Infrastructure-Growth Link and the Threshold Effects of Sub-Indices of Institutions

Purpose: This study extends previous empirical work on the threshold effects of institutions on the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. It does so by using three sub-indices of institutions as the threshold variable in place of aggregate index. This is with a view to determining the roles of the sub-indices in the nexus between infrastructure and economic growth. Research design, data and methodology: The analysis is based on a dynamic panel threshold regression model using a panel data set comprising 41 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa over the sample period of 1996-2015. Data are obtained from Ogbaro (2019). Results: The study finds that infrastructure exerts significant positive effects on economic growth below and above the threshold values of the three sub-indices, with higher effects above the threshold values. Results also show that on average, the Sub-Saharan African countries are not able to satisfy any of the threshold conditions, which accounts for their poor growth experience. Conclusion: The study concludes that countries with weak institutions do not benefit maximally from infrastructure development policies. The paper, therefore, recommends that countries in SubSaharan Africa need to focus on improving their institutional patterns if they are to reap the optimum benefits from their infrastructure development efforts.