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Greening Africa? Technologies, endowments and the latecomer effect

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  • Paul Collier
  • Anthony Venables

Abstract

Africa is well endowed with potential for hydro and solar power, but its other endowments – shortages of capital, skills, and governance capacity – make most of the green options relatively expensive, while its abundance of hydro-carbons makes fossil fuels relatively cheap. Current power shortages make expansion of power capacity a priority. Africa’s endowments, and the consequent scarcities and relative prices, are not immutable and can be changed to bring opportunity costs in Africa closer to those in the rest of the world. The international community can support by increasing Africa’s supply of the scarce factors of capital, skills, and governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Collier & Anthony Venables, 2012. "Greening Africa? Technologies, endowments and the latecomer effect," OxCarre Working Papers 089, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
  • Handle: RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:089
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pedersen, Rasmus Hundsbæk & Andersen, Ole Winckler, 2023. "A contested agenda: Energy transitions in lower-income African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Leimbach, Marian & Roming, Niklas & Schultes, Anselm & Schwerhoff, Gregor, 2018. "Long-Term Development Perspectives of Sub-Saharan Africa under Climate Policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 148-159.
    3. Gouranga G. Das, 2013. "“Moving” land across borders: spatial shifts in land demand and immiserizing effects," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 46-67, March.
    4. Kileber, Solange & Parente, Virginia, 2015. "Diversifying the Brazilian electricity mix: Income level, the endowment effect, and governance capacity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1180-1189.
    5. Schwerhoff, Gregor & Sy, Mouhamadou, 2017. "Financing renewable energy in Africa – Key challenge of the sustainable development goals," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 393-401.
    6. Ondraczek, Janosch, 2014. "Are we there yet? Improving solar PV economics and power planning in developing countries: The case of Kenya," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 604-615.
    7. Dumisani Chirambo, 2014. "The Climate Finance and Energy Investment Dilemma in Africa," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 30(4), pages 415-440, December.
    8. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    9. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Youssouf Kiendrebeogo & Daniel Lederman, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, April 2018," World Bank Publications - Reports 29649, The World Bank Group.
    10. Marian Leimbach & Niklas Roming & Gregor Schwerhoff & Anselm Schultes, 2016. "Development perspectives of Sub-Saharan Africa under climate policies," EcoMod2016 9336, EcoMod.
    11. Paul Munro & Greg van der Horst & Simon Willans & Preston Kemeny & Ame Christiansen & Nicole Schiavone, 2016. "Social enterprise development and renewable energy dissemination in Africa: The experience of the community charging station model in Sierra Leone," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 16(1), pages 24-38, January.
    12. Carlsson, Fredrik & Demeke, Eyoual & Martinsson, Peter & Tesemma, Tewodros, 2020. "Cost of power outages for manufacturing firms in Ethiopia: A stated preference study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    13. Chuku Chuku & Victor Ajayi, 2022. "Working Paper 363 - Growing Green: Enablers and Barriers for Africa," Working Paper Series 2489, African Development Bank.
    14. Damilola Elizabeth Babatunde & Olubayo Moses Babatunde & Tolulope Olusegun Akinbulire & Peter Olabisi Oluseyi, 2018. "Hybrid Energy Systems Model with the Inclusion of Energy Efficiency Measures: A Rural Application Perspective," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(4), pages 310-323.
    15. Johannes Urpelainen & Thijs Van de Graaf, 2015. "The International Renewable Energy Agency: a success story in institutional innovation?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 159-177, May.
    16. Gladman Thondhlana & Chipo Plaxedes Mubaya & Alice McClure & Akosua Baah Kwarteng Amaka-Otchere & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2021. "Facilitating Urban Sustainability through Transdisciplinary (TD) Research: Lessons from Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Willenbockel, Dirk, 2014. "Reflections on the prospects for pro-poor low-carbon growth," MPRA Paper 69863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Warner, Kevin J. & Jones, Glenn A., 2017. "A population-induced renewable energy timeline in nine world regions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 65-76.
    19. Pueyo, Ana, 2018. "What constrains renewable energy investment in Sub-Saharan Africa? A comparison of Kenya and Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 85-100.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; climate change; energy; renewable; leapfrog; latecomer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General

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