Heterogeneous effects of frontier technology adoption on economic growth in Africa

IF 5.5 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics Pub Date : 2025-09-16 DOI:10.1016/j.strueco.2025.09.004

Isaac K. Ofori , Emmanuel Y. Gbolonyo , Andrea Vezzulli

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Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is ushering economies into a new era of technological transition, driven primarily by frontier technologies. While the adoption of these technologies is growing rapidly in the Global South, empirical evidence concerning their economic impacts in Africa are hard to find. This study advances the innovation and growth literature in this regard by analysing macro data from 39 African countries. Findings from quantile regression reveal that frontier technology adoption (FTR) has a modest positive effect on growth. Second, democracy amplifies the impact of FTR, but only at higher levels of egalitarianism. Third, although FTR is growth-enhancing across all growth quantiles, its impact diminishes from the 1st to the 9th. However, in the presence of egalitarian democracy, FTR significantly boosts growth from the 1st to the 9th quantiles. We conclude that progress in egalitarianism and investment in frontier technology readiness are essential for sustained economic growth in Africa.

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前沿技术采用对非洲经济增长的异质效应

第四次工业革命正在引领各经济体进入以前沿技术为主要驱动力的技术转型新时代。虽然这些技术的采用在全球南方迅速增长，但很难找到有关其对非洲经济影响的经验证据。本研究通过分析39个非洲国家的宏观数据，推进了这方面的创新和增长文献。分位数回归的结果表明，前沿技术采用（FTR）对经济增长具有适度的正向影响。其次，民主放大了FTR的影响，但只在更高的平均主义水平上。第三，尽管FTR在所有增长分位数中都能促进增长，但其影响从1号到9号逐渐减弱。然而，在平等民主存在的情况下，FTR显著促进了第1至第9分位数的增长。我们的结论是，平等主义的进步和前沿技术准备方面的投资对非洲的持续经济增长至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

9.60

自引率

4.90%

发文量

159

期刊介绍： Structural Change and Economic Dynamics publishes articles about theoretical, applied and methodological aspects of structural change in economic systems. The journal publishes work analysing dynamics and structural breaks in economic, technological, behavioural and institutional patterns.