The paradox of food production, consumption, poverty and malnutrition in Tanzania: an ecological study design

Background: There have been claims amongst nutrition stakeholders in Tanzania that the food basket regions, are the regions most affected by stunting among children. However, this study could not find evidence that combines food production and stunting levels, to substantiate this claim. Therefore, this study aims to compare data on stunting, food production and consumption within administrative regions of the Tanzania mainland. Methods: The study used an ecological study design to show the relationship between stunting, poverty, food production and consumption across administrative regions in Tanzania. The study used data from three national wide surveys: 2017/2018 Household Budget Survey (HBS), Tanzania National Nutrition Survey (TNNS) 2018 and Agriculture Statistics for Food Security report 2018/2019. Results: The study showed that there is a positive relationship between the prevalence of stunting and food production (r=0.43, p=0.03), while there is a negative relationship between stunting and the level of both the average monthly household consumption expenditure (r = -0.48, p = 0.01) and average monthly household food consumption expenditure (r = -0.509, p = 0.01). It was further found that some regions which have higher levels of stunting such as Njombe, have the lowest level of basic need poverty. Conclusion: The study found a positive relationship between food production and the prevalence of stunting using data across regions in mainland Tanzania. This is an indication that regional food security may not entail nutrition security, hence a call for more advocacy on nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

Does External Debt Service Devalue Local Currency in the Long Run? Empirical Evidence from Egypt

The aim of this study is to identify the extent to which there is an effect of external debt service on the exchange rate in Egypt in the long run, where the change in the exchange rate has great importance in changing currency value and thus affecting its function as a store of value and a standard for forward payments and then in the redistribution of income and wealth, It also has an effect on some macroeconomic variables, such as inflation, exports, imports, and thus the current account. The study examines the estimation of the long-run relationship between the external debt service and the exchange rate in Egypt in the period 1980-2019 and relies on the exchange rate of the dollar against the Egyptian pound as a dependent variable, while the explanatory variables were the external debt service, gross capital formation, broad money growth, deposit interest rate, household final consumption expenditure, gross savings, and terms of trade adjustment. The methodology is based on Vector Error Correction (VEC) and the study concluded that there is a significant long-term relationship between the value of the Egyptian pound and all the variables explained in the study, as the error correction coefficient is negative and significant. Also, there is an inverse statistically significant relationship between the value of the Egyptian pound and each of the external debt service, the deposit interest rate, and gross savings; any change of 1% in the external debt service, the deposit interest rate, and gross savings leads to a devaluation of the Egyptian pound against the dollar by 4.8%, 0.04%, and 0.05%, respectively. The study also concluded that there is a positive, statistically significant relationship in the long term between the value of the Egyptian pound and each of gross capital formation, broad money growth, households' and NPISHs' final consumption expenditure, and terms of trade adjustment, as any change of 1% in these variables leads to an increase in the value of the Egyptian pound by 0.16%, 0.05%, 0.27%, and 6%, respectively. This study recommends that decision makers consider all the reasons that would reduce the external debt service in order to preserve the value of the Egyptian currency in the long run.

Impact of Tourism on Economic Growth of Nepal: Is Tourism-Led Growth Hypothesis Valid for Nepal?

A voluminous study is available on tourism-growth nexus as tourism industry received considerable attention as a potential source of economic growth. This paper empirically examines the impact of tourism on economic growth of Nepal by using time series data of 1976-2020 and applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. Real GDP was used as proxy measure of economic growth, which was the outcome variable whereas the variable of interest was tourism receipts. Foreign aid, total volume of trade and ratio of government consumption expenditure to GDP were taken as control variables. The result of ARDL model shows that tourism has no significant impact on economic growth of Nepal in both short-run and long-run. However, total volume of trade has positive and significant effect on economic growth in short-run whereas foreign aid, total volume of trade and ratio of government consumption expenditure to GDP have positive and significant effect on economic growth in the long-run. In such context of tourism and growth relationship, tourism-led growth hypothesis is rejected for Nepal.

An Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Financial Literacy on Family Cultural Consumption – Based on the Data from CFPS

Based on the data from Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study uses the Tobit model to empirically analyze the influence of financial literacy on family cultural consumption. This study found that the average financial literacy level of Chinese residents is still relatively low. The improvement of their financial literacy would help enhance the household cultural consumption expenditure. From this study, it is recommended that there should be an improvement in the cultural consumption of Chinese families and their quality of life by targeting financial education, raising the income level of residents, and stimulating the residents’ cultural consumption willingness.

Money and Household Consumption Expenditure in Developing Asia: Some Panel ARDL Evidence

The role of money in influencing real economic activities has been a long-standing debate in macroeconomics. As per the Keynesian theory, household consumption expenditure plays a significant role in promoting economic growth. Given the rapid consumption-led growth pattern in the emerging Asia Pacific region, in this article, we attempt to assess the role of money in influencing household consumption expenditure, which propels economic growth. We employ a panel data set from 2005–2018 for 10 emerging Asian economies, covering Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Given the region’s heterogeneous nature, we employ a variant of the popular St Louise equation model with autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) panel framework based on pooled mean group (PMG) and dynamic fixed effect (DFE) models developed by Pesaran and Shin to study the underlying relationships. Both PMG and DFE models suggest a strong positive relationship between money and household consumption expenditure both in the long run and short run. After allowing for control variables such as government final consumption expenditure and interest rate, the relationships continue to hold steady. Further, the relationship holds true across both narrow (M1) and broad money (M3) measures. The government final consumption expenditure and interest rates do not have influence on household consumption expenditure in the long run, but they have an influence in the short run. JEL Codes: C23, O16, O47, E51, E31, E21

The impact of foreign capital inflows on poverty in Vietnam: An empirical investigation

This study investigates the impact of foreign capital inflows on poverty in Vietnam, using annual time series data from 1990 to 2018. The study was motivated by the need to establish if burgeoning foreign capital inflows in Vietnam can support the poverty alleviation agenda. Foreign direct investment (FDI) and external debt were used as proxies for foreign capital inflows; and infant mortality rate, Human Development Index (HDI) and household consumption expenditure were used as poverty proxies. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, the study found foreign direct investment to reduce poverty in the short run and long run when household consumption expenditure was used as a poverty measure. However, the study found FDI to worsen poverty in the short run when infant mortality rate and HDI were used as poverty proxies. The study found external debt to have poverty mitigating effect in the short run regardless of the poverty measure used and in the long run only when household consumption expenditure was used as a poverty measure.