Folorunsho M Ajide

• PhD
• Lecturer at University of Ilorin

We examine the impact of anti-money laundering regulations (RAML) on income inequality in 69 developing economies, consisting of higher-income, upper-middle-income, and low-middle and low-income economies over the period of 2012-2021. For this purpose, we address endogeneity through the instrumental variable panel estimation strategies. The results...

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance mechanism on money laundering operations in publicly listed firms in Nigeria, emphasising the efficacy of governance measures and the mediating function of internal audits. The study employed purposive sampling to analyse 177 firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, collecting data from...

This study aims to examine the threshold effect of geopolitical risk in the nexus between resource rents and the informal economy. Drawing on data from BRICS member countries over the period 1990–2020, it employs the newly proposed dynamic panel threshold method to disclose an in-depth analysis by looking at the possible regime shift in the relatio...

Sustainable development attempts to support the growth of individuals, communities, and cultures to attain a reasonable and equitable quality of life, healthcare, and education worldwide. Entrepreneurship and digitalization are widely acknowledged to be important in achieving sustainable development by creating job opportunities, increasing innovat...

Mobile money is a novel system for providing seamless financial services in developing countries. The use of this technology has allowed the poor households to make payment, receive money and get credits via mobile phone algorithm, and has gained popularity among nations in Africa. This technology has leapfrogged the traditional services of formal...

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade on economic complexity in Africa. Design/methodology/approach Panel data from 34 African countries between 2003 and 2022 are used. This study analyzes the data using a two-stage least square proposed by Lewbel (2012) and Driscoll and Kraay (1998) est...

This study contributes to the ICT-environment literature by examining the impact of ICT on the environmental degradation of 29 African nations from 2000 to 2018. The study builds its approach on the Stochastic Impacts Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) framework, while the novel method of moments quantile regression and D...

Research Purpose The research aimed to assess the interrelationships among venture capital funding, financial innovation, and operating performance within Nigerian fintech firms. It sought to investigate both the direct associations between these variables and the potential mediating role of financial innovation on the connection between venture ca...

There are conflicting views on the effect of business and entrepreneurial activities on environmental degradations in developing economies. However, none of this study examines whether economic complexity can serve as a policy tool for mitigating the effect of entrepreneurial business activities on sustainable environment. Economic complexity consi...

In line with the nascent literature on economic complexity, this paper answers whether economic complexity impacts the size of the shadow economy in African economies, a region confronted with a large amount of informal economic operations. We apply four classes of mean group estimators (mean group, augmented mean group, common correlated effects m...

The relationship between shadow economy and renewable energy remains debatable in the literature. However, no known study has examined the moderate effects of economic complexity in the shadow economy-renewable energy transition nexus. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by investigating the moderating role of economic complexity in the shad...

This paper examines the nexus between shadow economy and income inequality in the West African region. The study applies second-generation panel estimation techniques to analyze the effect and the direction of causation between the variables. The results reveal that the shadow economy reduces income inequality in the region in both short-run and lo...

The tourism sector has been considered as an important sector contributing to the development of an economy. In this study, we investigate the impact of institutions and tourism on sustainable development. In addition, we investigate the causality among the variables in the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. Using the panel co-integration es...

Corruption is an endemic that has eaten deep into the Nigerian economy. It has been established that corruption is inimical to economic performance. On this note, we examine the linear and non-linear impacts of corruption on economic complexity between 1984 and 2019 in Nigeria, being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The study employs...

In line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-3), this study probes the role of financial inclusion in the relationship between women political empowerment and health outcomes in 39 African nations. Applying panel estimation technique on data spanning over a period of 2004-2020, the study's findings are as follows: Women political empowerment prom...

This study investigates whether trade policy instruments- tariffs strengthen or worsen African environmental sustainability. To drive out the objectives of the study, fully modified OLS (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS), Augmented mean group (AMG), method of moment quantile regression (MMQR), and Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality approaches are used to a...

In line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-3), this study probes the role of financial inclusion in the relationship between women political empowerment and health outcomes in 39 African nations. Applying panel estimation technique on data spanning over a period of 2004-2020, the study's findings are as follows: Women political empowerment prom...

Purpose Energy poverty is a global phenomenon, but its prevalence is enormous in most African countries, with a potential impact on quality of life. This study aims to investigate the impact of energy poverty on the shadow economy. Design/methodology/approach The study uses panel data from 45 countries in Africa over a period of 1996–2018. Using p...

