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The study has empirically investigated the effect of tax buoyancy on economic growth in Sierra Leone using annual data from 1980 to 2020. Unit root test was conducted, accounting for structural breaks in the data. Different tax buoyancy measures were estimated using total tax revenue, import and private consumption. The ordinary least squares technique was adopted within the framework of the autoregressive distributed lag model. The results indicate that the buoyancy of tax revenue with respect to private consumption, which is the component that measures GST, is considered the highest, compared to the buoyancy of import, which is the component that measures customs and excise duties. Hence, based on the outcome of this revelation, it is recommended that government should focus more attention on increasing the tax base for goods and services tax instead of increasing tax base for customs and excise duties.

Keywords: ARDL, Economic Growth, Private Consumption,Tax Buoyancy

JEL Classification: C52, F43, E21, H21

This study delves into the profound influence of government expenditure on the growth of employment and national income within the context of India. Employing Dynamic Panel Models and meticulously dissecting the data to shed light on this critical economic relationship through the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator, validated through the rigorous Hausman test. The findings of the study unveil a pivotal revelation: an increase in government expenses significantly amplifies both national income and employment opportunities, surpassing the impact of a decrease in government spending and thereby underscoring the paramount role played by the government in fostering economic growth and bolstering employment prospects in the nation. While scrutinizing expenditure allocation, it becomes evident that the Defence services sector commands a relatively substantial share of the budget. However, analysis reveals a lack of causal linkage between this sector and income generation across various sectors. This observation implies that resources allocated to defenserelated activities may not yield proportionate economic productivity. Furthermore, the study highlights a noteworthy concern regarding the Education sector. Despite substantial investments, this sector has failed to generate the expected income. This discrepancy underscores the pressing need for comprehensive measures to transform these expenditures into a catalyst for human capital formation, a fundamental prerequisite for sustained economic development. It is thus recommended to have a prudent and strategic utilization of government resources, accompanied by the implementation  of robust policies and tools. Such measures hold the potential to achieve a more equitable distribution of income and wealth, thereby contributing to the overarching goal of balanced economic growth in India.

Keywords: Economic growth, Fiscal Expansion, Government Spending and Unemployment.

JEL Classification: H 50 E 62.

The recent fluctuations in oil revenue prompted the researcher to analyze the impact of oil revenue fluctuations on economic growth in Nigeria between 1980 and 2022 using annual time series data. The research used the vector error correction model complimented by other econometrics tests such as the unit root test, Johansen cointegration test and the Pairwise granger causality tests. The long run VECM result shows a negative relationship between oil revenue fluctuations and economic growth in Nigeria. Non oil revenue shows a positive relationship with economic growth which indicates non oil revenue as a dominant source of growth in the Nigerian economy. The Pairwise Granger Causality test shows a bidirectional causation running from oil revenue and non oil revenue to GDP and from GDP to these independent variables in Nigeria. Recommendations made include: the government should ensure that revenue from the oil sector is well invested in the key economic sectors to cushion the effect on the economy in any event in the collapse of oil price and revenue and non oil revenue should be harnessed with great virgour to complement oil revenue fluctuations and its attendant consequences on economic growth in Nigeria.

Keywords: Oil Revenue; Fluctuation; Economic Growth and the VECM.

In this study, we highlight the importance of labor force and labor productivity as two key determinants of nations’ sovereign risks, and in particular for emerging markets. These vibrant macroeconomic factors have received little attention in the literature of sovereign risk. To remedy that, we (1) formalize an intuitive approach for measuring creditworthiness of countries based on the progression of maximum borrowing capacity with several explanatory variables, among them labor force and labor productivity, (2) track the advancement of sovereign debt, and (3) envisage the intersection point of the two pathways as an incident of sovereign default. We motivate our endeavor, provide an extensive review of the relevant literature, develop and justify our sovereign risk universal framework, illustrate our scheme with a contemporary case of sovereign default in Greece, conclude, and suggest further avenues of exploration.

Keywords: Sovereign Risk; Labor Force; Labor Productivity; Borrowing Capacity; Emerging Markets; Sovereign Debt.

JEL Classifications: E24, J21, H63, O50

Derivative financial instruments (DFIs) attract individuals and organizations to participate in the derivative market instead of underlying cash market for hedging risk or for speculative trading. Use of derivative instruments is ever increasing across the globe where India is also not lagging behind. But the recognition, measurement and disclosure of those derivative transactions have remained dissipated neglected for a long period of time. Offbalance sheet risk and diverse accounting treatment of similar derivative transactions invite the need for accounting and financial reporting standard for DFIs. Research on derivatives instruments has predominately been based on western developed economies where a dearth of studies has been done on reporting and disclosing of derivatives instruments from developing economies. This study attempts to examine whether IFRS (Ind AS) is capable enough to improve the quality of accounting for DFIs in India. To achieve this purpose, the research has been carried out on the basis of secondary data. The findings of the study reveal that the implementation of IFRS is good enough to improve the overall quality of information in terms of recognition, measurement, transparency and disclosure of DFIs for the developing countries like India.

Keywords: Derivative financial instruments, risk, disclosure, transparency, accounting.