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The purpose of this study is to analyze the nonlinear relationship between electricity consumption (EC) and electricity transmission losses (ETL) in Ghana. Also, we examined how ETL moderate the effect of EC on economic growth in Ghana from 1980 to 2021.

We used timeseries data from 1980 to 2021 within an autoregressive distributed lag framework to analyze the links among ETL, EC and economic growth in Ghana.

Findings show the existence of an asymmetric long-run relationship between EC and ETL. Also, the negative effects of ETL on EC are bigger in the long run. In addition, ETL and EC combine to reduce economic growth, in the long run, providing evidence for the energy-led growth theory in Ghana. Population and inflation were also found to have a significant effect on economic growth in Ghana.

We examined the nonlinear nexus of EC and ETL, which extant studies have ignored in discussing the link between EC and economic growth. Again, we showed that ETL reduces EC causing a reduction in economic growth.

Health shocks are among the factors that have impeded households from experiencing better welfare. To mitigate the consequences of these shocks, individuals have sought to enrol in a formal insurance scheme or borrow from banks. This study estimates the effects of health shocks on households' welfare while examining the mitigating role of social assistance in Ghana.

The study utilized the three-stage least squares and feasible generalized least squares to estimate the impact of health shocks on households' welfare.

The authors find that health shocks put households at risk, particularly disability and severe illness, which significantly limits individuals’ ability to smooth consumption to increase welfare. We further find that hospitalization due to illness significantly allows households to increase welfare through consumption. Finally, we find that social assistance has the potential to reduce these adverse effects of shocks conditioned on the type of shock and the outcome variable in question.

First, we only used cross-sectional data for the two waves and therefore lacked panel data across time for analyses. Second, the data do not provide information on the exact amount of cash received by beneficiaries, so it was quite impossible to measure the exact effect of social assistance on welfare. We could only track whether or not having such assistance could mitigate the effect of a health shock.

The practical implication of the findings is that Ghana needs to build a resilient health system in order to withstand the health shocks of individuals.

No study has attempted to investigate the differential effect of health shocks – hospitalization, disability and labour days lost due to illness in Ghana. Our choice is dependent on the fact that these shocks have been an issue for many households in Ghana, thus the need to examine their impact on individual well-being. Second, social assistance has been Ghana’s flagship social protection programme, but what is missing in the literature is whether this programme is capable of reducing the effect of health shocks faced by beneficiaries’ households in Ghana.

The quest for economic development has brought adverse effects on the environment through the release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂₎. This will counter the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This study, therefore, investigates the effect of electricity consumption and urbanization on CO₂ emissions in Ghana. Electricity consumption and urbanization are among the factors that can be used to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Following the STIRPAT framework with the Hansen (2000) least squares threshold estimation strategy, the study employed annual time series data from 1971 to 2019.

The study revealed a single threshold effect of both electricity consumption and urbanization on CO₂ emissions. Electricity consumption intensity reduces CO₂ emission when electricity consumption is below the threshold (6287GWh) but increases when consumption passes the threshold. However, urbanization exerts a positive influence on CO₂ emissions regardless the level of urbanization (either before or after the threshold point). Again, the empirical results revealed that the urbanization threshold moderates the effect of electricity consumption on CO₂ emissions.

Policymakers have to consider redesigning the current urbanization mode to include some new-type urbanization elements.

The threshold effect of electricity consumption and urbanization on CO₂ emissions in Ghana is examined using the Hansen (2000) least square method.