International records / OpenAlex research

Can Fiscal Deficit Reduce Unemployment? Empirical Insights from West African Economies

Achieving full employment remains a fundamental challenge in West Africa, intensified partly by persistent fiscal imbalances. This study examined the impact of fiscal deficit on unemployment in eight selected West African countries (Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau) from 1991 to 2022. To account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity, the study employs the panel autoregressive distributed lag pool mean group (ARDL-PMG) technique. The empirical results reveal that inflation exerts a positive impact on unemployment in bo…