Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa

Empirical studies examining the resource curse in developing countries have failed to contradict this core theory, deeply rooted in the debate on natural resources. This paper innovates by challenging the Dutch disease literature. Indeed, we examine the relationship between natural resources, economic complexity (EC), institutions environment, and industrialization with data spanning the period 2000–2019 for 17 leading African countries. Backed by empirical analysis with OLS for baseline estimations, robustness with additional control variables for attrition bias issues, 4‐years average data that eliminates short‐run fluctuations, quantile analysis for differentiated countries heterogeneous threshold effects, 2SLS instrumental variables and two‐step system Generalized Method of Moments that resolve endogeneity concerns, we show that natural resources can enhance industrialization. We demonstrate that moving to higher levels of natural resources rents, EC that captures the amount of knowledge and know‐how embodied in the products each country produces, and higher level of institutional quality considered as the backbone of the economy, also leads to a better level of industrialization. More so, by testing interaction effects between natural resources and EC associated with NRs and quality of institutions index, the impact of NRs on industrialization is positive and statistically significant unlike the well‐known Dutch disease theory.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries has grown over the last two decades, fuelling an extremely fertile literature on gender inclusion in the economic, social and political spheres. This article assesses the effect of FDI on women's empowerment (WE) observed in 102 developing countries. Thus, considering two dimensions—namely, Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Women's Political Empowerment (WPE)—we specify and estimate a static and dynamic panel data model using generalised least squares (GLS) and system generalised method of moments (S‐GMM) over the period 2002–2022. Two main results emerge. First, FDIs significantly increase the WE; notably, WPE and WEE. Second, the mediation analysis results show that the effects of FDI on WE are mediated by internet, mobile phone, female labour participation, female/male employment ratio and energy intensity. We propose to strengthen the consideration of gender in FDI attractiveness policies. Additionally, governments of developing countries must encourage and facilitate women's involvement in politics so that the decisions made have a direct impact on their daily lives.

Women's political empowerment (WPE) is making slow progress in developing countries and continues to fuel recent literature. In this study, we determined the direct and indirect effects of WPE on the environmental performance (EP) of developing countries. Based on a sample of 71 developing countries, we specify and estimate a panel data model using fixed‐effect regression and the system generalized method of moment over the period 2000–2020. Our results show that WPE, including political participation, women's civil liberty, and women's participation in civil society, significantly improves EP. The effect of WPE is mediated by corruption control and education. To strengthen EP in developing countries, we suggest implementing strategies that enable the integration of gender parity into constitutions and legal frameworks. The capacities of women in society must be strengthened to encourage their participation in decision making.

Under-taxation is a major feature of economies in developing countries and one that has been little ignored in the subsequent literature on the informal sector. Tax evasion is an endemic and more predictable problem in developing countries striving to balance their budgets. Its effects have been extensively studied in the empirical literature. In this article, we examine the role of tax evasion on the size of the informal sector. Using a sample of 99 developing countries, we specify and estimate a panel data model using the ordinary least squares, fixed effects and generalized least squares methods. Our analysis of tax evasion implies significant improvement for the informal sector. Controlled by two complementary measures of the informal sector (the ‘multiple indicators, multiple causes’ indicator and share of informal firms), our results remain statistically significant, robust and stable overall. We suggest a policy of using carrots, for example, by digitizing tax procedures, and sticks, such as tax adjustments, to promote the development of the informal sector.