IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/revdev/v25y2020i2p215-236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Policy: Why Is the Quality of Institutions the Bane in Nigeria?

Author

Listed:
  • Fisayo Fagbemi
  • Babafemi Oladejo
  • Opeoluwa Adeniyi Adeosun

Abstract

This article examines the nexus between the quality of institutions and the poverty in Nigeria over the period 1984–2017, using dynamic least squares, canonical cointegrating regression and vector error correction mechanisms. The analysis based on three institutional measures (bureaucratic quality, democratic accountability and rule of law) reveals how the poverty rate could be escalated by entrenched poor governance. The evidence shows that democratic accountability and rule of law are significant for poverty reduction. This reinforces the assertion that accountability and transparency coupled with strict adherence to rule of law in the public sector are the principal components of poverty alleviation. Also, findings reveal that poverty and weak institutions are interconnected and mutually reinforcing in the country. Overall, the findings posit that poverty is widespread in Nigeria due to capacity constraints of public institutions or underlying governance practices. By implication, the article suggests that policymakers should focus on measures that have the greatest leverage for enhancing effective governance oriented towards poverty reduction and development. In addition, tackling socio-economic inequalities, curbing political unrest and building strong institutions are central to ensuring a socially sustainable basis for holistic welfare improvements.

Suggested Citation

  • Fisayo Fagbemi & Babafemi Oladejo & Opeoluwa Adeniyi Adeosun, 2020. "The Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Policy: Why Is the Quality of Institutions the Bane in Nigeria?," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 25(2), pages 215-236, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:revdev:v:25:y:2020:i:2:p:215-236
    DOI: 10.1177/0972266120975262
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0972266120975262
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0972266120975262?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. Alessandra Cepparulo & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2017. "Financial development, institutions, and poverty alleviation: an empirical analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(36), pages 3611-3622, August.
    2. Aschauer, David Alan, 2000. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: Issues of Quantity, Finance, and Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 391-406, January.
    3. Shenggen Fan & Xiaobo Zhang, 2008. "Public Expenditure, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Rural Uganda," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 20(3), pages 466-496.
    4. Fan, Shenggen & Jitsuchon, Somchai & Methakunnavut, Nuntaporn, 2004. "The importance of public investment for reducing rural poverty in middle-income countries: the case of Thailand," DSGD discussion papers 7, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Johansen, Soren & Juselius, Katarina, 1990. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference on Cointegration--With Applications to the Demand for Money," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(2), pages 169-210, May.
    6. Zivot, Eric & Andrews, Donald W K, 2002. "Further Evidence on the Great Crash, the Oil-Price Shock, and the Unit-Root Hypothesis," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 25-44, January.
    7. Uddin, Gazi Salah & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Arouri, Mohamed & Teulon, Frédéric, 2014. "Financial development and poverty reduction nexus: A cointegration and causality analysis in Bangladesh," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 405-412.
    8. Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 1993. "A Simple Estimator of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 783-820, July.
    9. Inoue, Takeshi & Hamori, Shigeyuki, 2010. "How has financial deepening affected poverty reduction in India? : empirical analysis using state-level panel data," IDE Discussion Papers 249, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    10. Liyanage Devangi H. Perera & Grace H.Y. Lee, 2013. "Have Economic Growth And Institutional Quality Contributed To Poverty And Inequality Reduction In Asia?," Monash Economics Working Papers 37-13, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    11. Perera, Liyanage Devangi H. & Lee, Grace H.Y., 2013. "Have economic growth and institutional quality contributed to poverty and inequality reduction in Asia?," MPRA Paper 52763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Muhammad, Yusuf & C.A, Malarvizhi, 2012. "Good-Governance and Poverty Reduction Relationship a case study of Nigeria," MPRA Paper 52351, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2013.
    13. Frederick Solt, 2008. "Economic Inequality and Democratic Political Engagement," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 48-60, January.
    14. repec:bla:devpol:v:21:y:2003:i::p:481-509 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Daniel Kaufmann & Aart Kraay & Massimo Mastruzzi, 2004. "Governance Matters III: Governance Indicators for 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 18(2), pages 253-287.
    16. Gazi Salah Uddin & Muhammed Shahbaz & Mohamed Arouri & Frédéric Teulon, 2014. "Financial Development and Poverty Reduction Nexus: A cointegration and causality analysis in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2014-291, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    17. Picciotto, R., 1995. "Putting Institutional Economics to Work: From Participation to Governance," World Bank - Discussion Papers 304, World Bank.
    18. Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Linxiu & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2002. "Growth, inequality, and poverty in rural China: the role of public investments," Research reports 125, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Paul Mosley & John Hudson & Arjan Verschoor, 2004. "Aid, Poverty Reduction and the 'New Conditionality'," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(496), pages 217-243, June.
    20. Perron, Pierre, 1989. "The Great Crash, the Oil Price Shock, and the Unit Root Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(6), pages 1361-1401, November.
    21. David Brady & Regina Baker & Ryan Finnigan, 2013. "When Unionization Disappears: State-Level Unionization and Working Poverty in the U.S," LIS Working papers 590, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    22. Donnelly-Roark, Paula & Ouedraogo, Karim & Xiao Ye, 2001. "Can local institutions reduce poverty? Rural decentralization in Burkina Faso," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2677, The World Bank.
    23. Rana Hasan & M.G. Quibria & Yangseon Kim, 2003. "Poverty and Economic Freedom: Evidence from Cross-Country Data," Economics Study Area Working Papers 60, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    24. Edinaldo Tebaldi & Ramesh Mohan, 2010. "Institutions and Poverty," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1047-1066.
    25. Choi, Chi-Young & Hu, Ling & Ogaki, Masao, 2008. "Robust estimation for structural spurious regressions and a Hausman-type cointegration test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 327-351, January.
    26. Richard Adams, 2011. "Evaluating the Economic Impact of International Remittances On Developing Countries Using Household Surveys: A Literature Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 809-828.
    27. Chali Nondo & Mulugeta S. Kahsai & Yohannes G. Hailu, 2016. "Does institutional quality matter in foreign direct investment?: Evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries," African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(1), pages 12-30.
    28. Grootaert, Christiaan & Narayan, Deepa, 2001. "Local institutions, poverty, and household welfare in Bolivia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2644, The World Bank.
    29. R. Milbourne & G. Otto & G. Voss, 2003. "Public investment and economic growth," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 527-540.
    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. Fagbemi, Fisayo & Nzeribe, Geraldine & Osinubi, Tolulope & Asongu, Simplice, 2021. "Interconnections between Governance and Socioeconomic Conditions: Understanding Sub-Saharan African Challenges," MPRA Paper 111844, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Bhanu Pratap Singh, 2021. "Institutional quality and poverty reduction in BRICS," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(4), pages 335-350, December.

