Global exchange of culture and intellect: What African economic growth and trade liberalization indicates.

Economic growth enhances connectivity and resource availability thereby facilitating greater cultural and intellectual interaction across nations. On the other hand trade liberalization reduces barriers to trade, fostering cross-cultural dialogue and the diffusion of diverse perspective. Together, those dynamics promote more global exchange of culture and intellect. This study unveil the impact of economic growth and trade liberalization on global exchange of culture and intellect. Data from 20 randomly selected Africa countries were collected from 2005 to 2023. The study employs the Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model to analyse data collected. Data for the analysis are collected from both the World development indicator, KOF globalization database, as well as, the World trade Organization data bases. The findings indicate that there is an asymmetric relationship between 4positive and negative shocks in both GDPGR and TL on global exchange of culture and intellect. It is recommended that, in order to prevent western cultural and intellectual hegemony, policymakers in Africa should strengthen mechanisms for global risk assessment and coordinate responses during economic contractions given the fact that a negative shock has a more amplified effect on global cultural and intellectual exchange. Equally, African policymakers should prioritize policies that foster increased trade liberalization because positive shocks in trade liberalization have a more pronounced effect on global integration indicators.