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The impact of government expenditure on economic performance has been a topic of discussion at both the sectoral and aggregate national levels. Despite its theoretical importance, evidence from literature indicates that this relationship has not been universally accepted across different countries and sectors. Given the significance of agriculture in African economies, particularly in Ghana, and the role of government in this sector, this study examines the impact of government expenditure on agricultural productivity in Ghana from 2000Q1 to 2022Q4.

Specification of the model was done based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration bound test approach.

The results revealed that the studied variables cointegrated in the long run. Government expenditure was found to induce agriculture production both for the long run and short run within the period of the study, implying that government expenditure matters in inducing agriculture productivity in Ghana.

The study employed the ARDL methodology to investigate government expenditure and agriculture production contagion in Ghana, which has been specifically overlooked by previous studies. It is suggested that the Government of Ghana as well as others in similar environment should increase investment into the agriculture to boost the productivity of the sector.

The aim of the quantity study is to investigate the cost of living and food security nexus in Ghana. Time series secondary quarterly data from 2012Q1 to 2018Q4 were examined.

The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to cointegration bound test was employed for the econometrics analysis. Time series secondary quarterly data from 2012Q1 to 2018Q4 were examined. Food security data based on the Global Food Security Index score were employed.

The result revealed that the variables are cointegrated in the long run. The study also revealed that the cost of living worsens food security in Ghana both in the short run and the long run. This could imply that people may not have enough money to afford adequate and nutritious food, which can lead to food insecurity. As the cost of living increases, people may have to spend more of their income on basic necessities such as housing, healthcare and transportation, leaving less money for food. This can result in people choosing cheaper and less nutritious options, or even skipping meals, which can have negative impacts on their health and well-being.

For policy implications, it is recommended that effort should be made by the Ministry of Finance Ghana, financial analysts and other economic agents to stabilize prices of goods and services in the country.

The study is among the few to have investigated the nexus between the cost of living and food security in non-Western economy using the secondary data.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0309

The purpose of this study is to test the modulating role and threshold of governance quality in the cost of living–energy poverty nexus.

Two-step System Generalized Methods of Moment empirical model with linear interaction between cost of living and governance quality was estimated. This study used data on 40 African countries over 20 years (2000–2019).

The paper shows that the conditional effect of inflation on energy poverty is negative. Thus, governance quality acts as a moderator on the relationship between inflation and energy poverty beyond a threshold. The study's principal practical implication is that governance quality reverses inflation's positive unconditional effect on energy poverty, and governance quality may be improved beyond specific policy-defined thresholds to achieve the desired goal of lowering energy poverty. Nonetheless, governance quality at initial stages would not drive the needed reduction in energy poverty unless it goes beyond the threshold of 0.03, 0.02 and 0.07.

This study recommends that policymakers should initiate policies that would ensure increased access to clean energy.

This study's main contributions are that the authors estimated the threshold beyond which governance quality reverses the adverse impact of inflation on energy poverty. Further, the authors have shown that governance quality is a catalyst to reduce energy poverty.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of financial development on the Doing Business and capital flight contagion. And further, this study determines the threshold beyond which financial development reduces capital flight.

A two-step system generalized methods of moment empirical model with linear interaction between Doing Business and financial development was estimated. This study used data on 26 countries over 12 years (2004–2015).

The main results indicated that, although Doing Business had a significant positive effect on capital flight, the interactive term had a significant adverse effect on capital flight. This outcome suggests that to reduce capital flight, a well-reformed and efficient business environment should be embedded with an efficient, stable and well-developed financial sector. In addition, the authors found only South Africa has a robust financial framework beyond the threshold of 0.383, whereas Congo, Rep., Rwanda, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Congo, Dem. Rep. had the weakest financial system and sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This study recommends that policymakers should initiate policies that would enhance financial development.

This study’s main contributions are that the authors estimated the threshold beyond which financial development helps the business environment reduce the rate of capital flight. Further, the authors have shown that financial development is a catalyst to propel the deterioration powers of the business environment against capital flight. Also, the authors have estimated the long-run effect of the variables of interest on capital flight.

The main objective of the quantitative study is to ascertain the relationship between the circular economy (CE) and carbon emissions. And also, the study examines the threshold beyond which the quality of governance reduces carbon emissions.

The autoregressive distributed lag approach is employed for the econometrics analysis. The study employed quarterly data from 2006Q1 to 2017Q4 on Ghana.

The results indicated that, although the CE had a positive and significant effect on carbon emissions, the moderating term had an adverse and significant effect on carbon emissions. This result suggests that to mitigate carbon emissions, a robust and efficient quality of institutions should be sustained. Finally, the study also identified a quality of governance threshold of 1.155 beyond which a shift to a CE would result in a reduction in carbon emissions.

The study recommends that policymakers should initiate policies that would enhance quality governance.

The main contributions of the study are that the paper ascertained the threshold beyond which quality of governance assists circular economic practices to mitigate carbon emissions. Also, the study revealed that quality of governance is a catalyst to promote circular economic practices in reducing carbon emissions. Finally, the study ascertains the long-run effect of the variables of interest on carbon emissions.