DETERMINANTS OF INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN NIGERIA: THE IMPACT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, HUMAN CAPITAL, AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13207370Keywords:
Inclusive growth, Human capital development, financial development, Natural resource abundanceAbstract
Inclusive growth has a broad impact on development across several continents; it has attracted the attention of many scholars in recent years. Thus, while examining the factors that influence inclusive growth in Nigeria, this study considers the wealth of Nigeria's resources. The study sourced data from The World Development Indicators (WDI) and Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin covering the data range of 1981 to 2022 for the variables employed. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was used to estimate the model. The empirical results indicated that, in the short- and long-run, respectively, health and education spending decreased and supported inclusive growth for the general model that does not take the function of fiscal policy into account. The effects of resource rents and agriculture, however, differed throughout the two periods. While resource rents hindered inclusive growth in both the short and long terms, agriculture was the primary driver of inclusive growth in both. Together with the outcome, financial deepening led to an increase in inclusive growth in both periods; in contrast, credit to the private sector decreased Nigeria's growth's inclusivity, while financial deepening increased it. In conclusion, we discovered that the regressor's influence remains constant over time when fiscal policy assumes the moderating function, suggesting that fiscal policy does not affect reviving the regressor on the dependent variables.
Keywords: Inclusive growth, Human capital development, financial development, Natural resource abundance.