Is knowledge diffusion pro-poor growth in sub-Saharan Africa?

Promoting pro-poor growth is essential to achieve sustainable development. Knowledge creation and use is a crucial tool for inequality and poverty reduction and economic growth promotion. This paper investigates the effect of knowledge diffusion on pro-poor growth in 29 Sub-Saharan Africa from 2004 to 2019. To this end, Feasible generalized Least Squares, Panel Standard corrected Errors, Fixed Effects with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) and Quantile regression are used to account for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, cross-section dependency and distributional heterogeneity. The empirical analysis shows that knowledge diffusion captures by education, internet use, mobile subscription and innovation promote pro-poor growth. Moreover, the effect of knowledge is negative but heterogeneous across the conditional distribution of pro-poor growth. Policymakers should invest in human development, telecommunication infrastructures and promote research and development to accelerate pro-poor growth in sub-Saharan Africa. However, addressing barriers to effective knowledge dissemination is essential to ensure that the benefits reach marginalized communities. Targeted policies and initiatives can help maximize the positive impact of knowledge diffusion on pro-poor growth in SSA.