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While several existing panel studies have focused on the linear specifications of the nexus between trade openness and unemployment, nonlinear panel studies on this subject remain less explored. This paper examines the asymmetric nexus between trade openness and unemployment in 34 selected sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries for the period spanning from 1991 to 2020.

The Pedroni and Westerlund panel cointegration tests were conducted to ascertain a long run relationship among the studied variables, while the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach was applied to account for asymmetries.

The study revealed among other things that trade openness asymmetrically influences unemployment in the selected panel of SSA countries. In the long run, the positive shock in trade openness on unemployment is greater as compared to the negative shock.

The implications of this study include the need to (1) ensure the effective monitoring and supervision of trade flows in the sub-region so that their full benefits are maximized in terms of job creation and (2) ensure that a positive trade balance is maintained in the selected SSA countries.

The positive and negative shocks in trade openness are examined to determine their asymmetric effects on unemployment.

While several existing panel studies have focused on the linear specifications of the effect of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions, nonlinear panel studies on this subject remain thin on the ground. The purpose of this paper is to examine the asymmetric effect of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the period spanning from 1996 to 2018.

The Kao, Pedroni and Johansen–Fisher co-integration tests were conducted to ascertain a long-run relationship among the studied variables, whereas the nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag approach was applied to account for asymmetries.

The study revealed, among other things, that remittances and financial development asymmetrically influence carbon emissions in the selected panel of sub-Saharan African countries. In the long run, the positive shock in remittances on carbon emissions is greater than in the negative shock in remittances. Additionally, both positive and negative shocks in financial development mitigate carbon emissions.

The implications of this study include the need to provide tax incentives to remitters and encourage them to invest in clean technologies so as to maintain sustainable development and low carbon emissions in the environment. There is also the need for governments and policymakers to formulate policies aimed at improving the functioning of the financial sectors in sub-Saharan Africa.

The positive and negative shocks of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions are examined to ascertain their asymmetric relationships.

While there are enormous studies on the determinants of environmental degradation, empirical studies on the effect of renewable energy consumption and economic growth on the environment remain limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine the asymmetric effect of renewable energy consumption and economic growth on environmental degradation in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries spanning from 1990 to 2018.

To examine possible asymmetric effects of the exogenous variables on environmental degradation, we used the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach and secondary data was sourced from the World Bank (2021).

The cointegration test results suggest that there is a long-run cointegration among the variables whereas our main findings indicate that environmental degradation responds asymmetrically to changes in renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The results further reveal that both positive and negative shocks in renewable energy consumption reduce environmental degradation. On the other hand, positive and negative shocks in economic growth increase environmental degradation in the long run.

The implications of this study include the need for policymakers in sub-Saharan Africa to encourage the utilization of renewable energy as it reduces environmental degradation. Also, governments in the subregion should gradually replace the usage of fossil fuels by adapting renewable energy sources so as to achieve higher economic growth.

The positive and negative shocks of renewable energy consumption and economic growth on environmental degradation are examined to ascertain their asymmetric relationships.

While some countries have used debt to drive economic growth, the asymmetric effect on sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries has received little attention in the empirical literature. This paper therefore examines the asymmetric effect of external debts on economic growth.

The panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach was employed in the study for 29 sub-Saharan African countries from 1990 to 2021. The cross-sectional dependence test was used to determine the presence of cross-sectional dependence, while the second-generation panel unit root tests was used to examine the unit-root properties.

The empirical results show that external debt has an asymmetric effect on economic growth in both the short and long run. In the long run, a positive shock in external debts of 1% triggers an upturn in economic growth by 0.216% while a negative shock triggers 0.354% decline in economic growth. This implies that the negative shock of external debts has a much stronger impact on economic growth than the positive shock. In the short run, a positive shock in external debts by 1% triggers a decline in economic growth by 0.641%, while a negative shock of 1% triggers a fall in economic growth of 0.170%.

The paper used the NARDL model to examine the asymmetric impact of external debt on the economic growth of SSA countries, which has not been extensively studied. It is recommended that governments in the selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa should drive economic growth by promoting domestic revenue mobilization since external debts impede economic growth.

Most emerging economies have made conscious efforts through policy initiatives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). However, a significant obstacle to FDI inflow has been the prevalence of corruption in the host country. This study, therefore, aims to examine whether there is an optimum corruption value that results in threshold effects of corruption on FDI.

To achieve this objective, this study used Hansen’s (1999) panel threshold regression (PTR) model by using a panel data of 30 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 2000 to 2021.

This study finds that the nexus between corruption and FDI has a single threshold effect, with a 5.37% optimum corruption threshold value. At this threshold value, corruption affects FDI negatively. Any corruption value that is below the threshold value also elicits a negative corruption–FDI relationship. Despite having a negative relationship when the corruption value is above the optimum corruption threshold, it is not statistically significant.

The implication of the results is that it is deleterious to use corrupt practices to draw FDI to SSA nations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first in the corruption–FDI nexus literature to use Hansen’s PTR model to estimate an optimal corruption threshold. The authors recommend that policymakers in the selected SSA countries reconsider the use of corruption to attract FDI because there is an optimal corruption threshold that could impact FDI in the host country.

Debt sustainability and the growing level of external debt in sub-Saharan African (SSA) continue to be significant research priorities. This study aims to examine the corruption-external debt nexus in SSA economies and whether different levels of corruption better explain this relationship.

The panel quantile regression approach was applied to account for the heterogeneous effect of the exogenous variables on external debts. The research covers 30 years of panel data from 30 selected SSA economies for the period spanning from 2000 to 2021.

The empirical findings of the regression analysis demonstrate the heterogeneous influences of the exogenous variables on external debt. While there was a positive impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on external debts, corruption established a negative relationship with external debt from the 10th to the 80th quantile. The findings showed a positive link between trade openness and external debt, while they also showed a negative relationship between gross fixed capital formation and external debt.

It is implied that corruption “sands the wheels” of external debts in the selected SSA countries. Therefore, the amount of external debt that flows into SSA is inversely correlated with corruption activity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to use panel quantile regression to analyze how corruption affects debt dynamics across different levels of debt, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of how corruption affects debt dynamics. Based on the findings of this study, SSA countries should create enabling environments to attract FDI inflows and to continue to drive domestic revenue mobilization and capital so as to be less dependent on external debts.

Pandemics and infectious diseases are almost becoming part of everyday human lives. In this study, the authors model the historical impact of pandemics on the various aspect of the stock market performance.

The Arellano and Bond (1991) GMM is used in estimating the empirical model to help solve possible endogeneity, heteroscedasticity and serial correlation problems in static panel data problems. Particularly, the system GMM is used to control for both the levels and the first difference equations.

The findings indicate that pandemics reduce the stock market turnover and the value of stock traded. But the stock market capitalization and the number of stock listings will not be affected within the pandemic period. Also, the authors report that the actual impact of the pandemic in terms of the number of people who die from the disease will badly influence all the four indicators of the stock market performances.

This study opens up the frontiers to the use of panel modeling in this area of study which will influence future studies. Additionally, the authors have showcased that the number of deaths from communicable diseases (pandemics) disrupts all four measures of stock markets performance indicators; this finding will guide policymakers to develop a robust approach to fighting pandemics when they occur.

The study is unique in two ways. Unlike recent studies that focus on only the impact of Covid-19 on stock market performance, the authors build a 20-year panel of 41 emerging economies to capture the long-run dynamics. Again, the authors’ variables can capture the immediate and cumulative response of stock market performance to pandemics.