Who Is Who in Knowledge Economy in Africa?

Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 11(2), pp. 425-457 (June, 2020).

43 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2017 Last revised: 26 Jun 2020

See all articles by Simplice Asongu

Simplice Asongu

African Governance and Development Institute

Vanessa S. Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute

Paul Acha-Anyi

Tshwane University of Technology

Date Written: January 22, 2017

Abstract

This study assesses the knowledge economy (KE) performance of lagging African countries vis-à-vis their frontier counterparts with regard to the four dimensions of the World Bank’s knowledge economy index (KEI). The empirical exercise is for the period 1996-2010. It consists of first establishing leading nations before suggesting policy initiatives that can be implemented by sampled countries depending on identified gaps that are provided with the sigma convergence estimation approach.

The following are established frontier knowledge economy countries:

(i) For the most part, North African countries are dominant in education. Tunisia is overwhelmingly dominant in 11 of the 15 years, followed by Libya which is a frontier country in two years while Cape Verde and Egypt lead in a single year each.

(ii) With the exception of Morocco that is leading in the year 2009, Seychelles is overwhelmingly dominant in ICT.

(iii) South Africa also indomitably leads in terms of innovation.

(iv) While Botswana and Mauritius share dominance in institutional regime, economic incentives in terms of private domestic credit are most apparent in Angola (8 years), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 years) and Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Malawi (each leading in one year).

Keywords: Knowledge economy; Benchmarks; Policy syndromes; Catch-up; Africa

JEL Classification: O10; O30; O38; O55; O57

Suggested Citation

Asongu, Simplice and S. Tchamyou, Vanessa and Acha-Anyi, Paul, Who Is Who in Knowledge Economy in Africa? (January 22, 2017). Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 11(2), pp. 425-457 (June, 2020)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3056950 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3056950

Simplice Asongu (Contact Author)

African Governance and Development Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 8413
Yaoundé, 8413
Cameroon

Vanessa S. Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 8413
Yaoundé, 8413
Cameroon

Paul Acha-Anyi

Tshwane University of Technology ( email )

Staatsartillerie Rd
Philip Nel Park
Pretoria, 0183
South Africa

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