This study investigated the asymmetric impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on economic complexity in Nigeria from 1992 to 2022, with a focus on both linear and nonlinear relationships. The study revealed that, in the short run, FDI positively influences economic complexity, with significant immediate effects. In the long run, the benefits of...

Literature suggests that financial development and migrants’ remittances play a significant role in economic prosperity. However, nothing is known on the role of financial development and remittances in upgrading economic complexity for the case of African nations. This study contributes to the growing literature on economic complexity by providing...

he growth of the China-African economic relationship has received much attention among the scholars. Africa and China have experienced cooperation in the areas of foreign direct investment, cross-border trade, and foreign aids. While this economic relationship has been viewed to contribute to the development of African nations, some scholars are of...

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of mobile money innovations on sustainable development in Africa. Applying panel fixed effect, system GMM and dynamic threshold estimators on a panel data of 34 selected African countries within a period of 2011 and 2019, the study reveals some interesting findings. First, we discover that mobile...

Many factors influencing shadow economy, including foreign direct investment, economic complexity, and financial development, have been well acknowledged in the literature. However, little attention has been given to the roles of natural resources, ethnicity, and religious diversity as the intense factors affecting the size of shadow economy in dev...

Purpose- Driven by the Sustainable Development Goals (goals 7, 8, 12, and 13), this study investigates the moderating role of financial development in the link between energy poverty and a sustainable environment in African nations. Methodology- Panel cointegration analysis, fully modified least squares, Driscoll and Kraay least squares, and metho...

The study examines the impact of the insurance market on economic complexity in 28 OECD nations within a period of 1995–2020. The study also examines whether the impact of life insurance on economic complexity would be different from that of the non-life insurance sector within the insurance market. The results based on pooled mean group (PMG) esti...

Research Purpose One of the most recent global aims is to increase life expectancy since healthy people are seen as human capital that may boost the economy. The study investigates the role of governance in the globalisation-life expectancy nexus using 39 African countries between 1996 and 2019. Design/Methodology/Approach The study uses a Panel-S...

Purpose – The study’s objective is to examine the relevance of globalization in affecting the size of the shadow economy in selected African nations. Design/methodology/approach –To do this, we employ the KOF globalization index and implement both static and dynamic common correlated mean group estimators on a panel of 24 African nations from 199...

This paper provides insights on how business climate affect global value chains (GVC) participation in the panel of African nations. The study explores country-level data spanning over a period of 2006-2018. Using the novel method of moments (MM)-Quantile regression, system generalized methods of moments (SYSGMM) and Panel spatial consistent correl...

Previous studies on the relationship between institutions and entrepreneurship do not cover the relevance of democracy in strengthening the two variables. It is not clear whether democratic regimes promote entrepreneurship in Africa. This study contributes to the debate by examining the impact of democracy on entrepreneurship in Africa. It also pro...

This study provides empirical insights on the effect of mobile money innovation on global value chain participation. Applying quantile estimation technique on the data of 90 developing economies between 2011 and 2018, we document that mobile money innovation has significant positive effect on participation in global value chains. Furthermore, our r...

Over the years, efforts have been put in place to address money laundering activities including financial crime and illicit funding controls. These efforts have been recognized to promote financial integrity and effective governance systems. They have been further adjudged by the United Nations' sustainable development (Goal‐16) with a major concer...

Studies in literature argue that technological innovation is a crucial component that could provide an enduring solution to the effects of climate change. However, we argue in this study that technology-driven climate solutions may not be sustainable in the absence of robust economic freedom, particularly in Africa where there are manifestly weak g...

We examine the interactive effects of economic freedom and energy poverty across different conditional distributions on the quality of life in Africa. We find that free market economies with adequate supplies of electricity significantly improves the quality of life in the region. The effectiveness of economic freedom policy and access to electrici...

This study tests the validity of the Porter hypothesis through the examination of the joint effects of green trade and environmental policy stringency on sustainable development in the European Economic Area. To achieve the study objective, data for 14 countries within the region between 2003 and 2015 is analyzed using advanced panel estimation tec...

The implications of money laundering activities in developing economies have yielded mixed findings. However, existing studies have not specifically examined the role of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations in relation to entrepreneurial development. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the impact of AML regulations on entrepreneurship...

This article examines the nexus between economic complexity and ecological degradation while considering the role of globalization for a panel of African countries. The empirical findings of Driscoll-Kraay show that economic complexity and political globalization reduce the ecological footprint. However, aggregate globalization as well as social an...

This paper analyzes the dynamic impact of foreign banks’ presence and openness of banking sector on new firm creation in a panel of African countries. The analysis is based on Panel corrected standard error estimate (PCSE) and system Generalised Method of Moment (SGMM). Using data of sixteen countries in Africa between 2006 and 2017, the results re...

