This research empirically explores the determinants of Kenya's regional economic growth in the 47 counties over the period 2014 to 2017. Though economic policies aimed at enhancing regional growth were implemented, the economic performance has not been satisfactory hence the study seeks to find out what determines economic performance at the sub-national level. This research is based on the reduced Solow-Swan growth theoretical framework. The analysis techniques that were used in this study were descriptive and inferential statistics. All target variables except economic growth and electricity infrastructure were found to be stationary when LLC test for panel unit root was applied. Once cointegration was established using Kao test, the long-run and error correction estimates of the ARDL regression were attained after subjecting the model to diagnostic tests. This study has identified public investment, government consumption, electricity infrastructure, quality of governance, and institutions as the main determinants of regional growth in the long-run. On the other hand, the outcome from the short-run regression equation has identified human capital and budget utilization as the key sources of growth. This implies in order to effectively boost economic growth in counties, policies and resources should be directed at looking into the key factors which influence public investment, electricity infrastructure, and government consumption. This accelerates overall regional growth performance in the short-term and expands capital buildup in the long-run.

Article History

Article HistoryThe rationale of this study was to examine empirically how components of public sector size relates to GDP growth in East Africa from 1985-2015. Using balanced panel fixed or random effect model, public sector expenditure was disaggregated to scrutinize its effect of growth. The research tested for panel unit root and found that only two variables, that is, real GDP growth and capital spending -are stationary at level. The finding confirms the conventional view that relative capital spending -advances economic growth while consumption expenditure retards it. Finally, human capital allocation was insignificant. This study suggests that for these countries, the policy of increasing public sector size on investment budget to promote GDP growth will be appropriate, but fewer funds should be directed towards other governmental programs.Contribution/Originality: This study contributes in the existing literature in the field of public sector economics. This study uses panel estimation methodology. This study originates new formula of estimating public sector size.

This study investigated the effect of international tourism development on economic growth in Zimbabwe, using time series data spanning over the period 1980 to 2017. The main aim of the study was to examine whether international tourism is a pathway to economic recovery in Zimbabwe. The study adopted the tourism growth model proposed by Balaguer and Cantavella-Jorda [1] and applied the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach and its associated Error Correction Model (ECM). The direction of causality between international tourism and economic growth was examined using the Granger causality test in an error correction framework. The findings of the study show that the Tourism-led Growth Hypothesis (TLGH) is valid both in the short-run and long-run while the Economic-Driven Tourism Growth Hypothesis (EDTGH) is valid in the long-run only. This implies that the resource allocation strategy for the Government of Zimbabwe should prioritize both international tourism and economic expansion. The study, therefore, recommends that the Government of Zimbabwe should allocate resources towards supporting the tourism sector to stimulate economic growth in the country. On the other hand, the study, guided by the validity of the EDTGH in the long run, suggests that the Government of Zimbabwe should also consider allocating resources to other sectors currently driving the economy, for example, the agriculture and manufacturing sectors; as this will stimulate economic expansion in the long run.