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This research investigated the impact of monetary policy on deposit money banks’ performance in Nigeria: a post covid-19 analysis. The independent variables were monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, credit to private sector and digital banking transactions. The study used a monthly data ranging from January 2021 to December 2024 with net interest margin (NIM) as a measure of banks’ performance (dependent variable). Data were analyzed using Error Correction Model (ECM). The results revealed that monetary policy rate exerted a strong and negative effect on bank performance, credit to the private sector also negatively influenced net interest margin of banks, contrary to theoretical expectations. Interestingly, the cash reserve ratio displayed a positive and significant relationship with bank performance while digital banking transactions, as expected, significantly improved banks’ performance. The study concluded that while conventional monetary policy tools like MPR and CRR exert strong influences on bank performance, the resilience of Nigerian banks in the post-COVID era has increasingly depended on technological innovation and strategic adjustments. It is recommended that the Central Bank of Nigeria should avoid prolonged reliance on high monetary policy rates, make cash reserve ratio to be more flexible to avoid crowding out private sector lending and encourage continued investment in digital banking platforms to enhance banks’ performance in the post-covid-19 period.

Keywords: Banks Performance, Credit to Private Sector, Error Correction Model, Monetary Policy Rate, Net Interest Margin.
JEL Classification Codes: E5, G21.

The study investigates the impact of total natural resources rent (RENT) from soil and subsoil on domestic capital formation, proxied by gross fixed capital formation (GFC), across ten MEDA transitional economies over the period 2000-2019. It focuses primarily on the importance of natural resources for the capital formation and used foreign direct investment inflows (FDI) as a moderator. Fixed-effects models with robust standard errors were estimated for the whole sample and excluding Libya, as a “rentier-state”. The findings show that higher natural resource rents crowds-out domestic capital formation, consistently with the “resource-curse” theory. However, FDI significantly acts as a moderator, mitigating the negative impact of RENT. Furthermore, the analysis controls for urbanization, trade openness, governance climate, and human capital, all of which affect capital formation. Additionally, controlling for FDI and the sectoral value-added, FDI shows negative spillovers, especially when controlling for manufacturing and services. However, the positive interaction between FDI and governance climate contributes to mitigating this negative effect, especially in manufacturing. Meanwhile, the interaction terms between FDI with human capital and internet diffusion – as a proxy for the technological advancement – show negative and positive impacts, respectively. Therefore, when institutional quality is strong, natural resources can be used productively, and FDI can yield benefits and boost capital formation. Finally, empirical results provide policy-relevant insights for policymakers on the RENT-GFC nexus, promoting a higher domestic capital across the MEDA region, needed for the sustainable development of countries.

Keywords: natural resource, capital formation, foreign direct investment, MEDA region.
JEL-codes: F21, F43, O16, O53, Q32.

With an investment gap of $3.7 trillion, according to the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE), US infrastructure is literally begging for help. This situation is so extensive across the US, the richest economy in the world, that the reputable ASCE has assigned. based upon evidence and trends, an unflattering letter grade of C for the nation’s infrastructure. Multiform and vast challenges are omnipresent throughout the entire spectrum of infrastructures nationwide ranging from roads, bridges, dams, electric grids, rail to airports, ports, drinking water delivery systems, transit, broadband, among others. This paper attempts to explore avenues of solutions by looking into the impacts of infrastructure investments upon state and local revenues. Using times series spanning the 2009-2024 period within a vector auto-regression (VAR) framework, the study uncovers that infrastructural investments are strongly revenue-stimulative in the long run. This is an incentive for state and local governments to reassess and reorient policies toward prioritizing such investments. Doing so will durably and effectively address two woes, namely, disintegrating infrastructure and persistent revenue shortfalls, in one stroke.

Keywords: Infrastructure, Investment, Vector auto-regression. Tax revenues.
JEL Classification: H41, H54, E66.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the United States of America (USA)’s economic development since 1971 using both the expenditure and the value-added approaches for GDP measurement. The regression results show that for the expenditure model, personal consumption and total investment made the most contribution to American economic growth; and for the value-added model, labor rate and service industry productivity were the most important factors for American economic prosperity. In contrast, other variables, including the productivities in the other two industries, urbanization rate and labor shares in three sectors did not have any significant effect. Next, our paper focuses on the past and future changes in all economic factors, including economic structure, labor rate, productivity, trade, investment, consumption, and urbanization, to explore how these changes have affected and will impact the US economy. We then compare China with the USA and discuss what China can learn from American experience. There are many similarities and differences between these two countries. The major difference is that the USA achieved industrialization, modernization, and urbanization when it was the largest economy in the world in the 1950s, but China has still been going through these processes and advancements even after it became the second largest economy in 2010. Therefore, China still has a large potential for continuous and sustainable growth. One of the most important lessons from the US experience is that the economic structure change from industry to service-focused may hurt the whole economy.

Keywords: American Economy, China Economy, Productivity, Economic Structure, and Labor Rate.
JEL Codes: O11, O40, O51, O57, N11, P51.