In line with the nascent literature on economic complexity, this paper provides answer to a question on whether economic complexity has impact on the size of shadow economy in African economies, a region confronted with a large amount of informal economic operations. We apply four classes of mean group estimators (mean group, augumented mean group,...

In relation to actual digital usage, empirical research is limited on whether digital technology promotes entrepreneurial development in African economies. This study, therefore, investigates the impact of digital technology usage on entrepreneurship in selected African countries. This study contributes to the literature by using 20 selected Africa...

This paper examines the impact of global value chain (GVC) participation on total factor productivity in African economies. The analysis is based on panel corrected standard errors, IV-estimation technique and the novel Method of Moment (MM)-panel quantile regression. The results reveal that there is positive and significant relationship between gl...

Literature abounds on the impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth, but with little attention to the role of entrepreneurship in poverty reduction. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the triangular relationship among poverty reduction, entrepreneurship, and growth in Africa. In this study, we examine the dynamic relationship among...

The existing studies suggest that the tourism sector may fast track the achievement of sustainable development due to its ability to guarantee the renewability of natural resources and the preservation of the ecosystem. Scholars also opine that tourist activities involve transportation that utilizes fossil fuels and non-renewable energy sources. Th...

This study contributes to the sustainable development literature by investigating the impact of the shadow economy on sustainable development in a panel of 30 African countries over a period of 2000-2017. The study employs parametric and nonparametric panel estimation techniques. The novel moment panel quantile regression method is also used to pro...

Purpose The purpose of this examine the impact of income inequality and shadow economy on environmental degradation given the growing income inequality, shadow economy and ecological degradation in developing countries. Thus, this study is motivated to offer empirical insight into how income inequality and shadow economy influence the environment i...

In this paper, we examine the impact of income inequality proxied by Gini coefficient on road accident in Nigeria. Data for period of 1986-2019 are obtained from various sources including World Development Indicators (WDI), International Country Risk Guide (ICRG), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and World income inequality database (WIID). The st...

Recent studies suggest that shadow economy has several implications for environmental sustainability. However, the relevance of financial development in the nexus between shadow economy-environmental sustainability remains an open question. This study examines the role of shadow economy and financial development in addition to economic growth, trad...

The interconnection between income inequality and entrepreneurship in African economies is examined. The study provides answers to two critical questions: (1) Does income inequality affect entrepreneurship? and (2) What is the implication of entrepreneurship for income disparity in Africa? With the Gini coefficient used as a proxy for income inequa...

The association between economic growth and environmental degradation is well documented. However, the link between business climate and ecological footprint remains an open question. This paper therefore explores the extent of the influence of business climate on environmental degradation in Africa. The impacts of business climate are estimated in...

Objective: The study aims to examine the impact of tourism development on latent entrepreneurship in BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Research Design & Methods: The study used panel data of BRICS countries for the period of 2001-2020. The article employs the quantitative method including the panel dynamic ordinary l...

The effectiveness of the conduct of fiscal and monetary policy under uncertainty in Nigeria between 1980 and 2020 was examined using a Markov-switching dynamic regression model to “estimate the uncertainty as portrayed by monetarists/ neo-Keynesians. The results reveal an ineffective conduct of fiscal and monetary policy under uncertainty in Nigeri...

Purpose-In this study, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic complexity in MINT and BRICS countries. Methodology-Data on economic complexity from MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity and data on FDI and other determinants of economic complexity are sourced from World Development indicators which spanned betwee...

This paper contributes to the trade-energy literature by examining the effect of export product diversification on the energy demand of 30 countries located in the Global North over the period 1980–2014. A nonparametric time-varying coefficient panel data model with fixed effects is employed for its ability to produce robust outcomes in the presenc...

Economic complexity reflects the nature of knowledge accumulated and technological capability of a nation. This study evaluates the impact of economic complexity on entrepreneurship in selected African countries. The study uses country’s level data of 18 countries covering a period of 2006-2017. Data are sourced from MIT's Observatory of Economic C...

Motivated by the growing level of informal economy in emerging economies, this study examines the role of the informal economy in the ecological footprint for the case of Africa. The relationship between official economy, trade openness, governance indicator, financial development, and urbanization on ecological footprint is also investigated. Appl...

Previous studies on the nexus between remittances and financial system development are less informative due to their failure to investigate how remittance inflows affect different aspects of the financial sector in Africa. In the study, we re-investigate the impact of the remittances on the African financial system in twenty-seven (27) countries fo...

