This study simulates the effect of fuel subsidy removal on different categories of inflation in Nigeria using the novel dynamic simulated autoregressive distributed lag framework. Findings revealed heterogeneity in the inflationary effect of an increase in premium motor spirit price across locations, and that the recent fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria will have long-lasting negative inflationary effects.

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Authors: Isiaka Akande Raifu, Joshua Adeyemi Afolabi
 

Abstract 

Purpose – This study explored how institutional quality influences the relationship between military spending and education in Africa. 

Design/methodology/approach – This study used data from 43 African countries spanning the years 2000–2021. Two estimation methods were employed to address various issues: Fixed Effects with DriscollKraay standard errors and the Two-Step System Generalised Method of Moments. The Fixed Effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard error method was used to obtain reliable standard errors and inferences from the estimated coefficients of the fixed effects model. Meanwhile, the problem of endogeneity between military spending and education was addressed using the Two-Step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). 

Findings – The results indicated that military spending negatively impacts both the quality and quantity of education. However, both institutional quality and the interaction term (institutional quality*military spending) have positive effects on both measures of education, suggesting that better institutional quality mitigates the negative effect of military spending on education outcomes. 

Practical implications – This study shows that institutional quality dampens the negative effect of military spending on education, especially the quality of education. Hence, African countries should prioritize strengthening their institutions to ensure optimal allocation and utilization of government funds for the benefit of their citizens

READ MORE  - https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/jbsed-10-2023-0081/full/html

AUTHORS: Isiaka Akande Raifu, Damian Chidozie Uzoma-Nwosu and Alarudeen Aminu

This study examines whether structural breaks matter in the tourism-growth nexus. We estimated annual and quarterly data for the world’s top 10 tourism destinations between 1995 and 2020 using the structural break, Fixed Effects and Feasible Generalised Least Square (FGLS) approaches. This study provides evidence of structural fractures in the relationship between tourism (in the lead) and economic growth.

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Authors: Isiaka Akande Raifu, Joshua Adeyemi Afolabi

Green hydrogen is a promising alternative towards the global target of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. As such, attention is geared towards green energy hydrogen technologies and markets. Invariably, this also provides investment opportunities for both institutional and private investors. To this end, seventeen green hydrogen markets are studied using network modelling techniques. Among other key findings, Plug Power leads the industry’s returns while Bloom Energy leads its volatilities as net transmitters. Intuitively, these markets serve as signals or yardsticks in identifying performances, developments, investment opportunities and prospects in the green hydrogen industry. Conversely, Fuel Cell Energy and Nikola are the leading net return and volatility receivers respectively. Nonetheless, the outbreak of the coronavirus altered the nature of connectedness existing in the renewable green hydrogen industry. This is further confrmed using the Welch (two samples) test. Besides, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic strengthened and improved the industry’s overall connectedness. Generally, vital evidence for understanding the green hydrogen industry is presented and discussed. Evidence-based Investment and portfolio management policy implications and recommendations are made.

Time-of-use pricing in retail electricity markets implies that wholesale market scarcity becomes easily communicated to end consumers. Yet, it is not well-understood if and how the price formation process in retail electricity markets will help to reward the demand for operational flexibility due to growth in intermittent generation. To contribute to this discussion, this paper develops a partial equilibrium model of the retail electricity market calibrated to Chinese data. The paper finds that tariffs in this market may not be significantly suppressed by growth in near-zero costs renewable sources when controlling for flexibility restrictions on thermal generation assets and when a significant curtailment of variable renewable resources exists in the market. In addition, it shows that the price formation process in retail electricity markets which controls for flexibility restrictions on thermal generation while allowing for consumers to respond slowly to price changes is a feasible strategy to reward the demand for operational flexibility. Finally, the paper reveals that while integrating intermittent generation beyond levels which the available storage capacities can accommodate may result in losses to producers, benefits to consumers may offset these losses, leading to overall welfare gains.