Adolescent childbearing is a crucial problem challenging policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries. The objective of this study is to show how teenage pregnancy and motherhood is related to social determinants like place of residence, education level and wealth quintiles, and consequently to suggest pragmatic actions susceptible to control the burden of teenage pregnancy. Disaggregated data were analyzed using data covering the decade 2012–2022 and provided by Demographic Health Surveys. In each country considered, the index of dissimilarity (ID) was computed to illustrate the variation of teenage pregnancy and motherhood according to the level of education, the rural-urban residence and the income quintiles. Recent statistics were also used for a comparison between countries. This study showed that childbearing affected 22.7% of African adolescents (15–19 years). However, the rate of adolescent childbearing varied from 40.4% in Nigeria to 5.2% in Ruanda. Moreover, huge differences were found in each country. Teenage girls living in rural areas, illiterate or with low level of education and suffering from poverty are more likely to be early married and to be exposed to pregnancy. The rate of adolescent childbearing is higher in Sub-Saharan African countries compared with countries from Latin America and World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the 31 countries considered in this study suffer from high rate of adolescent childbearing and large iniquities by place of residence and/or education level and/or wealth quintiles. Consequently, policymakers should adopt urgent and efficient strategies to reduce (and ideally to end) early marriage and teenage pregnancy by developing a policy that targets disadvantaged girls living in remote areas, having low or no decent income and suffering from illiteracy or low level of education.

This paper investigates the elements affecting dividend yield in developing Southeast Asian countries—more specifically, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Examined here are the roles of financial information including debt to equity ratio, free cashflows, property, plant, and equipment (PPE) and total sales with controlling factors of size, institutional ownership, and firm age using both short-run and long-run analytical frameworks including the Error Correction Model and Engle and Granger’s approach. The results reveal different trends in the three nations. Higher debt and free cashflows lower dividend yield in Thailand; institutional shareholders benefit from maintaining greater dividend payouts. Aging companies in Malaysia are more likely to pay more dividends while rising revenues are linked to smaller short-term payouts. Leveraged and asset-heavy companies are more likely to keep paying dividends in Singapore. These discoveries have important ramifications for investors and business management trying to maximize dividend policies and improve shareholder value in developing economies.

The objective is to determine the impact of economic growth on the externalities of infrastructure investments for the Peruvian case for the periods from 2000 to 2022. The methodologies used are descriptive, explanatory and correlational, analyzing qualitative and mainly quantitative methods. Econometric software was used, and correlations of variables were created for each proposed hypothesis. The estimated model shows that all the independent variables have a significant t-statistic greater than 2 and a probability of less than 5%, which indicates that they are significant and explains the model. The R² is 98.02% which indicates that there is a high level of explanation by the independent variables to the LOG(RGDP). The results of the estimated models demonstrate the existence of a positive and significant relationship of investments in infrastructure and externalities on the growth of the non-deterministic component of real GDP, therefore, in a practical way, private and public investment has a positive effect on the non-deterministic growth of real GDP.

In Ghana, youth unemployment remains significant challenges, with technical and vocational education and training (TVET) emerging as a potential solution to equip young people with practical skills for the job market. However, the uptake of TVET programmes among Ghanaian youth remains low, particularly among females. This study therefore explores the determinants that influence TVET choices among Ghanaian youth, with the goal of informing policy development to enhance participation in vocational education. Applying an enhanced multinomial logistic regression (MLR) model, this research examines the influence of socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal factors on career decisions. The enhanced model accounts for class imbalances in the dataset and improves classification accuracy, making it a robust tool for understanding the drivers behind TVET choices. A sample of 1600 Ghanaian youth engaged in vocational careers was used, ensuring diverse representation of the population. Key findings reveal that males are approximately three times more likely to choose TVET programs than females, despite females making up 50.13% of Ghana’s population. Specific determinants influencing TVET choices include financial constraints, parental influence, peer influence, teacher influence, self-motivation, and vocational limitations. In regions with limited vocational options, youth often pursue careers based on availability rather than preference, which highlights a gap in vocational opportunities. Parental and teacher influences were found to play a dominant role in steering youth towards specific careers. The study concludes with recommendations for policymakers, instructors, and stakeholders to increase the accessibility, relevance, and quality of TVET programmes to meet the socio-economic needs of Ghanaian youth.

Cassava’s adaptability to different agroecological conditions, high yield, as well as its ability to thrive under harsh climatic conditions, makes it an essential food security crop. In South Africa, the cassava value chain is currently uncoordinated and underdeveloped, with a couple of smallholder farmers growing the crop for household consumption and as a source of income. Other farmers regard it as a secondary crop and hardly any producers grow it for industrial purposes. Hence, this study sought to analyze the determinants of household participation in the cassava value chain in South Africa. The study employed the multivariate probit model to analyze the determinants of household participation in the cassava value chain in South Africa, using a primary dataset collected through a simple sample method from smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo provinces. Results show that livestock ownership has a positive and significant effect on the likelihood of farmers participating in the value chain by growing cassava for household food consumption. Also, findings reveal that hiring labour in cassava production and an increase in the yield during the previous season increases the probability of farmers’ interest in selling cassava tubers along the value chain. Hence, the positive and statistically significant influence of hiring labour during cassava production in driving the farmers’ interest in selling cassava tubers and cuttings implies that the development of the cassava value chain presents great opportunities for creating jobs (employment) in the country. Also, policy interventions that ensure land tenure security and empower farmers to increase their cassava yields are bound to encourage further participation in the value chain with an interest in selling fresh tubers, among other derived products to generate income. Lastly, programmes that empower and encourage youth participation in the cassava value chain can increase the number of farmers interested in selling cassava products.