First an april 2015 world bank report on attainment

First, an April 2015 World Bank report on attainment of the Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) extreme poverty target has revealed that extreme poverty has been decreasing in all
regions of the world, with the exception of Africa, where 45% of countries in SSA are
substantially off-track from achieving the MDG extreme poverty target (World Bank, 2015). As
documented in recent literature (Efobi et al., 2018; Asongu & Kodila-Tedika, 2018; Tchamyou,
2019a, 2019b; Tchamyou et al ., 2019; Asongu & le Roux, 2017, 2019), whereas extreme poverty
has been declining in all regions of the world, it has unfortunately been increasing in SSA. This
is despite over two decades of growth resurgence that began in the mid 1990s.
Second, building on the increasing poverty levels in SSA, Asongu and Nwachukwu
(2016a) has presented a critique of Piketty’s (2013) ‘capital in the 21
st
century’. Building on: (i)
responses from Kenneth Rogoff and Joseph Stiglitz; (ii) post Washington Consensus paradigms
and (iii) underpinnings from Boyce-Fofack-Ndikumana and Solow-Swan, Asongu and
Nwachukwu (2016a) conclude that extreme poverty in SSA would increase as long as the return
on political economy (or illicit capital flight) is higher than the growth rate in the sub-region.
Third, a recent stream of literature is building on theoretical underpinnings of
neoclassical growth models to propose the need for common policies based on negative
macroeconomic and institutional signals. In essence, whereas the theoretical underpinnings of
income convergence have exclusively been limited to catch-up in positive signals, a new stream
of literature is evolving on catch-up in negative signals. According to this stream, it is more
relevant to initiate common policies based on negative signals because these are policy
syndromes by conception and definition. The three studies in this stream of literature are to the
best of our knowledge: (i) Asongu (2013a) on harmonizing policies against software piracy; (ii)

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Asongu and Nwachukwu (2016b) who have predicted the 2011 Spring using negative signals in
institutional and macroeconomic variables and (iii) Asongu (2014a) on benchmarking policy
harmonization against capital flight in SSA.
Fourth, Asongu (2014a) has used two fundamental characteristics to project horizons for
common policies against capital flight in SSA. We extend the underlying study by accounting for
income levels, legal origins, regional proximity and religious domination. In essence, accounting
for more fundamental characteristics of the sub- region’s development is essential in order to
avail room for robustness and more policy implications. Accordingly, upholding blanket policies
in the battle against capital fight may not be effective unless they are contingent on fundamental
characteristics and prevailing trajectories of capital flight in SSA. Hence, policy makers are most
likely to ask the following three questions before considering the harmonization of policies on
capital flight. (1) Is capital flight converging within SSA? (2) If so, what is the degree and timing
of the convergence process? (3) For which relevant fundamental characteristics of capital flight