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Industrialisation in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Asche, Helmut
  • Grimm, Michael

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced substantial growth and poverty reduction in the past two decades, yet as this process has not been based on industrialisation it is unlikely that it is sustainable in the longer term. Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa should consider structuralist industrial policies, yet these policies should avoid a top-down approach and rather rely on a structured and inclusive public-private dialogue. As mature light industries, such as textiles, can be good for mass employment, but allow little technological learning, reliance on a dual core of industries, that is labour-intensive industries alongside a smaller knowledge-intensive core, appears as the best developmental fit.

Suggested Citation

  • Asche, Helmut & Grimm, Michael, 2017. "Industrialisation in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities," PEGNet Policy Briefs 8/2017, PEGNet - Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:pegnpb:82017
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    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/156240/1/882016881.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rodrik, Dani, 2004. "Industrial Policy for the Twenty-First Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 4767, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
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    5. Cimoli, Mario & Dosi, Giovanni & Stiglitz, Joseph E. (ed.), 2009. "Industrial Policy and Development: The Political Economy of Capabilities Accumulation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199235278.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Governance, capital flight and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Jules-Eric Tchapchet Tchouto & Loudi Njoya & Tii Nchofoung & Isaac Ketu, 2024. "Investigating the effects of environmental tax regulations on industrialization in African countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 2153-2182, January.
    3. Mösle, Saskia, 2019. "Special economic zones: An effective instrument for growth in Africa?," PEGNet Policy Briefs 16/2019, PEGNet - Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    4. Yen A. Sokama‐Neuyam & Emperor Amedeka & Emmanuel O. Ofori & Stephen Adjei & Patrick Boakye & Peter O. Tawiah & Francis Kemausuor, 2025. "Predictive Modelling of the Energy and Climate Cost of Ghana's Economic Growth," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 15(6), pages 814-828, December.

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