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The Comparative Inclusive Human Development of Globalisation in Africa

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Abstract

This study examines the impact of globalisation on inclusive human development in 51 African countries for the period 1996–2011 with particular emphasis on income levels (low income vs. middle income), legal origins (English common law vs. French civil law), resource wealth (oil-rich vs. oil-poor), landlockedness (landlocked vs. unlandlocked), religious domination (Christianity vs. Islam) and political stability (stable vs. unstable). The empirical evidence is based on instrumental variable panel Fixed effects and Tobit regressions in order to control for the unobserved heterogeneity and limited range in the dependent variable. Political, economic, social and general globalisation variables are used. Six main hypotheses are investigated. The findings broadly show that middle income, English common law, oil-poor, unlandlocked, Christian-oriented and politically-stable countries are associated with comparatively higher levels of globalisation-driven inclusive human development. Puzzling findings are elucidated and policy implications discussed.

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Notes

  1. It is important to note that, whereas the motivations for the choice of fundamental characteristics are the testable hypotheses that are derived hereafter in Sect. 2, the criteria for the selection of fundamental characteristics are now engaged.

  2. There are four main World Bank income groups: (1) high income, $12,276 or more; (2) upper middle income, $3976–$12,275; (3) lower middle income, $1006–$3975 and (4) low income, $1005 or less.

  3. Whereas Fosu (2013a) has defined policy syndromes as situations that are detrimental to growth in Africa, Asongu (2015c) has conceived policy syndromes as fundamental characteristics needing more resources in order to achieve a particular target. The conception of policy syndrome in this study is consistent with both authors because the identified fundamental characteristics are comparatively more detrimental to enjoying the inclusive benefits of globalisation and hence, more resources are needed to support them.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the editor and referees for constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. African Governance and Development Institute, P.O. Box 8413, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Simplice A. Asongu

  2. Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Business, Environment and Society, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5DH, UK

    Jacinta C. Nwachukwu

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  1. Simplice A. Asongu
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  2. Jacinta C. Nwachukwu
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Correspondence to Simplice A. Asongu.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 4.

Table 4 Definitions of variables
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Appendix 2

See Table 5.

Table 5 Summary statistics (1996–2011)
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Appendix 3

See Table 6.

Table 6 Correlation matrix (uniform sample size: 442)
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Appendix 4

See Table 7.

Table 7 Categorization of countries
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Asongu, S.A., Nwachukwu, J.C. The Comparative Inclusive Human Development of Globalisation in Africa. Soc Indic Res 134, 1027–1050 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1467-2

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