    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. Fisayo Fagbemi & Babafemi Oladejo & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "The Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Policy: Why is the Quality of Institutions the Bane in Nigeria?," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/099, African Governance and Development Institute..
    2. Fisayo Fagbemi & Babafemi Oladejo & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "The Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Policy: Why is the Quality of Institutions the Bane in Nigeria?," Working Papers 20/099, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    3. Fisayo Fagbemi & Babafemi Oladejo & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "The Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Policy: Why is the Quality of Institutions the Bane in Nigeria?," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/099, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    4. Alessandra Cepparulo & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2017. "Financial development, institutions, and poverty alleviation: an empirical analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(36), pages 3611-3622, August.
    5. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Ahmed, Khalid & Nawaz, Kishwar & Ali, Amjad, 2019. "Modelling the gender inequality in Pakistan: A macroeconomic perspective," MPRA Paper 97502, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Dec 2019.
    6. Orazaliyev Kanat & Zhijun Yan & Muhammad Mansoor Asghar & Syed Anees Haider Zaidi & Abdul Sami, 2024. "Gender Inequality and Poverty: The Role of Financial Development in Mitigating Poverty in Pakistan," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 11848-11876, September.
    7. Wu, Jyh-lin, 1998. "Are budget deficits "too large"?: The evidence from Taiwan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 519-528.
    8. Goh, Soo Khoon & McNown, Robert, 2015. "Examining the exchange rate regime–monetary policy autonomy nexus: Evidence from Malaysia," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 292-303.
    9. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles, 2012. "Revisiting fiscal sustainability: panel cointegration and structural breaks in OECD countries," Working Papers Department of Economics 2012/29, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    10. Marei Elbadri & Eralp Bektaş, 2022. "Dynamic relationship among the bank stability, oil, and gold prices: Evidence from the Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2153-2168, April.
    11. Antonella Biscione & Dorothée Boccanfuso & Raul Caruso, 2020. "A Hypothesis on Poverty Change in Albania (2007-2016)," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 128(3), pages 301-320.
    12. Aliyu Alhaji Jibrilla, 2016. "Fiscal sustainability in the presence of structural breaks: Does overconfidence on resource exports hurt government’s ability to finance debt? Evidence from Nigeria," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1170317-117, December.
    13. Solarin, Sakiru Adebola & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2013. "Trivariate causality between economic growth, urbanisation and electricity consumption in Angola: Cointegration and causality analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 876-884.
    14. Ho, Sin-Yu & Njindan Iyke, Bernard, 2018. "Financial Development, Growth and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Ghana," MPRA Paper 87121, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Francisco Estrada & Pierre Perron, "undated". "Detection and attribution of climate change through econometric methods," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 2013-015, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    16. Zhan, Minghua & Wang, Lijun & Zhan, Shuwei & Lu, Yao, 2023. "Does digital finance change the stability of money demand function? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Tang, Chor Foon & Tan, Eu Chye, 2015. "Does tourism effectively stimulate Malaysia's economic growth?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 158-163.
    18. Kouadio, Hugues Kouassi & Gakpa, Lewis-Landry, 2022. "Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 41-63.
    19. Isaac Appiah-Otoo & Na Song, 2021. "The Impact of Fintech on Poverty Reduction: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, May.
    20. Chor Foon Tang and Eu Chye Tan, 2012. "Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth in Portugal: Evidence from a Multivariate Framework Analysis," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).

    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:sae:revdev:v:25:y:2020:i:2:p:215-236. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.