Panel data analysis reveals that governance strengthens innovation-driven growth across African economies, indicating the essential role of strong institutions in sustainable development.
Key Points
To examine how overall governance and its disaggregated dimensions (economic, political, and institutional) moderate the impact of innovation on economic performance in Africa.
Analyzed panel data from 39 African countries covering the period from 2010 to 2023.
Applied an interactive generalized method of moments (GMM) econometric estimation strategy.
Evaluated innovation using the Global Innovation Index alongside economic performance measured by annual percentage growth in GDP and GDP per capita.
Established an unconditional positive relationship between innovation and economic performance across the sampled countries.
Demonstrated a positive moderating effect of economic, political, and institutional governance dynamics on the innovation–economic performance nexus.