Search results

This paper aims to answer the following important questions: Is public debt in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries sustainable? What are the determinants of public debt sustainability in these countries, and do these determinants exhibit heterogeneity due to regional, natural resource, and income differences among SSA countries?

This study analyzes the public debt sustainability in SSA countries using the theoretical model known as the Present Value Budget Constraint (PVBC) model developed by Hamilton and Flavin (1986), and adopts the econometric testing method proposed by Trehan and Walsh (1991). Moreover, to empirically investigate the determinants of public debt sustainability in SSA countries, the System-Generalized Method of Moments (System-GMM) method is applied. Furthermore, this study conducts heterogeneity analysis by categorizing the sample based on different regions, natural resource endowments, and income levels. The data of this study are sourced from the IMF and World Bank databases for 45 SSA countries from 2005 to 2021.

Findings reveal that public debt in SSA countries is not sustainable in the long run, with factors such as the previous government debt, long-term debt ratio, debt repayment capacity, economic growth rate, inflation rate, export to GDP, and government fiscal deficit rate influencing sustainability. Additionally, the factors exhibit heterogeneity attributed to regional, natural resource, and income variations among SSA countries.

The findings of our study will serve as a catalyst for policymakers in the SSA countries to embrace and sustain robust fiscal consolidation and debt stabilization measures. Moreover, countries with distinct characteristics should implement tailored approaches. Additionally, policymakers in SSA countries should implement economic measures to address public debt issues. These measures include improving the macroeconomic structure, promoting economic transformation and diversification of industries, fostering sustainable economic growth, ensuring price stability, and strengthening resilience against external shocks and debt risks. Specifically, countries endowed with indigenous species, resources, and tourism potential should adopt a well-coordinated strategy that utilizes agriculture, tourism, ecotourism, and the hospitality industry as instruments for sustainable local community and rural development.

Firstly, it assesses the sustainability of public debt and its determinants for countries in SSA, which distinguishes it from previous studies that only focus on either debt sustainability or determinants of debt separately. Secondly, by including multiple SSA countries in the analysis, this study stands out from prior research that predominantly concentrates on specific nations. Thirdly, the utilization of the System-GMM method for analyzing determinants adds a novel dimension to this study, departing from earlier literature primarily focused on debt thresholds. Lastly, the heterogeneity analysis conducted in this study provides an empirical foundation for tailoring policies to different countries, addressing a facet often overlooked in earlier literature.

With the increasing importance of social media in promoting events, understanding the relationship between event followers' motivations and their behaviors on an event's social media platform becomes a key success factor to attract event-goers. Previous studies on exploring the relationship between social media and event attendees have concentrated mostly on a Western context social media, for example, Facebook, and Western festivals; studies concerning the East or China are scant. This study uses the Strawberry Music Festival in China as a case study and researches its two official social media platforms: WeChat and Weibo.

The research explores the hedonic and utilitarian motivation of social media followers and investigates followers' browsing and participation behaviors as well as the influence of their usage behaviors on intentions to attend an event. A total of 190 valid responses were collected through an online questionnaire from social media followers of the music festival.

The findings reveal that both utilitarian and hedonic motivation have significant effects on browsing and participation behaviors. More importantly, browsing and participation behaviors also affect the intentions to attend an event and the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) effect.

The research results provide practical insights for event organizers regarding potential event-goers' usage patterns on social media platforms and their intention to visit events.

This study contributes to the authors’ understanding of the relationship between event attendance and social media behavior, in particular of the East.