Good Growth and Governance in Africa: Rethinking Development Strategies
Akbar Noman, Kwesi Botchwey, Howard Stein, and Joseph E. Stiglitz
Abstract
Why has the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa overall been so disappointing over the past fifty years? More importantly, what can be done to sustain and improve upon the accelerated growth experienced in recent years? What are the possibilities and policies for Africa to achieve sustained, rapid economic growth, poverty reduction, and begin to catch up? What are the lessons of success in both Africa and elsewhere? Could some of the policies that proved so successful in East Asia help reverse the de-industrialization of Africa in the past three decades and be the basis of its st ... More
Why has the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa overall been so disappointing over the past fifty years? More importantly, what can be done to sustain and improve upon the accelerated growth experienced in recent years? What are the possibilities and policies for Africa to achieve sustained, rapid economic growth, poverty reduction, and begin to catch up? What are the lessons of success in both Africa and elsewhere? Could some of the policies that proved so successful in East Asia help reverse the de-industrialization of Africa in the past three decades and be the basis of its structural transformation? These were the questions posed to a diverse group of experts on development convened by the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD). This volume reflects the highlights of their deliberations. It broadens the policy debate, expands the policy options and proposes alternative development strategies. This book captures the lively, and sometimes contentious, debate, but in the end, it provides a note of optimism for the future of a subcontinent whose economic experience has been so disappointing. Neither geography nor governance present an insurmountable obstacle in much of Africa, but the dominant governance agenda needs to be radically overhauled. Though success is not assured, there is good reason to believe that policies based on lessons of successes, notably in East Asia, can be adapted successfully in African contexts. And indeed, there are already a few notable successes, and more are in the offing.
Keywords:
growth,
governance,
structural transformation,
development strategy
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199698561 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2012 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199698561.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Akbar Noman, editor
Senior Fellow, Initiative for Policy Dialogue and Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Kwesi Botchwey, editor
Executive Chairman, African Development Policy Ownership Initiative (ADPOI)
Howard Stein, editor
Professor, Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS), University of Michigan
Joseph E. Stiglitz, editor
University Professor, Columbia University
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