Purpose The primacy of institutions for economic progress has been established in the literature. Yet, less research attention is paid to the existence and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the determinants of the quality of economic institutions in Africa. Design/methodology/approach Hausman–Taylor instrumental variable estimator of panel regression was employed for a sample of 43 Sub-Sahara African countries over the period 1995–2017. Findings The study finds that the existence and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa is more of design than destiny. That is, weak economic institutions are created and sustained more by bad political institutions rather than cultural diversity and geographical factors. Therefore, strong political institutions need to be entrenched to reverse the equilibrium of weak economic institutions and dismal economic performance in the continent. Practical implications The study provides deep understanding of the determinants of economic institutions. This is imperative for policy makers, development agencies and stakeholders in designing viable economic policies and programs for the continent. Originality/value The novelty of the study is rooted in the examination of the factors responsible for the development and persistence of weak economic institutions in Africa. The idea is original because previous studies focus on political institutions and neglected economic institutions.

There is growing emphasis on the role of institutions and governance on explaining Africa's economic growth. However, it is not clear which of the institutions matter most. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to answer two separate questions: (i) Do institutions really matter in Sub-Saharan Africa?, (ii) If institutions matter, which of them matters most? Arellano and Bond first difference and Blundell-Bond System Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimators were used to estimate the specified models. Our results show that, institutions really matter for Sub-Saharan Africa's economic performance, among which regulatory quality appeared to be the most important. Thus the economic performance of the region could be enhanced by improving regulatory quality.

The rising trend of crime in Nigeria is usually blamed on the high rate of unemployment. There is need therefore, to empirically investigate the relationship between unemployment and crime. Hence, this paper examined the impact of unemployment on different types of crime in Nigeria. The data that were used in this study consist of 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) spanning from 1996 to 2005 was used. Different estimation techniques ranging from OLS, WLS, Between estimator, Fixed effect and Random Effect were employed to estimate economics models of crime. The findings show that though employment was found to have significant impact on total crime and armed robbery, there no evidence that it causes kidnapping and vehicle theft. Prison, policing injuring or killing criminals was not found to be significant deterrent variables in the country but quick trial and prosecution of criminal's particularly armed robbery would significantly reduce rate of crime. Thus, it is recommended that police should get criminals arrested instead of killing them so that they can be tried and prosecuted if find guilty. Prisons should be restructured to serve as rehabilitation centers.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the nexus between economic institutions (EI) and unemployment in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Specifically, the paper examines the impact of aggregate EI and ten different components of institutions on total, male and female unemployment in SSA. Design/methodology/approach The paper used unbalanced panel data of 37 SSA countries covering the period between 1995 and 2018. A dynamic heterogenous panel data model is specified for the study. Two alternative estimation techniques of dynamic fixed effect and pool mean group methods were used to estimate the models. The choice of appropriate method is based on Hausman specification test. Findings The findings reveal that aggregate EI and institutions related to the monetary system, trade flows, government spending and fiscal process significantly lead to less unemployment in the long-run. However, there is no evidence of a significant relationship between EI and unemployment in the short-run. These findings are consistent for total, male and female unemployment, respectively. Practical implications To reduce unemployment significantly in the long run, policymakers in SSA need to build more market-friendly institutions that will incentivize private investment, allow free movement of labour and goods, as well as guarantee a stable macroeconomic environment and efficient fiscal system. Originality/value Most of the existing studies focused on the influence of labour market institutions on unemployment ignoring the effects of other forms of institutions. While available studies on the link between institutions and unemployment used either OECD or other developed countries sample, with scanty evidence from Africa. However, the effects of EI could vary across regions. Thus, generalizing the findings from developed countries for SSA countries and other developing countries may be misleading. Hence, this paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the nexus between different types of EI and unemployment using the SSA sample.