Governance and the Capital Flight Trap in Africa

Asongu, Simplice and Nnanna, Joseph (2020): Governance and the Capital Flight Trap in Africa. Published in: Transnational Corporations Review , Vol. 12, No. 3 (September 2020): pp. 276-292.

Abstract

The study examines the use of governance tools to fight capital flight by reducing the capital flight trap. Two overarching policy syndromes are addressed in the study. It first assesses whether governance is an effective deterrent to the capital flight trap in Africa, before examining what thresholds of government quality are required to fight the capital flight trap in the continent. The following findings are established. Evidence of a capital flight trap is apparent because past values of capital flight have a positive effect on future values of capital flight. The net effects from interactions of the capital flight trap with political stability, regulation quality, economic governance and corruption-control on capital flight are positive. The critical masses at which “voice & accountability” and regulation quality can complement the capital flight trap to reduce capital flight are respectively, 0.120 and 0.680, which correspond to the best performing countries. Policy implications are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Governance; capital flight; capital flight trap; Africa
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C50 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook > E62 - Fiscal Policy; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F34 - International Lending and Debt Problems; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P37 - Legal Institutions ; Illegal Behavior

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