Food security is one of the most severe challenges facing the majority of African countries. The objective of this study was to explore household food dietary diversity and food security in a rural area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A total of 296 household heads were randomly sampled to participate in the study. The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS) were used to identify the consumption patterns of the households and their food security status. Meanwhile, a binary model was used to identify the variables that had an impact on household food security. Findings from the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) revealed that 61 percent of the households had lower dietary diversity and were consuming at least three food groups, which mainly include pulses, milk, and cereals. The results from the Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS), however, showed that the majority of the households had adequate levels of food consumption. The binary model revealed that age, household income, access to credit, and gender are statistically significant in influencing household food security status in the study area. It can be concluded that household dietary diversity is not guaranteed by food security, as proven by the regression model. Therefore, the government should consider the impact of low income on food security and it should intensify efforts directed at helping rural households to reduce incidences of food insecurity.

This paper argues that the link between poverty and drug-related crime might be spurious. We take an empirical approach to investigate the causality and plausibility of this link. Firstly, we regress crime against envisaged explanatory variables in order to estimate the contribution of poverty to crime. Secondly, data is analysed using an ARDL ECM. The quarterly sample data for our estimation is for the period 1995–2016. We found a strong association between crime and poverty both in the short and long run. We recommend the government should focus on none income linked factors in dealing with the scourge of drug-related crime. As demonstrated in this study, various drug-related crimes are driven by socio-economic factors.

The issue of whether government expenditure helps or hinders economic growth is still debatable. This study examines the contribution of government spending towards economic growth in South Africa using annual data from 1980 – 2014. The cointegration approach and Vector Error Correction Model were used to analyse the data. The cointegration test results indicate that there is long run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth in South Africa. The VECM outcome indicates a positive and significant link between economic growth and expenditure on the long run. There is a positive and significant relationship between exchange rate and economic growth and a significant and negative relationship between economic growth and private consumption. Based on these findings, the correlation between government expenditure and economic growth showed that there is positive relationship on the long run in South Africa, while there is a negative and significant relationship between government spending and economic growth on the short run. More spending should therefore be directed towards important sectors such as infrastructural development and industrial development in order to accelerate economic growth. There is also a need for fiscal policy to be used as an instrument to regulate the amount of money in the economy.

Sovereign debt crisis in advanced economies keep increasing and its government are implementing fiscal policies to reduce it. Greece is an example of a country whose government debt is a matter of grave concern since it has received the second bailout but still threatens to default. The main aim of this study is determine the impact of government expenditures and government incomes on government debt. This paper estimates the effect of government expenditure on debt in Greece via the vector error correction model framework and granger causality model with annual data from 1976 to 2011 which was collected from the World Development Indicators, European Commission data base and the International Monetary Fund. Vector Error correction Model framework is used to estimate our model and Vector Autoregression Granger causality to determine the direction of causation.The results show a significant negative relationship between gross government debt and gross national income as well as gross government debt and net foreign direct investment. A significant positive relationship is found between gross government debt and gross national expenditure and gross government debt and inflation. The past values of gross national expenditure and gross national income have a predictive ability in determining the present value of gross government debt and not vice versa. Knowing this effects will help policy makers of these countries and the world at larger to revisit its fiscal policy in order to reduce its debt and sustain it. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n3p323

The political move in South Africa occurred against a setting of high government deficits. Efforts have been made over the years by the government to reduce fiscal deficit and inflation, liberalize the capital account and the financial system as well as reduce tariffs. The main objective of this study, therefore, is to empirically investigate the effect of public debt on foreign direct investment in South African for the period 1983 – 2013. The study employs a Vector Error Correction Model, which provides both the long run and short run relationships among the variables. The long run results indicate that the relationship between public debt and foreign direct investment, as well as interest rate and foreign direct investment, is positive and statistically significant, while there is an insignificant negative relationship between exchange rate and foreign direct investment. Based on the long run results, the study, thus, recommend that the level of public debt and interest rate should increase so that the level of foreign direct investment can increase in the country. However, the policy of depreciation of rand is considered inappropriate for the economy if the desire is to increase the level of foreign direct investment in the country.

Background/Objectives: The impact of government health spending and external debt on maternal mortality has been the subject of ongoing theoretical and empirical discussions. However, this relationship has remained controversial with no perspective on the moderating role of external debt on the government’s health expenditure and maternal mortality link. This study examines the moderating effect of external debt on the government’s health expenditure and maternal mortality relation using data from 13 Southern African economies spanning from 2000 to 2022. Methods: We employed the augmented mean group, the dynamic common correlation effect mean group, and the Driscoll–Kraay and Granger causality techniques to attain the study’s objective. Results: The outcome revealed that government health expenditure and external debt reduce maternal mortality in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Equally, the magnitude of government health spending is moderated by external debt. The results revealed a bidirectional relation amidst maternal mortality and government health expenditure, and maternal mortality and external debt. Conclusions: The study recommends that policymakers within the SADC zone should avoid austerity measures and encourage expansionary measures in terms of spending, and the contraction of debt for capital investment in the health sector. This will enhance the delivery of health services within the zone and equally reduce the rate of maternal mortality that is still a major health concern within the sub-region.