One of the main obstacles to the flourishment of African entrepreneurship is financial constraint. The existing studies on the nexus between entrepreneurship and financial development are inconclusive while the position of African economies remain unknown. In this paper, we empirically investigate the impact of financial development on entrepreneur...

In accordance to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal 9, this study probes the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on shadow economy in West Africa. The study is based on 12 countries over a period of 1996-2017. We augment the least squares dummy variables with the Driscoll and Kraay (1998)’s panel spatial correlation consi...

The study examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and governance quality on tourism demand in selected 10 African countries. We further examine the role of governance quality in the FDI-tourism demand nexus. The study employs panel data of 10 most preferred tourist countries in Africa over a period of 1995-2019. These data are source...

In this paper, we investigate the symmetric and asymmetric effect of shadow economy on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigerian manufacturing sector using ARDL and NARDL estimation techniques for the period of 1975–2017. We find that an increase in shadow economy reduces FDI net inflow in the short run while this relationship turns to be positiv...

This study investigates the impact of foreign aid and remittance inflows on entrepreneurship progress in Africa. The role of institutional quality in the relationship between foreign aid and entrepreneurship is also investigated. We explore data of 19 African countries for a period of 2006–2017, and panel data regression techniques are employed. Th...

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the moderating effect of institutional quality in the relationship between oil rents and entrepreneurial start-ups for oil-rich countries in Africa. Research Design & Methods: The study employed panel regression techniques that included instrumental variable (IV) estimator to analyse the data of...

Following the failure to achieve Millennium Development Goals by most countries in the world, Sustainable Development Goals are now at the center of developmental issues. Consequently, this study aims to examine if tourism can be an ally to sustainable development in MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey) countries between 1995 and 2018. The stu...

An increasing number of studies are examining the relationship between entrepreneurship and growth. This relationship is controversial, especially for developing countries. Recent improvements in economic growth have led to a focus on growth inclusiveness, which spreads economic opportunities throughout a society. However, studies that focus on the...

Purpose In this study, an investigation into the asymmetric impacts of crime rate on total factor productivity (TFP) in Nigeria is conducted. Design/methodology/approach The study employs linear and non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling techniques to analyse Nigerian data spanning over a period of 1986–2017. In addition, Grang...

This study deviates from extant studies by examining the effect of shadow economy (SE) on environmental pollution, and the role institutional indicators play in moderating the effect in West Africa between 1992 and 2015. Specifically, the study employed three institutional indicators (corruption control [COR], law and order [LAW], and bureaucratic...

Purpose ─ Literature suggests that entrepreneurship can serve as a veritable tool for providing decent employment and improving economic prosperity. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on entrepreneurship in Africa. Design/methodology/approach ─ The study employs data of 18 African countries covering...

The need to reduce the level of criminal activity has preoccupied the attention of policymakers which has led to the exploration of feasible, alternative routes to achieve United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal-16. This phenomenon has been the present practice of most developing countries such as Nigeria that is inundated with higher level of...

Through an empirical analysis of selected African countries for a period of 2006–2017, this paper explores three hypotheses suggesting that African entrepreneurship does not promote productivity except there are conducive institutional environments. The study applies panel data estimation techniques on data obtained from seventeen countries in Afri...

This study investigates the dynamic effects of monetary policy on financial stability in Nigeria between 1986 and 2017. This is with the view of assessing the relationship between the monetary policy transmission channels and financial stability in Nigeria. The study made use of secondary data. The variables, such as financial stability index, exch...

Research purpose : This study investigates the impact of financial inclusion on female labour force participation in Africa. It also complements the existing studies by evaluating how advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) and Trade openness (TO) modulate the relationship between financial inclusion and female economic partic...

In honour of Prof. I. O. Taiwo

Purpose This study aims to investigate the possible relationship between financial inclusion and shadow economy in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach The study uses panel data estimation technique and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach. The data of selected African counties over a period of 2005–2015 are sourced from World B...

Purpose: This study examines the moderating role institutional quality plays in shadow economy-environmental pollution nexus in Nigeria between 1984 and 2018. Further, the study also determines the threshold level of institutional quality that lessens shadow economy and abates environmental pollution. Methodology: Shadow economy is measured as a p...

This study investigates the effect of shadow economy on environmental pollution, and the role of institutional quality in moderating the impact in African countries between 1991 and 2015. The study employs three pollutant variables namely: carbon dioxide emissions per capita, methane emission and nitrous oxide emission as robustness check. Also, ba...

