Working papers
Working papers
Competition Pressure and Firms Innovation: A Global Evidence
The relationship between competition and firm innovation has long been debated, yet no clear empirical consensus has emerged. This study focuses on underrepresented economies and provides new globally identified causal evidence on how industry competition shapes firms’ innovation and employment decisions. The study constructs a novel global panel of firm-level data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys across 67 countries, offering the first uniform framework for cross-country analysis. Using this dataset, the analysis exploits foreign-induced competition shocks from trade imports as an instrument to test whether the impact of competition is universal or development-specific. The results reveal two main findings. First, firms generally reduce innovation and employment when facing strong industry competition, suggesting that intense competition discourages innovative activity. Second, these effects are present in both transitional and developing economies but are more pronounced in the latter. Mechanism analysis highlights reduced sales, financial constraints, and exposure to informal competitors as key channels. Overall, the findings indicate that the Schumpeterian prediction that intense competition discourages innovation holds globally rather than being development-specific.
The Causal Effect of Educational Policy on Child Labour in Ghana: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (With Prince Boakye Frimpong and Eric Fosu Oteng-Abayie)
The paper explores the potential effect of Ghana's Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) on child labour. Using data from the Ghana Child Labour Survey and the Ghana Living Standard Survey, we employed the Fuzzy regression discontinuity design for the analysis. Overall, we identified a significant reduction in the likelihood of children engaging in child labour and a decrease in hours worked in the last 7 days due to FCUBE. Similar findings were observed for younger children, while older children experienced a reduction in child labour participation both in the last 7 days and over 12 months. Notably, the FCUBE appears to have a greater impact in reducing child labour on older children compared to younger children. The paper also highlights a decrease in child labour in the agriculture sector due to the FCUBE. These findings demonstrate the positive impact of FCUBE in reducing child labour in Ghana.
Publications
Dramani J. B., Duodu E., Tetteh B., Ntsiful E., & Frimpong P. B.
Trade Policy Uncertainty, Trade, and Economic Growth in Africa: What Can the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Offer?
The International Trade Journal, 39(6), 596–621.
Duodu E., Kwarteng E., & Ogajah Tawiah T.
Trade, institutional quality and economic growth in Africa: Does China and United States trade matter?
The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 34(1), 2–33.
Mpuure D. M. N., Duodu E., Abille A. B., & Ayamga E. A.
The environmental impact of international trade in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the role of policy and institutions for environmental sustainability.
Research in Globalization, 100240.
Oteng-Abayie E. F., Asaki F. A., Duodu E., Mahawiya S., & Gyamfi B. A.
Decomposition analysis of electricity generation on carbon dioxide emissions in Ghana.
Heliyon, 10(7), e28212.
Oteng-Abayie E. F., Duodu E., Oduro S., & Tawiah Baidoo S.
Greening the future: Unveiling the link between industrial structure upgrading and pollution emission in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cogent Economics & Finance, 11(2), 2257069.
Valogo M. K., Duodu E., Yusif H., & Baidoo S. T.
Effect of exchange rate on inflation in the inflation targeting framework: Is the threshold level relevant?
Research in Globalization, 6, 100119.
Oteng-Abayie E. F., Mensah G., & Duodu E.
The role of environmental regulatory quality in the relationship between natural resources and environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa.
Heliyon, 8(12), e12436.
Oteng-Abayie E. F., Duodu E., Mensah G., & Frimpong P. B.
Natural resource abundance, environmental sustainability, and policies and institutions for environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa.
Resources Policy, 79, 103097.
Sandow J. N., Oteng-Abayie E. F., & Duodu E.
External debt and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: does heterogeneity in the quality of public sector management make a difference?
Heliyon, 8(9), e10627.
Duodu E., Oteng-Abayie E. F., Frimpong P. B., & Takyi P. O.
The impact of the Compact with Africa initiative on foreign direct investments and environmental pollution.
Management of Environmental Quality, 33(6), 1457–1475.
Duodu E., Baidoo S. T., Yusif H., & Frimpong P. B.
Money supply, budget deficit and inflation dynamics in Ghana: An empirical investigation.
Cogent Business & Management, 9(1), 2043810.
Duodu E., & Baidoo S. T.
The Impact of Capital Inflows on Economic Growth of Ghana: Does Quality of Institutions Matter?
Journal of Public Affairs, 22(1), e2384.
Duodu E., Kwarteng E., Oteng-Abayie E. F., & Frimpong P. B.
Foreign direct investments and environmental quality in sub-Saharan Africa: the merits of policy and institutions for environmental sustainability.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(46), 66101–66120.
Nsanyan Sandow J., Duodu E., & Oteng-Abayie E. F.
Regulatory capital requirements and bank performance in Ghana: evidence from panel corrected standard error.
Cogent Economics & Finance, 9(1), 2003503.
Baidoo S. T., Duodu E., Kwarteng E., Boatemaa G., et al.
Does Government Debt promote Economic Growth? New Empirical Evidence from Ghana.
International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 7(2), 192–216.
Duodu E., & Baidoo S. T.
How Does Quality of Institutions Affect the Impact of Trade Openness on Economic Growth of Ghana?
Cogent Economics & Finance, 8(1), 1812258.
Research Projects / Research Assistantships
October 2023 – September 2027
Project: Electrical Infrastructure and Structural Transformation
Role: Research Assistant
Funding: Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society (GV)
Reference: I-PI 76-23 / CIGRIS/2022/134
2020 – 2024
Project: Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – the Green Project
Role: Research Assistant
Funding: European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), SNV
January – February 2021
Project: Financial Challenges of Lower-Middle Income Countries (LMICs): A case study of Ghana
Role: Research Assistant-Country Consultant (Economic Governance and Public Finance Sections of MGD)
Funding: Economic Commission for Africa (RB:10UNA/17210/IO-11605201/A20)
October 2020 – March 2021
Project: Social Audit on Ghana’s COVID-19 Alleviation Programme (CAP)
Role: Research Assistant
Funding: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
September – December 2020
Project: Pathways to Investment: Assessment of Investment Potential in Ghana (G20 Compact with Africa Reforms Project)
Role: Research Assistant
Funding: GIZ / ACET-Ghana
Work in Progress
Global Spillovers of China Trade Policy Uncertainty: Evidence from Firms in Emerging and Developing Economies