in all the four countries.

The relationship between Intellectual property rights (IPRs) and innovation in a north south framework has been a much discussed topic over the past few years. This paper adds to this research area by looking at how the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement implemented by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has affected the relationship between IPRs and innovation ever since its implementation in 1994. Empirical analysis, involving a panel data of 84 countries shows that the TRIPS agreement has a significant effect on the effectiveness of IPRs influence on innovation. We also obtained an interesting result exhibiting a negative impact of IPRs on innovation.