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Population growth has remained a key issue facing developing economies in the world. While developed countries are experiencing diminished or negative population growth, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria are having population growth above the economic growth rate. With the deadline for the sustainable development goals approaching, attention is increasingly being focused on population growth and human capital development. Extant literature focused on population growth, human resource utilization and economic growth but this study aims to examine the effect of population growth on human resource utilization.

Using secondary data for the period 1990-2018, the study conducted unit root test and co-integration analyses to determine the stationarity and correlation in the long-run in the variables. The study used the error correction model to ascertain the speed at which shocks can be corrected in the long-run. Granger causality test was also carried out to ascertain the direction of causality among the variables.

The empirical results revealed that population growth has a negative and significant effect on human resource utilization. The study also revealed that unidirectional causality runs from employment rate to population growth rate and a unidirectional causality runs from employment growth rate to expected years of schooling. The Nigerian Government needs to not only control population growth but also focus on the quality of education.

The paper provides insights into the relationship between population growth and human capital utilization in Nigeria focusing on the 1986-2018 period.

This paper aims to draw from research on culture, stigma and entrepreneurial activity to hypothesize that the relationship of stigma with the level of entrepreneurial activity differs by the dimensions of national culture, i.e. individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance.

The hypotheses were tested with data from 15 countries spanning over a 15-year period. Poisson regressions were used.

Results from Poisson regressions supported the hypotheses for the differences based on the “individualism,” “masculinity” and “power distance” dimensions of culture on the relationship between stigma of failure and entrepreneurial activity. However, the hypothesis for the differences based on the “uncertainty avoidance” dimension of culture was not supported.

Fostering entrepreneurship has been important for several countries around the world. A number of factors influence the phenomenon of entrepreneurship. In this paper, research in the areas of culture, stigma and entrepreneurship is brought together to explain how the stigma of failure may be intensified or mitigated in different cultural contexts. The results suggest that policies and attempts to alleviate stigma of failure for promoting entrepreneurship need to consider the complex interactions occurring within the cultural contexts in which entrepreneurs operate. Such initiatives should enhance their effectiveness.