Remittances, ICT and doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa

Arbeitspapier

Purpose - This study examines how linkages between information and communication technology (ICT) and remittances affect the doing of business. Design/methodology/approach - The focus is on a panel of 49 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. Findings - While we establish some appealing results in terms of net negative effects on constraints to the doing of business (i.e. time to start a business and time to pay taxes), some positive net effects are also apparent (i.e. number of start-up procedures, time to build a warehouse and time to register a property). We also establish ICT penetration thresholds at which the unconditional effect of remittances can be changed from positive to negative, notably: (i) for the number of start-up procedures, an internet level of 9.00 penetration per 100 people is required while (ii) for the time to build a warehouse, a mobile phone penetration level of 32.33 penetration per 100 people is essential. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. Originality/value - To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess linkages between ICT, remittances and doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: AGDI Working Paper ; No. WP/18/010

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Remittances ; Economic Impacts of Globalization: Economic Development ; Telecommunications ; Economywide Country Studies: Africa
• Subject: Remittances ; ICT ; Doing business ; Development ; Africa

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Asongu, Simplice ; Biekpe, Nicholas ; Tchamyou, Vanessa S.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): African Governance and Development Institute (AGDI)
• (where): Yaoundé
• (when): 2018

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/191333
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET