THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH

Francesco Scalamonti

THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH

Abstract

In developing economies, the race toward inclusive development has prompted researchers to reconsider the drivers of growth in view of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aims to explore the determinants of African growth after analysing reference literature to select the explanatory variables. The paper aims to identify the robust drivers of growth of 54 African countries over the period 2010-2019, where the data source is more complete. As a data source, the main international organisations (UN, WB, IMF) have been considered. We employ a fixed-effects (FE) estimator and primarily a system dynamic panel estimator (GMM-sys) without and with added exogenous regressors, the latter as a robustness check. As far as we know, we have not found any studies analysing the determinants of growth in a panel of 54 African countries using GMM estimators with data referring to the last decade. We have used the real per-capita GDP as a dependent variable. Our findings indicate that in addition to the initial conditions of the per-capita GDP, the natural resource rent with one order of lags has emerged as significant and with a negative sign, crowding out the per-capita GDP. On the other hand, the government expenditure with one order of lags is also confirmed as significant with a positive sign, while the terms-of-trade has emerged as not significant, after the robustness check with the instrumental variables. We conclude that institutional and business environments are particularly important in explaining African growth.

Keywords

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Applied Macroeconometrics

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Francesco Scalamonti ^*
0000-0003-2960-0133
Italy

Publication Date

March 26, 2026

Submission Date

December 29, 2025

Acceptance Date

February 20, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 10 Number: 1

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Scalamonti, F. (2026). THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH. Journal of Research in Economics, 10(1), 19-65. https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG

AMA

1.Scalamonti F. THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH. JORE. 2026;10(1):19-65. https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG

Chicago

Scalamonti, Francesco. 2026. “THE ‘AFRICA RISING’: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH”. Journal of Research in Economics 10 (1): 19-65. https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG.

EndNote

Scalamonti F (March 1, 2026) THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH. Journal of Research in Economics 10 1 19–65.

IEEE

[1]F. Scalamonti, “THE ‘AFRICA RISING’: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH”, JORE, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 19–65, Mar. 2026, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG

ISNAD

Scalamonti, Francesco. “THE ‘AFRICA RISING’: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH”. Journal of Research in Economics 10/1 (March 1, 2026): 19-65. https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG.

JAMA

1.Scalamonti F. THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH. JORE. 2026;10:19–65.

MLA

Scalamonti, Francesco. “THE ‘AFRICA RISING’: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH”. Journal of Research in Economics, vol. 10, no. 1, Mar. 2026, pp. 19-65, https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG.

Vancouver

1.Francesco Scalamonti. THE “AFRICA RISING”: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF PER-CAPITA GROWTH. JORE [Internet]. 2026 Mar. 1;10(1):19-65. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA24HJ86WG