The current worrisome high debt situation in Nigeria amid falling revenue motivated this study. Using annual data spanning a period of 1981-2018 and under the framework of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds technique, the results of findings revealed that public debt contributes to the growth of the economy both in the shortrun and in the long-run. However, after a certain threshold level, public debt leads to declining growth in both time horizons. The study also found the optimal threshold level of debt to be 40.2% in both the long-run and short-run. Also finding revealed that while trade openness contributes to GDP positively, both inflation and fiscal deficit adversely affect GDP. I therefore recommend that beyond using the debt-GDP ratio to decide when to borrow, regulatory authorities should consider other indices used to measure debt sustainability. Also, while there is need for diversification of the economy, a synergy should exist between monetary and fiscal authorities in order to fight inflation. Contribution/ Originality: This study investigated the optimal threshold level of debt using recent data that corresponds to period of immense rise in public debt in Nigeria. This is in addition to providing trend analyses of the various indexes used to assess debt sustainability. Thus the originality in the work is therefore authentic and credible and can be verified.

The controversy surrounding the actual impact of institutional quality and economic openness on economic growth is among the motivating factors for this study. The study seeks to investi- gate this relationship in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by using the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) test with annual series covering the period from 2000 to 2020. Findings indicate that in the short-run, regulatory quality and FDI outflows had an adverse impact on the economic performance of the ECOWAS bloc. Furthermore, the long-run results show that trade openness, political stability and FDI outflows had an adverse impact on the economy of the bloc, while regulatory quality positively affected the economy. Consequently, the paper recommends that member countries in the ECOWAS bloc should put in place effective regulatory framework in the short and medium term to attract FDI inflows, while building a strong and stable political environment in the long term.

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of financial liberalization and institutional quality on the economic performance of the Asian Tigers and the SANE countries. The study used annual series that spanned the period from 1996-2020 under the framework of FMOLS. Findings of the study revealed that in the Asian Tigers, FDI inflows, FDI outflows, capital account openness and governance effectiveness had a positive and significant impact on the GDP per capita, but the impact of political stability was negative and significant. Results for the SANE countries indicated that both FDI inflows and trade openness impacted positively and significantly on the GDP per capita, while the impact of capital account openness was negative and significant. Consequently, the study is of the view that while it will be necessary for the SANE countries to upgrade their institutions in order to reap the benefits of financial openness, the Asian Tigers should stabilize their polity to improve their economy. Keywords: Institutional quality, FDI, GDP per capita, Financial development, Trade openness, Asian Tigers. JEL Classification: E02, F21, F43

This study investigated if revenue from the oil sector displaced the export of manufactures in oil-rich African countries over the period from 2000 to 2020. Using the panel ARDL model, findings indicate that in the short run, oil rents had an insignificant positive impact on the export of manufactures for all countries sampled. However, in the long run, the impact was positive. The short run results for the individual countries revealed that oil rents improved the export of manufactures for Nigeria and Ghana, while the impact for Libya, Algeria and Gabon was adverse. The study therefore concludes that the displacement of the export of manufactures by the proceeds from oil occurred at country-specific levels in the selected oil-rich African countries. Consequently, the study suggests that rents from oil in these countries should be used to develop facilities that encourage the development of the manufacturing sector.

Purpose: The aim is to examine the roles of institutional quality and financial openness on the economic performance of BRICS, using annual series that covered the period from 1996 to 2020. Methods: Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the institutional quality variables, while analysis of the study was conducted under the panel data random effect model. Findings indicate that FDI inflows and capital account openness positively impacted on GDP per capita significantly; however the impact of FDI outflows on GDP per capita, though positive, was not significant. Moreover, control of corruption and government effectiveness both had positive and significant impact on GDP per capita, while trade openness impacted GDP per capita negatively, though the result was not significant. Findings: The outcome of the study reveals that the economy of the BRICS improved by removing restrictions on capital controls which retard capital inflows, but liberalization of trade had adverse effect on growth in the bloc. Equally revealed in the study is that effective government which reduces corrupt tendencies lead to improved economic performance. The study therefore recommends the removal of all bottlenecks that hinder FDI inflows and the building of strong institutions in BRICS. Practical Implications: With respect to the institutional variables employed in the study, findings revealed that when governance is effective, it encourages improvement in the economy. Effectiveness in governance encourages reduction in corruption which is the bane of underdevelopment in many developing countries. Originality/Value: The panel random effect results showed that of the three financial openness indicators employed,  FDI inflows and capital account openness significantly impacted on GDP per capita positively, while the impact of FDI outflows was positive but negligible.