This study empirically assesses the relationship between mothers’ education and child health using continuous and binary proxies of child health outcomes. A panel, using four waves of the National Income Dynamic Study and a battery of estimation techniques, was employed. The results suggest that maternal education plays a large and significant role in explaining child health outcomes in South Africa. Our results also suggest that maternal education is relevant in respect to stunted growth (stunting). However, the effects of maternal education vary along races, implying levels of inequality. The effects are stronger in the black and coloured populations, possibly due to educational deficits. This suggests a need in improving the educational opportunities for these groups. We suggest that maternal education can significantly contribute to reducing the high degree of inequality in South Africa.

The consumption of fossil fuel significantly contributes to the growth of South Africa’s economy but produces carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is detrimental to environmental sustainability with overall effects on health outcomes. This study sought to (i) examine the impacts of fossil energy consumption-related CO₂ emissions on the under-five mortality and infant mortality rates in South Africa and (ii) analyse the causal relationship between fossil energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and mortality rates in South Africa. Linear and nonlinear ARDL bounds and the Toda–Yamamoto causality test were used to establish the equilibrium property in the long run and the causal effects of the models’ variables. Health outcome data include the under-five mortality rate (MTR1) and infant mortality rate (MTR2). Other explanatory variables include fossil energy consumption (FOC), inflation (Inf), carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂), and government expenditure (GEH). It is evident from the results of linear ARDL that the first lag of the under-five mortality rate in the short run has a positive and significant impact on the under-five mortality rate in South Africa. Holding the other variables constant, the under-five mortality rate in South Africa would increase by 0.630% for every 1% increase in its lagged values. Fossil energy consumption has a positive and significant effect on the under-five mortality rate in South Africa. This significant relationship implies that a 1% increase in fossil energy consumption increases the under-five mortality rate per 1000 persons per year in South Africa by 0.418% in the short run, all things being equal. The results from the Toda–Yamamoto causality test revealed that there is no causality between the under-five mortality rate and both the consumption of fossil fuel and CO₂ emissions in South Africa. The results from nonlinear ARDL presented four separate scenarios. In the short run, during increasing levels of CO₂ in the initial period (lag of CO₂), a 1% increase in CO₂ would decrease the under-five mortality rate by 1.15%. During periods of decreasing levels of CO₂ in the short run, a 1% increase in CO₂ would increase the infant mortality rate by 0.66%. Again, during previous and current periods of decreasing levels of FEC, a 1% increase in FEC would increase the infant mortality rate by 0.45% and 0.32%, respectively. In the long run, during periods of increasing levels of CO₂, a 1% increase in CO₂ would decrease the infant mortality rate by 4.62% whereas during decreasing levels of CO₂, a 1% increase in CO₂ would increase the infant mortality rate by 2.3%. The risk posed by CO₂ emissions and their effects on humans can then be minimised through a government expansionary policy within health programmes.

Economic theory argues that foreign direct investment (FDI) and external debt are expected to enhance economic growth in any given economy. Consequently, this study (i) investigated the relationship between foreign direct investment, external debt servicing, and economic growth in Nigeria; (ii) investigated how foreign direct investment and external debt impact Nigeria’s economic growth; and (iii) analyzed the direction of causality among the three macroeconomic variables. Descriptive statistics, time series autoregressive distributive lag, and robust Granger causality tests were adopted as the estimating techniques. The results showed that from 2011 to 2022, Nigeria’s FDI continued to decline, Nigeria’s external debt servicing continued to grow on an upward trajectory, and the growth of the GDP has been meandering. ARDL analysis results confirmed that the lag of FDI and current exchange rate exert positive effects on current economic growth in Nigeria, with a 1% increase in FDI, current external debt, and current exchange rate increasing growth by 1.49%, 1.58%, and 0.02%, respectively. Results from the Granger causality showed that FDI and external debt do Granger cause GDP in Nigeria. Policymakers should focus on prudent debt management practices and strive to reduce domestic debt levels.

This study adds a new perspective to the finance-tourism relation by examining the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the dynamics. We interrogate the discourse with data on 44 Asian economies from 2010-2019. The approach entails the use of tourism receipts, domestic credit to the private sector, four ICT indicators (mobile phone subscriptions, fixed telephone subscription, fixed broadband subscription and secured Internet servers). For the most part, the results reveal that (1) finance and ICT independently boost tourism; (2) the interaction effect is negative, (3) negative interaction not sufficient to erase the enhancing-properties of finance on tourism; (4) positive net impact of finance; and (5) results are heterogeneous across the sub-samples. Our findings strengthen the argument for financial technology (FinTech) and calls for stronger integration of the financial system with ICT innovation in order to fully harness the potentials and gains from tourism.

The terms “trafficking in persons” (TIP), “human trafficking,” and “modern slavery” all represent the heinous act of “recruiting, harbouring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for comp...