The worsening poverty situation in the Upper West Region of Ghana coupled with the risky nature of farming due to the joint impacts of rain-fed dependence and minimal use of irrigation in Ghana called for the need to examine small-scale irrigation usage and its effect on farmers’ income and access to essential services. The study was carried out in Busa where 300 farmers were randomly sampled. The Conditional Recursive Mixed-Processes (CRMP) was used to estimate two Probit and a multiple li...
Effective democratic governance requires the existence of locally elected representatives with functions that revolve around issues that matter to the constituents, to which the state responds through public services delivery. This study set out to examine whether or not citizen expectations from locally elected representatives are in consonance with the functions that are assigned to them in national legislative instruments, using the Unit Committees, the base structure of Ghana’s decentra...
Previous studies that analyzed loan defaults have imposed the restrictive assumption that the factors which influence the probability of loan default and the rate of default are the same and with the same direction effects. This study introduces a two-stage approach by applying the double hurdle model to analyze probability of loan default and the magnitude of the default as a way of relaxing this restrictive assumption. Using the model, this study is able to isolate the determinants of defau...
This study attempts to review the extant literature on financial inclusion, financial development innovation and monetary policy. It surveys literature between 2007 and 2015 and identifies key themes in this field of study, methodologies adopted, geographical distribution of the studies and synthesizes these to identify relevant gaps and direction for future research. The study makes very interesting finding. Common areas of study can be categorized as determinants, effects and evaluation of ...
Narrowing and eliminating enrolment gaps between male and female children has become a policy issue of governments in developing countries especially with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The benefits of equal enrolment and retention in primary schools cannot be underestimated for developing countries in particular. This underscores the need for studies that shed light on enrolment inequalities. Applying binary...
Poverty reduction has become so topical that it appears no proposal for multinational or bilateral funding receives any attention unless there is evidence of how the project would reduce poverty especially among women and children. The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRSI) document revealed that the three northern regions of Ghana are still in the leading pack of administrative regions contributing approximately 40% of the poor in Ghana. This paper examines the nature, dimensions and failu...
Despite several researches in Ghana's agricultural sector, little has been done on the investigation of non-traditional vegetable production, particularly with respect to its profitability. The study was conducted within the context of non-traditional agriculture and in particular, the profit maximization behaviour of smallholder vegetable farmers. The present study is about the assessment of the factors that influence the profitability of non-traditional vegetable crop production in the Nort...
The year 2008 will probably go down in Ghanaian political history as unique for the manner in which the general elections were conducted. The elections, which were held in December, were preceded by a number of events including the famous presidential debates. This paper discussed the two presidential debates in Ghana, organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Ghana) in Accra and Tamale prior to the general elections. The debates provided an opportunity for the presidential aspirant...
This paper entails an analysis of the spatial organization of small-scale industries in the Kasena-Nankana District of Ghana within the context of regional development and decentralization. It examines the driving forces that give rise to the existing spatial pattern, assesses the spatial and functional linkages of such industries and determines the their implications for district development planning in Ghana. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the paper ...
Effective revenue mobilisation and management at the district level is key to the development of MMDA's in the current dispensation of decentralisation. This study performed an assessment of revenue mobilisation machinery and the management mechanisms at the Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly by identifying factors militating against the effective revenue generation, the extent to which Internally Generated Revenue impacts the financing of local projects in the Municipality, factors that cont...
Child marriage in the Wa West District is visibly the biggest barrier to female participation in education as it is in other parts of Ghana. The study set out to identified how and why child marriage is a threat to female educational progression in the district. This study is based on the theory of human capital development and on the theories of patriarchy and feminism to emphasis the relevance of education, barriers to education and efforts being made to bridge those barriers. Situated in s...
Abstract Financing fiscal deficit in any country is undertaken with the sole purpose of promoting economic growth and development. However, fiscal deficit financing can be a major source of macroeconomic instability, especially inflation, depending on how it is achieved. Inflation in sub-Saharan Africa has persistently been high, almost double-digit, and volatile compared to other areas with developing countries such as Asia and Latin America. Thus, this study aimed at analyzing the relation...
Abstract Having a stable and high level of economic growth within a country is associated with numerous benefits to the citizens. In developing countries such as Kenya, the rate of economic growth has been low and always below the projected rate each year. In developed countries such as Germany, Japan, and Iceland, development in the real estate sector and investment in human capital have been identified as probable boosters of economic growth. In Kenya, many of the studies done to investiga...
Abstract Stable commercial banks stimulate economic growth by facilitating value exchanges. The stability of commercial banks in Kenya has been a concern because of the waves of collapse that have dotted the history of the banking sector. Studies on the drivers of bank stability are essential for providing policy directions to improve bank stability. Due to existing conflicting empirical evidence, this study further analyzes the relationship between competition, profitability, risk-taking be...
Abstract Banks create liquidity which in turn improves capital allocation and accelerates economic growth. Liquidity creation is essential and critical as it may lead to a stable financial system and provide growth opportunities. Liquidity has been observed to be more unstable in developing countries than in developed nations. Despite the rise in minimum deposits, commercial banks in Kenya, a developing country, struggle to optimize their profits due to reduced liquidity creation capacity. T...