IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/afrdev/v36y2024i1p97-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of public infrastructural development and industrialization on economic complexity in Africa: Emerging insight from panel data analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Ekene ThankGod Emeka
  • Jonathan E. Ogbuabor
  • Emmanuel O. Nwosu

Abstract

This study examined the effects of public infrastructural development and industrialization on economic complexity in Africa, and how industrialization is moderating the effect of public infrastructural development on economic complexity. The study adopted the pooled ordinary least squares, the dynamic system generalized method of moments and the dynamic bias‐corrected least squares dummy variable estimators with a panel of 34 African economies over the period 2010–2021. The findings revealed that public infrastructural development and industrialization contribute positively and significantly toward enhancing economic complexity in Africa. We also found that industrialization substantially moderates and enhances the influence of public infrastructural development on economic complexity. Furthermore, the results show that trade openness, foreign direct investment inflow, international tourism arrival and institutional quality are potent factors enhancing Africa's economic complexity, while the role of human capital remains muted. These findings suggest that African leaders and policy‐makers can foster economic complexity across the continent by embracing policies that prioritize increased infrastructural development, industrialization, trade openness and foreign direct investment inflow while improving the quality of institutions within the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekene ThankGod Emeka & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Emmanuel O. Nwosu, 2024. "Effects of public infrastructural development and industrialization on economic complexity in Africa: Emerging insight from panel data analysis," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 97-110, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:36:y:2024:i:1:p:97-110
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8268.12734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12734
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8268.12734?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohamed Saadi, 2020. "Remittance Inflows and Export Complexity: New Evidence from Developing and Emerging Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2266-2292, December.
    2. Antonis Adam & Antonios Garas & Marina-Selini Katsaiti & Athanasios Lapatinas, 2023. "Economic complexity and jobs: an empirical analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 25-52, January.
    3. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    4. Serigne Bassirou Lo & Lassana Cissokho, 2023. "Financial development, institutions and industrialization in sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 35(2), pages 152-164, June.
    5. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2017. "Environmental degradation, ICT and inclusive development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 353-361.
    6. Oliver E. Ogbonna & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Afamefuna A. Eze & Walter O. Ugwuoke, 2021. "Moderating Effect of Institutional Quality on Relationship Between Foreign Aid and Economic Growth in Africa," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2021(4), pages 457-478.
    7. Ioana Anda Milin & Mariana Claudia Mungiu Pupazan & Abdul Rehman & Irina Elena Chirtoc & Nicolae Ecobici, 2022. "Examining the Relationship between Rural and Urban Populations’ Access to Electricity and Economic Growth: A New Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Hartmann, Dominik & Guevara, Miguel R. & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Aristarán, Manuel & Hidalgo, César A., 2017. "Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 75-93.
    9. Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Ekene ThankGod Emeka & Anthony Orji & Fidelia N. Onuigbo, 2023. "The effects of international financial inflows on economic complexity in Africa: does institutional quality play a moderation role?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 348-369, October.
    10. Adeyemi A. Ogundipe & Queen Esther Oye & Oluwatomisin M. Ogundipe & Romanus Osabohien & Jorge Miguel Lopo Gonçalves Andraz, 2020. "Does Infrastructural Absorptive Capacity Stimulate FDI-Growth Nexus in ECOWAS?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 1751487-175, January.
    11. Hausmann, Ricardo & Hidalgo, Cesar, 2014. "The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262525429, December.
    12. Harishankar Vidyarthi & R.K. Mishra, 2020. "Dynamics among banking penetration, transport infrastructure, and regional growth: an empirical note from Indian states," International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12.
    13. Davidmac O. Ekeocha & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Anthony Orji, 2022. "Public infrastructural development and economic performance in Africa: a new evidence from panel data analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 931-950, May.
    14. John Luiz, 2010. "Infrastructure investment and its performance in Africa over the course of the twentieth century," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(7), pages 512-536, June.
    15. David, Oladipo Olalekan, 2019. "Nexus between telecommunication infrastructures, economic growth and development in Africa: Panel vector autoregression (P-VAR) analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1-1.
    16. Arif, Umaima & Javid, Muhammad & Khan, Farzana Naheed, 2021. "Productivity impacts of infrastructure development in Asia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(1).
    17. Brice Kamguia & Manuella Ndjakwa & Sosson Tadadjeu, 2023. "Does infrastructural development foster export upgrading in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 35(1), pages 79-94, March.
    18. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    19. Cheng, Chih-Yang & Chien, Mei-Se & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2021. "ICT diffusion, financial development, and economic growth: An international cross-country analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 662-671.
    20. Davidmac O. Ekeocha & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Oliver E. Ogbonna & Anthony Orji, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty, governance institutions and economic performance in Africa: are there regional differences?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1367-1431, June.
    21. Semanur Soyyiğit & Seda Bayrakdar & Cüneyt Kiliç, 2023. "Effect of Economic Complexity on Unemployment in Terms of Gender: Evidence from BEM Economies," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(3), pages 342-365.
    22. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2022. "ICT Diffusion, Industrialisation and Economic Growth Nexus: an International Cross-country Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 2030-2069, September.
    23. Kwami Ossadzifo WONYRA, 2018. "Industrialization and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Human Capital in Structural Transformation," Journal of Empirical Studies, Conscientia Beam, vol. 5(1), pages 45-54.
    24. Cosimo Magazzino & Mihai Mutascu & Marco Mele & Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie, 2021. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Italy: A wavelet analysis," Post-Print hal-03539125, HAL.
    25. Oliver E. Ogbonna & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Charles O. Manasseh & Davidmac O. Ekeocha, 2022. "Global uncertainty, economic governance institutions and foreign direct investment inflow in Africa," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 2111-2136, November.
    26. Bjørn Bo Sørensen & Christian Estmann & Enilde Sarmento & John Rand, 2020. "Economic complexity and structural transformation: the case of Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-141, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    27. Chenxin Leng & Wanglin Ma & Jianjun Tang & Zhongkun Zhu, 2020. "ICT adoption and income diversification among rural households in China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(33), pages 3614-3628, June.
    28. Eric Evans Osei Opoku & Isabel Kit-Ming Yan, 2019. "Industrialization as driver of sustainable economic growth in Africa," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 30-56, January.
    29. Kyoung Y. Na & Dong H. Kim & Byoung G. Park & Sang W. Yoon & Chang-Ho Yoon, 2020. "ICT and transport infrastructure development: an empirical analysis of complementarity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(2), pages 195-211, January.
    30. Orji Anthony & Ogbuabor Jonathan E. & Anthony-Orji Onyinye I. & Okoro Chinonso & Osondu Daniel, 2020. "Analysis of ICT, Power Supply and Human Capital Development in Nigeria as an Emerging Market Economy," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 30(4), pages 55-68, December.
    31. Oladipo Olalekan David & Wynand Grobler, 2020. "Information and communication technology penetration level as an impetus for economic growth and development in Africa," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 1394-1418, January.
    32. Kwami Ossadzifo WONYRA, 2018. "Industrialization and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Human Capital in Structural Transformation," Journal of Empirical Studies, Conscientia Beam, vol. 5(1), pages 45-54.
    33. Stéphane Mbiankeu Nguea & Hervé Kaffo Fotio & Louise Angèle Baida, 2022. "Investigating the effects of globalization on economic sophistication in selected African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(3), pages 324-338, September.
    34. Alejandro Cataldo & Gabriel Pino & Robert J. McQueen, 2020. "Size matters: the impact of combinations of ICT assets on the performance of Chilean micro, small and medium enterprises," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 292-315, April.
    35. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    36. Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Anthony Orji & Charles N. Anumudu & Josaphat U. Onwumere & Charles O. Manasseh, 2018. "Quest for Industrialization in Nigeria: The Role of the Development Bank of Nigeria," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(3), pages 23-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ekene ThankGod Emeka & Simplice A. Asongu & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Gender economic inclusion, governance institutions and economic complexity in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 24/012, African Governance and Development Institute..

