Linkages between investment flows and financial development: Causality evidence from selected African countries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce previously missing financial components (efficiency, activity and size) in the assessment of the finance-investment nexus. First, contrary to the mainstream approach we use four measures of financial intermediary development (depth, efficiency, activity and size) as well as four types of investment flows (domestic, foreign, portfolio and total). Second, the chosen investment and financial indicators are derived upon preliminary robust correlation analyses from the broadest macroeconomic data set available on investment and financial intermediary flows