Purpose In this paper, we investigate the impact of remittances on control of corruption in Nigeria for a period of 1986–2016. Design/methodology/approach The study uses ARDL modeling framework, dynamic OLS estimation, variance decomposition and impulse response analysis to examine the relationship between the two variables. Findings The study fi...

That economic condition influences crime rate is a fundamental argument in economic theory. Specifically, a rational human being is expected to commit more crimes if and only if the expected gain outweigh the punishment. An individual potential offender may choose to commit a crime if the expected utility outweighs the benefits from legal engagemen...

Social-distance policy of most governments and the pandemic impact of corona virus (COVID-19) on human health are expected to shutter international investment and business environment. However, there is little or no study to show the early empirical evidence on this relationship, most especially its impacts on FDI flows in the economies. This note...

The study investigates the impact of oil price, institutional quality (proxied by corruption and legal environment) and firm-implicit elements on the dividend policy of listed Nigerian companies for a period of 2001-2016. System-GMM analysis was used in the estimation process and findings revealed that oil price, quality of institutions and firm-in...

Ilorin Journal of Economic Policy (IJEP) (The Official Journal of the Department of Economics, University of Ilorin) Website: www.ijep.org Special Issue on Regional Trade Agreements in Africa and the Implications for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). On behalf of Ilorin Journal of Economic Policy (IJEP), Prof. Temidayo Akinbobo...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of financial inclusion (FI) on control of corruption in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs secondary data spanning over a period of 2005–2016. These data are sourced from IMF’s International Financial Statistics, World Bank Development Indicators,...

Closing the infrastructural gaps and fostering the entrepreneurial processes are considered the key to reduce African unemployment and boost productivity to achieve inclusive development. Therefore, investment in infrastructure is crucial for creating a conducive entrepreneurial environment. In this paper, we provide a contribution for this purpose...

The existing studies show conflicting results in the interaction between unemployment and financial development. In this study, we examine the asymmetric effect of financial development on unemployment in Nigeria. Using Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) technique to analyse data spanning for a period of 1980-2017, the results show th...

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate Productivity Bias Hypothesis (PBH) in Nigeria using parallel (black) market exchange rate. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study focused on Naira-Dollar (N/$) parallel market exchange rate. Quarterly data from 1995 to 2018 were used. Data on domestic productivity and parallel market exchange...

In this article, we draw on extant literature to ascertain the relevance of remittance receipts in improving the level of crime control in Nigeria. The study uses time series data spanning for a period of 1986-2017. It adopts Dynamic OLS, VAR impulse response function, variance decomposition and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach to analyse the d...

It is no longer news that the COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world since its discovery in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The very severe economic and financial shocks already being experienced as a result indicate that most economic agents including investors, policymakers and other stakeholders would need high-quality information more...

The frequent cases of road crashes have been attributed to human factors including crime related activities. High level of crime may affect road transportation in many ways. For instance, criminals can engage in highway robbery by attacking passengers in big buses and private cars on intercity or interstate transport services. While few studies hav...

Financial inclusion policy focuses on bringing the less privileged groups into the formal financial system. Financial inclusion has a lot of benefits in the society. It can reduce the level of poverty, inequality and encourage business start up. This study examines the impact of financial inclusion on entrepreneurship in selected African countries....

The fallout from the financial crisis has placed a heavier focus on best practices for corporate governance principles. Boards of directors feel more pressure than ever before to be transparent and accountable. The study examined the effect of board size and its independence on the performance of listed entities in Nigeria. It further determined th...

6TH ACADEMIC CONFERENCE

This study examines the effect of institutional quality and misery index on crime rate in Nigeria. Data sourced for the period of 1986–2016 from the Nigerian Police Force, National Bureau of Statistics, International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and World Bank Development Indicators are employed. The study applies the ARDL approach to co-integration i...

This study examines the effect of institutional quality and misery index on crime rate in Nigeria. Data sourced for the period of 1986–2016 from the Nigerian Police Force, National Bureau of Statistics, International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and World Bank Development Indicators are employed. The study applies the ARDL approach to co-integration i...

We examines how democracy affects air quality in Nigeria using ARDL bound test approach to co-integration, Dynamic OLS and Fully Modified OLS for a period of 1980-2015. The study finds that democracy reduces air pollution. The short run and long run democracy effect on air quality is negative and statistically significant. This means that Nigerian...

This study examines the determinants of organizational performance in trade associations with specific reference to professional bodies in Nigeria. Based on a purposive sampling framework, 10 professional bodies in Nigeria were selected as sample for the study. The procedure was adopted because of paucity of data that cover the area of interest. Se...