The study examined the impact of Sustainable Tax Revenue and Expenditure on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in African countries using secondary data. The dataset was extracted from the World Development Indicators database. The large gap between developed and developing countries when comparing the probability of them achieving the SDGs was the main motivation behind this study. Data retrieved from 45 countries comprised of both African and developed countries for the period 2010–2020 was analyzed using the Generalized Method of Moments technique. The results revealed that the coefficients of grants received, various forms of taxes, and other revenue have a positive effect on economic growth but a negative effect on poverty and unemployment for African and developed countries. This finding suggests that improvements in tax revenue generation, grants and other revenue accumulation across different sources boost economic performance and the welfare of individuals in the analyzed countries. The outcome is an indication that accumulating more grants from different sources will help to achieve sustainable development, improve financial stability, contributes to the economic growth and development in these countries. This study can guide policymakers, governments, international institutions, revenue bodies such as SARS and other stakeholders in their various planning and other decision-making endeavors. Governments and other policymakers must ensure the efficient generation and sustainable utilization of revenue generated from taxes and other revenues to spur the growth and development of their countries. They should have Growth-Sustainability-Oriented Fiscal Adjustment Programs and Sustainable Government Expenditure that can help push and redirect governments to achieve the SDGs in Africa.

This study investigated the nexus between food security, environmental sustainability, and sustainable growth from a global perspective of 63 economies spanning 2010–2021. Different econometric strategies including the Generalized Method of Moments (GMMs), the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLSs), and the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLSs) methods were employed to accomplish the investigation. The empirical outcomes indicate that the coefficients of food export, agricultural production, fertilizer consumption, FDI, population growth, and employment are positively and statistically associated with economic growth but have negative relationships with poverty and unemployment, except for population growth and unemployment, which revealed insignificant results. Conversely, the coefficient of food import revealed a positive association with poverty and unemployment but is negatively associated with economic growth. Additionally, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is also established in the considered countries. Nations, governments, and policymakers must prioritize environmentally friendly economic and green policies that can support sustainable agriculture. International policies to enhance food security collaboration because of nations’ diverse natural endowments to achieve all-level inclusive growth and development must be highly prioritized to reduce global inequality. Innovativeness and the sustainable use of land and processing of food must be encouraged to reduce emissions and other forms of pollution to support eco-fishing, aquaculture, and agriculture in order to ensure food security and achievement of the SDGs.

The global environment has recently been facing sustainability threats owing to industrial and economic expansions. Accordingly, this study empirically examines the impact of carbon emissions and the directional causality between carbon emissions and environmental quality, financial development, and economic growth. We used data from 65 economies from 2010 to 2021, applying fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) approaches. Generally, the findings from the analysis revealed that the estimated coefficients of carbon emissions were negative and significant across the model, except for greenhouse gas emissions, which produced an insignificant result in developed economies. This result proves that an increase in carbon emissions and other forms of pollution are detrimental to environmental quality, economic growth, and financial development. Further results revealed that fossil fuels are positively and significantly related to the economic growth and financial development of selected countries. Empirical outcomes indicate that ineffective control of environmental pollution and carbon emissions is a major challenge to the economic growth trajectories of the selected countries, especially in emerging economies. The results from directional relationships revealed that bi-directional causality exists between CO₂ and GDP; between total greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth, with no directional relationship of CO₂ emissions to financial development and vice versa; and economic growth to CO₂ emissions from gaseous fuel consumption and vice versa. Generally, this outcome indicates that improved environmental quality control can accelerate economic growth and financial development worldwide. This study provides insights to governments, policymakers, international organizations, researchers, and many other stakeholders. This study suggests that stricter fiscal and monetary policies, laws, and regulations, such as environmental taxes and carbon emission taxes, with strong implementation strategies, especially in emerging economies, are strongly recommended worldwide. Further recommendations suggest the development of technologically innovative policies that can counter all the impacts of devastating human activities on the environment, and these are encouraged. A greater consumption of renewable energy and the use of other innovative machines that are environmentally friendly and can help control various forms of pollution and carbon emissions have been encouraged globally.

