Dr. Charles Ackah

KCG External Research Fellow
Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research
University of Ghana
Email: cackah@ug.edu.gh

Research Interests:

  • Impacts of International Trade and Globalization
  • Gender and Enterprise Development
  • Household and Firm Dynamics

Special economic zone dynamics and firm performance: Evidence from an emerging economy

17th September 2025
KCG Secretary
Authors: Charles Godfred Ackah, Robert Darko Osei, Baah Aye Kusi (Management and Decision Economics 2025, 45(6): 3834–3851)

The empirical literature on Special economic zones (SEZs) has shown that SEZs have become critical policy tools for advancing economic and firm performance, especially in developing economies where financial capital, human capital, technology and technical know-how to drive these performances are in limited supply. While the importance and effects of SEZs cannot be overemphasised and are well documented, particularly in Asia, SEZs' operationalisation, structure and policy practice appear to vary, especially in Ghana and hence a need to examine SEZ effects on firm performance in Ghana.

KCG Working Paper No. 25: Special Economic Zones and Household Welfare: New Evidence from Ghana

5th June 2023
KCG Secretary
Authors: Charles G. Ackah, Robert D. Osei, Nana Y.A. Owusu and Vera Acheampong

The study evaluates the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on household welfare (per capita consumption expenditure (PCE) and poverty status) in Ghana using the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey Dataset. SEZs spillover effect on household welfare within a binary treatment condition may lead to finding inadequacy for policy[...]

Africa’s Female Entrepreneurs – Underfunded or Underperforming?

23rd May 2023
KCG Secretary
Authors: Charles Ackah, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley and Cecília Hornok (Small Business Economics, 2024, 62:1051–1074)

We explore the export performance of Africa’s underperforming female entrepreneurs, using the Ghanaian ISSER-IGC panel, a comprehensive dataset of manufacturing firms for 2011–2015. Uniquely, the data provides information about the severity of key business constraints, across both male and female entrepreneurs[...]