PROPOSED RESEARCH TOPICS

Topic 1: Gender Gap and Economic Growth

Rationale:
The disparity between male and female in every sphere of economic activities
and the fact that the former is favored when salient economic opportunities are
being considered are indications of gender disequilibrium which is evident in
both rich and poor nations. To this end, World Economic Forum introduced
Global Gender Gap Index in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude of
gender-based disparities and tracking their progress.
Various studies have revealed interconnections between gender gap and national
economic prosperity, although some findings are disputed thereby making the
gender balancing phenomenon a continuous process. As expected, research
outputs on the subject are usually disputed based on the findings which by
default throw up socioeconomic issues, however, there is no contention that
closing gender gaps must be premised on robust findings which empirical
research offers.
In the context of Nigeria, our study could address the following:

Gender inequality in education by tracking the boys/girls enrolment ratio

from the primary to tertiary education level.

Are there courses/professions with gender-biased tendencies?
Formal employment (private and public sectors) gender disequilibrium
Linkage between gender inequality in education and gender inequality in

employment
Effects of employment gender disparity on average labor force
productivity and investment.

NB. The focus areas/scenarios are neither closed ended nor exhaustive as more
could be added.

Topic 2: Rural Women Empowerment and Economic Development

Rationale
Income difference between male and female across sectors, industries and
nations is receiving attentions in economic space. Gender income difference
appears wider in the rural settlements where women are economically
incapacitated due to the lack of access to viable economic activities. It is an
important problem that deserves in depth study due to the population of people
involved. On the aggregate, men receive higher income than women with a
number of factors highlighted as contributors. The consequences of gender
income gap do not stop with the women directly involved but have far reaching
penalties on the children and future generation. Some studies have found
evidence that women tend to spend greater proportion of their income on the
household without gender biased for the children.
Topic 2: Governance: Implication on Output and Economic Growth
Rationale
There is a connection between economic development and effective leadership.
The likes of late Lee Kuan Yew who championed the reforms of a poor port from
the bottom rungs of the third world to become a globally competitive economy in
a single generation has proven to all that visionary leadership is an inalienable
ingredient that could determine the pace of development of any nation. Through
governance, leaders run private organisation and state owned parastatals.
Research and findings on governance is inexhaustible since all macroeconomic
activities feed into governance and as such affected by government practices and
the way governments manage economic activities directly and indirectly.
Over the years, international organisations like the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the United Nations, and the World Bank have argued that good
governance is a means to an ends like economic growth and human
development. Similarly, scholars and researchers have established strong
relationship between economic growth and governance. However, the
determination of causality between economic growth and governance remains
highly debatable among scholars.

Governance as a global concept refers to "all processes of governing, whether

undertaken by a government, market or network, whether over a family, tribe,
formal or informal organization or territory and whether through laws, norms,
power or language." Hence, it influences both macroeconomic as well as
macroeconomic activities.
Objectives
With this study, we can in Nigeria context:
o Established connection between governance and productivity/output
expansion
o Measure the impact of governance on economic growth
Research methodology: a blend of primary and secondary data. The World Bank
annual Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and other macroeconomic
indicators will serve as secondary data. This will be complemented by using
questionnaire to source information from our sample.