The influence of macroeconomic variables on aspects of business and the country's economy has been a subject of robust discussion. This study was conducted to identify the effect of macroeconomic variables, namely inflation rate, economic growth, exchange rate and share price, on listed companies in South Africa. The goal was to study the long run and short run effects of macroeconomic volatility on company performance because of the world’s recent pandemic experience. To achieve this objective, the study applied the panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model on annual panel data from 2010 to 2020 to analyse the short run and long run effects of macroeconomic variables on a company’s performance. The study results suggested a positive impact of economic growth, exchange rate and share price on asset returns, whilst a company's equity return is supported by economic growth and share price in the long run. The short run revealed that none of the independent variables has a sufficiently significant effect to influence a company's performance changes in the short run. Based on the findings, it was recommended that policymakers and economic authorities should introduce and implement strategies that favour and enhance the country's economic growth and stable exchange rate in order to improve company performance. Additionally, given that the company's short-run performance may highly depend on internal factors such as corporate governance, internal policies and business strategies, these decisions should be taken with precaution and a high level of professionalism.

This study assessed the accounting-based variables and value-based management (VBM) variables that jointly affect firm value and performance. The study applied the causality test and variance decomposition to determine the variability of the variables, and further empirically employed fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) techniques to justify the results. Data covering 356 industries were purposively sampled to arrive at 61 companies spanning 2011–2020. Overall, the causality test found no relationship between economic value added and market value added but only found unidirectional causality from shareholder returns to MVA, EVA to shareholder returns, ROA to MVA, ROE to MVA, EVA to MVA, MVA to EVA, ROE to ROA, EVA to ROA, and EVA to ROE. A very strong bidirectional causality relationship was found between return on asset and shareholder return as a measure of company performance. Further results from the forecast error of the variance decomposition showed that shareholder returns are explained only by its own shock, contributing 45.38 percent in the long run, while the remaining variables, namely market value added, return on asset, return on equity, and economic value added, contribute about 35.96%, 14.06%, 4.08%, and 0.51%, respectively, to predicting the future values of shareholder return. This confirms the relationships between the variables from the short run to the long run. Additionally, results from the FMOL and DOL revealed that all accounting variables and VBM are good approaches for evaluating company performance as the empirical result from ROA, ROE, and EVA revealed positive and significant relationships. This confirms that a combination of both variables would produce a better evaluation as the accounting variables and VBM variables jointly relate to shareholder returns. This study serves as a guide to companies’ management and boards of directors in having better ways to evaluate company performance. Consequently, it is recommended that managers select combinations of accounting and VBM variables that suit their operations and jointly apply them in the performance evaluation of the company. This will be useful in providing both the relative and incremental performance information needed for diverse decision-making.

This study used secondary data from World Development Indicators to examine the implication of the Russia-Ukraine war on Trade relations and Foreign Direct Investment flows into other parts of the world. Data from 85 countries between 2012 and 2021 were analyzed using the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique. Findings revealed that the coefficients of export goods, international trade represented by external trade, food exports and fuel exports had positive and significant results from both panels and all the sub-regions, except for Europe, which revealed a mixed result. Conversely, results from food imports, military expenditure, fuel imports and fossil energy consumption revealed negative but significant results, except food imports in Europe showed an insignificant result. Conclusively, the findings of this study revealed that the current war has increased military expenditure, which has caused a significant setback to FDI and trade relations. This has undermined both bilateral and multilateral trade relations and cut off supply chains, markets, and value chains that have long existed before the crisis amongst countries across the globe. Therefore, world leaders should do everything possible to restore peace between these two countries because it will do the world better than their selfish desires. In addition, if the war degenerates more than this, it would not only be injurious to the global market, trade routes, economy and FDI but can lead the world to another world war. Conclusively, this study will help world countries, governments, leaders, policymakers, investors, and companies in various decision-making endeavors, including war-related decisions. World leaders with management crisis skills who can unite nations should help mediate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to restore peace. However, further studies are still required on this ongoing war for scholarly guidance as there are still limited empirical studies in the world literature regarding this crisis.