PONE-D-23-18802Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa: Do Governance Indicators Matter?PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Ayana,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Syed Ali Raza

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Considering the reviewers' feedback, I propose that this manuscript should undergo a major revision.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The abstract is well-structured and organized in a comprehensive manner.

While the introduction mentions the need for further study on the relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, it doesn't clearly highlight the specific research gap that the study aims to address. The introduction should provide a more focused and concise statement of the problem.

The introduction briefly mentions that the study employs the system GMM estimation method but does not provide a clear rationale for choosing this approach over alternative methods. It must be explained that why the chosen method is appropriate for investigating the research questions and how it addresses the limitations of previous studies.

The review does not explicitly mention the theoretical frameworks or concepts that underpin the studies reviewed. Including a theoretical foundation is important as it would support the framework for understanding the relationships between fiscal policy, governance, and economic growth.

The review focuses primarily on the impact of government expenditure on economic growth, with less emphasis on other aspects of fiscal policy or governance indicators. Provide a more balanced coverage of different dimensions of fiscal policy and governance to enrich the analysis.

Also this section could benefit from the inclusion of additional significant literary articles that could contribute further insights. Furthermore, there is a noticeable scarcity of cited literature pertaining this topic. Consequently, I recommend the incorporation of the following articles, as they align with the aim and objective of the current topic. It is important to cite these articles in your study for enhanced relevance and coverage:

https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150919833484

https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-01-2021-0003

https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150919846800

https://doi.org/10.1177/09721509221104849

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2023.05.007

The significant to add Discussion section separately. Further, it is essential to engage in a comprehensive discussion of the findings. Merely interpreting the results is insufficient; authors should delve into the strategies, implications, and rationale underlying the derived outcomes.

To summarize, the conclusion of a study should be divided into three paragraphs: Conclusion, Practical Implications, and Limitations. The first paragraph should summarize the main points of the study, including its objectives, methodology, results, and overall interpretation of findings. The second paragraph should discuss the practical implications of the study and identify key beneficiaries such as policymakers, portfolio managers, the real estate industry, and others. It should also provide strategies for how these beneficiaries can apply the study's findings. The final paragraph should address the limitations of the study and offer suggestions for future researchers. The author should highlight potential areas of exploration that were not covered in the current study but could be explored by future scholars working on a similar topic.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript looks sound methodologically. However, there are few theoretical and conceptual issues.

1. Taking only public expenditure as the proxy of fiscal policy and not taking taxation is unfair. You need to check for the role taxation in economic growth.

2. Relating Governance indicators is a good idea. But institutional framework and institutional quality also plays important role in determine economic growth in many economies. Hence look into this aspect as well.

3. The review of literature is incomplete without a section of review of all the variables in the model you study i.e. relationship between fiscal policy, governance and economic growth together.

4. Substantiate why you have used system GMM. why not PARDL? or CS-ARDL or any other panel cointegration techniques.

5. Use of second generation UNIT ROOT tests are always advisable.

6. Robustness tests are missing from the study.

7. Analysis and policy implications are very weak.

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6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Review Report-PONE-D-23-18802.docx

PONE-D-23-18802R1Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa: Do Governance Indicators Matter?PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Ayana,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 20 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Syed Ali Raza

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments:

Considering the reviewers' feedback, I propose that this manuscript should undergo a minor revision.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The author(s) should provide context and comprehensive background information to explain the study’s significance. Also, specify the scope of the study in terms of countries or regions covered and avoid unnecessary repetition of ideas.

In Presentation and discussion of the results (section 6), the results are just statistically interpreted. The author(s) need to illustrate, explain and justify the observed results by discussing the mechanism due which such impact is observed as well as support those results with past studies (the literature covered in Literature review section).

Discussion should be the end section but before Conclusion it should be placed. After applying all test like unit root, robustness checks and other, Discussion is added.

The sequence of the study is very confusing, author(s) are requested to follow the standard headings of the manuscript. Such as:

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Literature review

Literature review can be divided into subheadings

Chapter 3 Methodology and Data

Chapter 4 Data Analysis

Discussion is part of Chapter 4

Chapter 5 Conclusion

The subheadings of this section are 5.1. Managerial Implications; 5.2. Future Recommendations

Reviewer #2: The manuscript described a technically sound scientific research piece with data supporting the conclusions. Experiments have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls and sample sizes. The conclusions have been drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Review Report-PONE-D-23-18802R1.docx

Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa: Do Governance Indicators Matter?

PONE-D-23-18802R2

Dear Dr. Ayana,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Syed Ali Raza

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Considering the reviewers' feedback, I recommend accepting this manuscript.

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors have implemented the necessary revisions and responded aptly to the inquiries regarding the study, showcasing their dedication and determination to enhance the research's quality.

Reviewer #2: The study presents the results of original research.

Results reported have not been published elsewhere.

Experiments, statistics, and other analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in sufficient detail.

Conclusions are presented in an appropriate fashion and are supported by the data.

The article is presented in an intelligible fashion and is written in standard English.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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