Open AccessCorruption, Government Effectiveness and Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author(s) -
S. O. Akinbode,
Jayeola Olabisi,
Remilekun R. Adegbite,
Timothy Ayomitunde Aderemi,
Abimbola M. Alawode
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal for the advancement of developing economies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2161-8216
DOI - 10.32873/unl.dc.jade912
Subject(s) - human development index , human development (humanity) , economics , language change , chow test , corporate governance , government spending , econometrics , economic growth , finance , market economy , art , literature , welfare
Aside economic factors causing low human development which have been extensively studied inliterature, the implications of high level of corruption and weak governance prevalent in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have not been explored. The study assessed the effects ofcorruption, government effectiveness and their joint effect on human development in SSA. Datacollected on thirty-seven (37) countries within the period of 2005 to 2018 were analyzed usingsystem Generalized Method of Moment which was most suitable for the dataset. Results indicatedthat lagged human development index (P<0.01), government effectiveness (P<0.05), economicgrowth rate (P<0.1) and government health spending (P<0.1) had significant positive effect onhuman development while corruption and its interaction with government effectiveness did not.The results of Arrelano-Bond test of first order autocorrelation and second order autocorrelationof error term as well as the Sargan test and Hansen J test for validity of instrumental variablesconfirmed the validity of the model. The robustness of the estimation was established as thecoefficient of the lagged dependent variable fell between the values in the fixed effect and pooledordinary least square regression. The study recommended retraining and reorientation ofgovernment employees towards the mindset of effective service delivery and strong political willto achieve it, diversification of SSA economies alongside other growth stimulating policies suchas reduced lending interest rate on loans meant for the real sector, improvement in the ease ofdoing business, improved funding of the health sector and proper monitoring of activities in thepublic service by concerned agencies to curb corruption where it is present.