Research Productivity and Africa's Productive Capacity: The Moderating Role of Government Education Expenditure

Abstract

This study provides empirical insights into the impact of research productivity on Africa's productive capacity, contingent upon government education expenditure. Using a panel of 52 African countries from 2010 to 2022, the dynamic system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation technique was employed as a robust alternative to Pooled OLS. The analysis yielded several key findings. First, the system GMM results emphasise the importance of aligning research and development efforts with educational investments, as the effect of research productivity on productive capacity is influenced by government education expenditure. Second, governance quality, per capita income and industrial value-added emerged as key drivers of productive capacity, while natural resource endowment was found to be a limiting factor. Based on these findings, the study highlights the need for increased government education funding, collaborative research initiatives, professional development for educators, infrastructure investment, public-private partnerships, open data initiatives and technology integration to boost research productivity and enhance Africa's productive capacity. The study discusses how the research can be improved with other non-linear techniques.