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Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?

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Author Info
Paul Collier
Jan Willem Gunning

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Abstract

We distinguish between policy and "destiny" explanations of Africa's slow growth during the past three decades. Policies were poor: high export taxation and inefficient public service delivery, and "destiny" was adverse: landlocked, tropical locations, and terms of trade deterioration. During the 1990s, Africa's economic policies improved, although with considerable variation both between countries and between policies: trade and exchange rate policies improved much more than service delivery. Thus, the differing explanations of past slow growth imply different predictions for growth in the coming decade. We argue that poor public economic services are likely to be the binding constraint.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Volume (Year): 13 (1999)
Issue (Month): 3 (Summer)
Pages: 3-22
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Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:13:y:1999:i:3:p:3-22

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  3. Paul Collier & Jan Willem Gunning, 1999. "Explaining African Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 64-111, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Mauro, Paolo, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Schuknecht, Ludger, 1999. "Tying Governments' Hands in Commodity Taxation," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 152-81, July.
  7. Dercon, Stefan, 1993. "Peasant Supply Response and Macroeconomic Policies: Cotton in Tanzania," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 157-94, October.
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    Other versions:
  9. Deaton, Angus & Miller, Ron, 1996. "International Commodity Prices, Macroeconomic Performance and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 99-191, October.
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  10. McCallum, John, 1995. "National Borders Matter: Canada-U.S. Regional Trade Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 615-23, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Burnside, Craig & Dollar, David, 1997. "Aid, policies, and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1777, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Sachs, Jeffrey D & Warner, Andrew M, 1997. "Sources of Slow Growth in African Economies," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 335-76, October.
  13. Marcel Fafchamps Jan Willem Gunning & Remco Oostendorp, . "Inventories, Liquidity, and Contractual Risk in African Manufacturing," Working Papers 97020, Stanford University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Stan du Plessis & Ronelle Burger, 2006. "Examining the Robustness of Competing Explanations of Slow Growth in African Countries," Working Papers 03/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Timothy J. Hatton & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2001. "Demographic and Economic Pressure on Emigration Out of Africa," NBER Working Papers 8124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Elsa V. Artadi & Xavier Sala-i-Martín, 2003. "The Economic Tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa," Economics Working Papers 684, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. M. Haynes & R. Husan, 2002. "'Somewhere Over the Rainbow': The Post-Soviet Transition, the Market and the Mythical Process of Convergence," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 381-398, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Chantal Dupasquier & Patrick N. Osakwe, 2006. "Trade Regimes, Liberalization and Macroeconomic Instability in Africa," SCAPE Policy Research Working Paper Series 0604, National University of Singapore, Department of Economics, SCAPE. [Downloadable!]
  6. Léonce Ndikumana, 2001. "Financial Markets and Economic Development in Africa," Working Papers wp17, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  7. Bolt, Jutta & Bezemer, Dirk, 2008. "Understanding Long-Run African Growth: Colonial Institutions or Colonial Education? Evidence from a New Data Set," MPRA Paper 7029, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  8. V. Heinrich Amavilah, 2003. "Meditating on "Slow Growth in Africa" - New Evidence or Just Ol' Stuff?," Development and Comp Systems 0307003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  9. Maswana, Jean-Claude, 2006. "Economic Development Patterns and Outcomes in Africa and Asia," MPRA Paper 5551, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Sebastian Edwards & Eduardo Levy Yeyati, 2004. "Flexible Exchange Rates as Shock Absorbers," Business School Working Papers exchangerates, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. A. Dalmazzo & Guido De Blasio, 2001. "Resources and Incentives to Reform: A Model and Some Evidence on Sub-Saharan African Countries," IMF Working Papers 01/86, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  12. Mattoo, Aaditya & Rathindran, Randeep & Subramanian, Arvind, 2001. "Measuring services trade liberalization and its impact on economic growth : an illustration," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2655, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  13. Hendrik Dalen & George Groenewold & Jeannette Schoorl, 2005. "Out of Africa: what drives the pressure to emigrate?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 741-778, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Zheng, Jinghai & Bigsten, Arne & Hu, Angang, 2006. "Can China’s Growth be Sustained? A Productivity Perspective," Working Papers in Economics 236, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  15. Wilson Perez, 2003. "Divide and Conquer: Noisy Communication in Networks, Power and Wealth Distribution," Grand Coalition 17, Grand Coalition Web Site. [Downloadable!]
  16. Manuel Couret Branco, 2008. "Underdevelopment and Democratization in Africa," CEFAGE-UE Working Papers 2008_06, University of Évora, CEFAGE-UE (Portugal). [Downloadable!]
  17. Adam McCarty, 2001. "Globalisation and Human Development," International Trade 0110001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  18. Thomson Fontaine & Jean-Claude Nachega, 2006. "Economic Growth and Total Factor Productivity in Niger," IMF Working Papers 06/208, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  19. Barrios, Salvador & Ouattara, Bazoumanna & Strobl, Eric, 2004. "The Impact of Climatic Change on Agricultural Production: Is it different for Africa?," MPRA Paper 6240, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  20. John Whalley & J. Clark Leith, 2003. "Competitive Liberalization and a US-SACU FTA," NBER Working Papers 10168, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Wilson Perez, 2004. "Divide and Conquer: Noisy Communication in Networks, Power, and Wealth Distribution," Working Papers 2004.33, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. [Downloadable!]
  22. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2006. "Intensity of technology use and per capita real GDP across some African countries," MPRA Paper 1675, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  23. Jane S. Shaw, 2004. "Overlooking the Obvious in Africa," Econ Journal Watch, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, vol. 1(1), pages 1-10, April. [Downloadable!]
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