Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone (Thesis Proposal Sample)

A Discussion on the Relationship between Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in
Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone
Name of Student:
Institution:
Relationship between Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in West Africa
CHAPTER ONE
This chapter is aimed to present the introduction of the research. It will address and discuss research background and rationale in relevant issues regards to research topic. The chapter also identified aims and the significant of the study.
1 Introduction
In any household in an economy, whether based on agricultural subsistence production, civil employed or as a businessperson, they all derive their income from work. The intuition that jobs matter for development has not been lost on the governments of low income countries and the vast majority of national development strategies look to employment generation as a major channel for poverty reduction.
The ability of a state to provide citizens with employment opportunities is crucial for reduction of poverty and also raising of standards of living of the community involved. Job creation has remained as a major challenge to most developing countries across the world. This can be attributed to high population growth and low industrialization rate. A stable economic growth greatly underpins a persistent reduction of poverty levels in a country.
This paper aims to bridge some of the gap between an intuitive understanding that employments opportune are crucial for poverty reduction and a lack of empirical studies to demonstrate the nature of this relationship. The main objective study of this research is to provide policy-makers and analysts with the tools by which to understand the interaction between growths, changes in both the number and the quality of jobs, and poverty reduction and to devise appropriate policy responses. The research is mainly based on the following objectives.
1 Research Questions
The main research questions of the study are the following.
* Are there some relationships between economic growth and Poverty in select West African Countries?
* What is the structure and trends of economic growth in select West African countries?
* What is the structure and trends of poverty in select West African countries?
* What is the impact of economic growth on poverty in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone respectively?
1
2 Research Objectives
The overall objective of this study is to establish, estimate and critically analyze the relationship between economic growth and poverty in the three select West African countries of Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The Study’s specific objectives are to:
1 Discover if there is any relationship between economic growth and poverty in select West African Countries.
2 Investigate the structure and trends of economic growth in the select West African countries.
3 Discover the structure and trends of poverty in select the West African countries.
4 Examine the impact of economic growth on poverty in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone respectively.
2
3 Research Hypothesis
The following hypothesis will be tested:
* There is no relationship between economic growth and poverty in any of the select West African countries.
* Economic growth does not have a structure or a trend in any of the select West African countries.
* Poverty does not have a structure or a trend in any of the select West African countries.
* Economic growth has no significant impact on poverty in any of the select West African Countries.
CHAPTER TWO
2 Literature Review
Economic growth is directly proportional to poverty reduction (Antwi, Mill, Mills & Zhao, 2013: Ackah & Aryeetey, 2012; De Almeida & Silva, 2009). This research is based on three major aspects of economic and poverty reduction. Economic growth can be described as the increase in the ability of an economy in the production of goods and services within a specified period of productivity (Acemoglu, 2012). Economic growth can be determined by various micro and macro-economic tools like the rate of inflation, employment and poverty levels among others. In making comparisons in economic growth, emphasis is placed on various economic aspects like GDP and per capita income (Ackah & Aryeetey, 2012). In profiling economic growth in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, there should be an insight into the changes in productivity of goods and services, the changes in employment rates and the dynamics in demographic (Osamwonyi & Kasimu, 2013). An upsurge in productivity and employment rates in these countries is enough evidence of economic growth (Lee & Saez, 2012).
As employment increases, there is a likely-hood that there will be a massive reduction of poverty in the mentioned countries (De Almeida & Silva, 2009). Consequently, increase in productivity will see more products in the market translating to more income for the poverty stricken population thus elevating their status. Diversification of products and broadening of the markets will also ensure that there is no influx of products in the marketing thus maintaining a higher income (Ackah & Aryeetey, 2012).
It is important to highlight the fact that these three factors that contribute to economic growth and ultimately poverty reduction are interrelated and interdependent on one another and as such their occurrence must be coherent. To realize an increase in employment for instance, opportunities must be created. These opportunities can be created by increasing productivity of services and goods since industries across the economy will require additional labour. More employment on the other hand translates back to more and more productivity.
Dwelling on the three factors that help measure economic growth and poverty reduction, there is a clear indication that there are sectors of the economy that play a part in fuelling economic growth. The sectors that are likely to have a direct impact in the region on the economy include education, manufacturing industry, legal sectors, trade and the transport sector (Osamwonyi & Kasimu, 2013).
Quality education breeds a skilled population who create employment for other unskilled personnel; they foster research and devise ideas that hasten economic growth. Agriculture is a major producer which employs many people. Policies that govern trade, labour and agriculture therefore greatly influence economic growth (Jorge & Salazar-Carrillo, 2007).
3 Theoretical Literature
The state of economy in any country determines the political and social well-being of the citizens, and the same can be said in the cases of West African Countries. In this study the three sample countries with varied factors will be used in the study. In order to understand the dynamics and the stages of economic growth in these countries, it is important to look at a number of theories that explain how economies grow (Ackah & Aryeetey, 2012). The theories are discussed below.
1 Adam Smith’s Growth Theory
According to Adam Smith, the growth of an economy is determined by three factors which are land, labour and capital. His production function could thus be summed as Y= (K, L, N) where K is capital, L is Labour force and N for land (Kurz, 2012). According to Adam Smith, labour force is essential in production. In order for the labour force to grow, there had to be a preceding growth in the population. For the population to grow, Smith argues that there has to be funds that can sustain that population. This, therefore, creates an implication that the size of the wage is determines not only the growth of the population but the availability of the labour force. Smith also argues that it is imminent for a country to have accumulated enough capital in order to boost economic growth. Without investment then the growth rate would be stagnant (Ackah & Aryeetey, 2012).
Land is an essential factor of production this is because, agriculture, infrastructure and natural resources are all held within the land (Ayanwale, 2007). Nigeria has been able to utilize oil as a natural resource and it has had a great impact on the economy. It is also a practical aspect that without much input in terms of capital, there is likely to be low returns. It is also a popular trend that the work force will always seek to work in areas where there are high wages and this explains why there is a brain drain in the developing countries (Lee & Saez, 2012). More people are seeking employment in the developed countries as they offer better wages. The overall reason why Sierra Leone exhibits low economic growth is the lack of production. Land which should be used for production is held and not optimized by a few people.
According to smith Land, Capital and Labour are essential major factors of production (Davis, 2005). Scholars have also added that output of these factors keep reducing once additional inputs related to the factors are introduced. He quotes the example of land argues that ultimately, the output of land decreases with time due to overexploitation. Though technology serves to reduce the effect that exploitation has on land, it only serves to delay the decline in its marginal production (Ayanwale, 2007).
Diminishing marginal productivity seems to have been received well as a modification to Smith’s theory. There have been reports of oil well drying up in some parts of Nigeria due to overexploitation thus leading to a decline in the productivity of land as a factor of production (De Almeida & Silva, 2009). Without proper checks, agricultural land also reduces the volumes of production depending on the number of years it has been use (Chimobi, 2014).
2 Determinants of Economic Growth (Classical Theory)
This theory best illustrates the situation in the three nations. I believe the theory is well and fundame...