https://hdl.handle.net/10419/123512 Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:22:10 GMT 2026-10-30T20:22:10Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/298279 Title: Information Technology, Gender Economic Inclusion and Environment Sustainability in Sub-Sahara Africa Authors: Ndour, Cheikh T.; Asongu, Simplice Abstract: Purpose - This study examines the relevance of information and communication technologies in the effect of gender economic inclusion on environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - The focus is on a panel of 42 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2005-2020. The empirical evidence is based on generalized method of moments. The environmental sustainability indicator used is CO2 emissions per capita. Two indicators of women's economic inclusion are considered: women's labour force participation and women's unemployment. The chosen ICT indicators are mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. Findings - The results show that: (i) fixed broadband subscriptions represent the most relevant ICT moderator of gender economic inclusion for an effect on CO2 emissions; (ii) negative net effects are apparent for the most part with fixed broadband subscriptions (iii) both positive ICT thresholds (i.e., critical levels for complementary policies) and negative ICT thresholds (i.e., minimum ICT levels for negative net effects) are provided; (iv) ICT synergy effects are apparent for female unemployment, but not for female employment. In general, the joint effect of ICTs or their synergies and economic inclusion should be a concern for policymakers in order to better ensure sustainable development. Moreover, the relevant ICT policy thresholds and mobile phone threshold for complementary policy are essential in promoting a green economy. Originality/value -The study complements the extant literature by assessing linkages between information technology, gender economic inclusion and environmental sustainability. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/298279 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299213 Title: Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and children's nutritional status in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys Authors: Mwisha-Kasiwa, Janvier; Mosengo, Cédrick Kalemasi; Kodila-Tedika, Oasis Abstract: This paper uses a pooled dataset of the 2007 and 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to establish the empirical linkages between infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and children's nutritional status in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The paper examines all the recommended dimensions of child feeding and builds an index from variables related to breastfeeding, use of bottle-feeding, minimum dietary diversity and number of times child ate solid, semi-solid or soft foods. A series of descriptive analyses and survey-based econometric regressions are carried out while controlling for endogeneity and heterogeneity. The key finding is that infant and young child feeding practices are an important and significant determinant of children's nutritional status as measured by the height-for-age z-score and the probability of stunting. In particular, an increase in the IYCF practices index by 1 unit increases by 0.47 standard score in the height-for-age z-score while it reduces the probability of child stunting by -0.5 controlling for other covariates. The paper recommends to the DRC's Ministry of public health to reinforce the parent's education, especially mothers of children, on the importance of infant and young child feeding practices for the nutrition of their children. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299213 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299214 Title: The role of foreign aid in the nexus between capital flight and unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa Authors: Asongu, Simplice; Odhiambo, Nicholas M. Abstract: This study assesses the relevance of foreign aid in the incidence of capital flight on unemployment in 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study is for the period 1996-2018, and the empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions in order to assess the nexuses throughout the conditional distribution of the unemployment outcome variable. From the findings, capital flight has a positive unconditional incidence on unemployment, while foreign aid dampens the underlying positive unconditional nexus. Moreover, in order for the positive incidence of capital flight to be completely dampened, foreign aid thresholds of 2.230 and 3.964 (% of GDP) are needed at the 10th and 25th quantiles, respectively, of the conditional distribution of unemployment. It follows that the relevance of foreign aid in crowding out the unfavorable incidence of capital flight on unemployment is significantly apparent only in bottom quantiles or countries with below-median levels of unemployment. Policy implications are discussed. The study complements the extant literature by assessing the importance of development assistance in how capital flight affects unemployment in subSaharan Africa. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299214 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/298278 Title: Assessment of the influence of Institutions and Globalization on environmental pollution for Open and Closed economies Authors: Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi; Agozie, Divine Quase; Ali, Ernest Baba; Bekun, Festus Victor; Asongu, Simplice Abstract: As the environmental sustainability effectiveness of various political systems is taken into consideration, it is doubtful as to whether the presumption of the overall efficiency of democracy can be sustained in global governance architecture. The effectiveness of autocracies and democracies (i.e., governance indicators are compared in the present study) with reference to strengths and weaknesses in environmental objectives. This analysis explores the effect of autocracy, democracy, as well as the trend of globalization on CO2 emissions for open and closed economies from 1990 to 2020. Crucial indicators such as economic growth, renewable energy and non-renewable energy are controlled for while examining the roles of economic expansion on the disaggregated energy consumption portfolios for both open and closed economies. The empirical analysis revealed some insightful results. First, for the open economies, with the expectation of non-renewable energy which show a positive significant impact on emissions, all variables show a negative effect on emissions. Furthermore, the closed economies result indicate that, apart from renewable energy which has a negative relationship with emissions, all the variables including the interaction terms have a positive relation with emissions. However, an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis was validated for both economies. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/298278 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z