Mini-grids are emerging as a key solution to electrify access-deficit communities, yet their effectiveness in improving energy access and household welfare remains underexplored. This paper provides novel evidence from Tanzania, where a policy reform doubled the number of mini-grids since 2008....

This paper estimates the macroeconomic effects of fiscal consolidations in sub-Saharan Africa using a newly constructed narrative dataset of discretionary fiscal policy actions for 14 countries over 1990–2024. The dataset, documented in Abdel-Latif et. al. (2025), identifies fiscal measures...

This paper introduces the first narrative-based dataset on fiscal consolidations for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Drawing on staff reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the period 1990-2024 and using an approach assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), the dataset...

Zambia, an economy heavily reliant on hydropower for electricity, has faced sustained disruptions to electricity generation amid increasingly frequent and severe droughts. These drought-related disruptions have caused large GDP losses in recent years and have tilted electricity generation...

In this paper, we analyze the impacts of financial innovation and financial deepening on the economic growth of 14 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1995 to 2023. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and error correction model (ECM) were used to assess short- and long-run...

This study investigates the potential effects of Mobile Money (MM) and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) on the average transaction costs of remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with a focus on Nigeria. While much of the current literature highlights the theoretical benefits of CBDCs...

This paper analyzes the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) economies between 2006 and 2018. The focus lies on Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique since, according to Transparency International, they exhibit...

Addressing the intertwined challenges of economic growth and environmental sustainability is essential to mitigate the worsening impacts of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Promoting clean energy adoption and understanding the role of globalization have been identified as critical...

This paper validates a new set of behavioral measures for socioemotional skills across three Sub-Saharan African countries-Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Tanzania-and compares them to widely used self-reported measures. The behavioral measures demonstrate strong psychometric properties and are...

The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, non-technological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate probit model applied to microdata from 1897 firms in three Sub-Saharan countries:...

The interplay between energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions remains a central focus in economic, energy and environmental policy research. While often assumed to be symmetric, changes in energy consumption do not always produce uniform effects on economic growth and carbon...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces a confluence of critical challenges, including limited energy access, rapid urbanization, and the pursuit of inclusive economic growth, compounded by the global urgency of climate action. This study investigates the potential for SSA to transition toward renewable...

Ensuring sustainable public health investment is a vital global objective, as strong healthcare systems enhance life expectancy, economic productivity, and overall development. Economic complexity has emerged as a key driver of fiscal capacity and long-term prosperity, yet its direct effect on...

Positive affect and life evaluation are positively correlated in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but the relationship is much weaker than in Western countries, revealing a disconnect between how people feel and how they judge their lives. Using Gallup World Poll microdata (2013-2024) for 39 SSA and 27...

This study investigates the factors responsible for the poor performance of 67 electric utilities in 47 countries, using descriptive data from the World Bank, the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and national sources. The findings show that both cost-side...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic...

We examine the empirical relationship between exposure to disasters and tightness of social norms, focusing on the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Social norms tightness refers to the extent to which cultural groups enforce adherence to norms and punish...