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ekene ThankGod Emeka & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Davidmac O. Ekeocha, 2024. "Terrorism and economic complexity in Africa: The unconditional impact of military expenditure," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 139-152, March.
    2. Davidmac O. Ekeocha & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Anthony Orji, 2022. "Public infrastructural development and economic performance in Africa: a new evidence from panel data analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 931-950, May.
    3. Valentine, Soumtang Bime & Itchoko Motande, Mondjeli Mwa Ndjokou & Salim Ahmed, Vessah Mbouombouo, 2024. "Revisiting natural resources and economic complexity nexus: Does financial development matter in developing countries?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Ekene ThankGod Emeka & Simplice A. Asongu & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Gender economic inclusion, governance institutions and economic complexity in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 24/012, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. Valentine Soumtang Bime & Dieudonné Mignamissi & Agathe Cassandra Koumis Ngagni, 2024. "Does financial openness matter for economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-49, April.
    6. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Effect of economic complexity on services export diversification: do foreign direct investment inflows matter?," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 413-437, June.
    7. Brice Kamguia & Joseph Keneck‐Massil & Henri Njangang & Sosson Tadadjeu, 2024. "Sophistication gap between countries: The effect of research and development expenditure," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 739-778, July.
    8. Kamguia, Brice & Tadadjeu, Sosson & Miamo, Clovis & Njangang, Henri, 2022. "Does foreign aid impede economic complexity in developing countries?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 71-88.
    9. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the utilization of non-reciprocal trade preferences offered by the QUAD countries on beneficiary countries' economic complexity," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Obed I. Ojonta & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor, 2024. "Effects of tourism and institutional quality on infrastructural development in Africa: new evidence from the system GMM technique," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 101-117, April.
    11. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "Do Unilateral Trade Preferences Help Reduce Poverty in Beneficiary Countries?," EconStor Preprints 247346, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "The Quality of Aid for Trade Flows and Economic Complexity," EconStor Preprints 271538, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    13. Naima Chrid & Sami Saafi & Mohamed Chakroun, 2021. "Export Upgrading and Economic Growth: a Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 811-841, June.
    14. Yue, Jiahua & Zhou, Shangsi, 2018. "Democracy’s comparative advantage: Evidence from aggregated trade data, 1962–2010," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 27-40.
    15. Trung V. Vu, 2022. "Does institutional quality foster economic complexity? The fundamental drivers of productive capabilities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1571-1604, September.
    16. Désiré Avom & Brice Kamguia & Joseph Pasky Ngameni, 2021. "Does volatility hinder economic complexity?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1187-1202.
    17. Chu, Lan Khanh & Hoang, Dung Phuong, 2020. "How does economic complexity influence income inequality? New evidence from international data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 44-57.
    18. Athanasios Lapatinas & Anastasia Litina & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2021. "The Impact of Economic Complexity on the Formation of Environmental Culture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, January.
    19. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2021. "Gender equality and economic complexity," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    20. Avom, Désiré & Keneck-Massil, Joseph & Njangang, Henri & Nvuh-Njoya, Youssouf, 2022. "Why are some resource-rich countries more sophisticated than others? The role of the regime type and political ideology," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:36:y:2024:i:1:p:97-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afdbgci.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.