IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jeclit/v54y2016i3p893-905.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée: A Review of Africa's Development in Historical Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Margaret McMillan

Abstract

The sixteen essays edited and synthesized by Emmanuel Akyeampong, Robert H. Bates, Nathan Nunn, and James A. Robinson contribute significantly to our understanding of the following questions: (1) When did Africa become poor? (2) Why did Africa become poor? (3) Why has Africa remained poor? Although these questions are impossible to answer in a definitive way, the partial explanations offered in this book are insightful and thought provoking and are summarized in this article. However, they also rest primarily on economic and political arguments. The importance of geography, which is mostly not explored in these essays, is reviewed in the final section of this article.

Suggested Citation

  • Margaret McMillan, 2016. "Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée: A Review of Africa's Development in Historical Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(3), pages 893-905, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:54:y:2016:i:3:p:893-905
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20151293
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=mGaeqbtU0Nb_F4_q2h4QtgDtpOr6xfUS
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kazianga, Harounan & Masters, William A. & McMillan, Margaret S., 2014. "Disease control, demographic change and institutional development in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 313-326.
    2. Allen, Robert C., 2011. "Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199596652.
    3. Amsden, the late Alice H. & DiCaprio, Alisa & Robinson, James A. (ed.), 2012. "The Role of Elites in Economic Development," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199659036.
    4. Lewis, W Arthur, 1979. "The Dual Economy Revisited," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 47(3), pages 211-229, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L. & Abbott, Philip C. & Abdoulaye, Tahirou, 2017. "Evaluation of Nigerian agricultural production data," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2), June.
    2. Bennett, Daniel L. & Faria, Hugo J. & Gwartney, James D. & Morales, Daniel R., 2017. "Economic Institutions and Comparative Economic Development: A Post-Colonial Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 503-519.
    3. Patrick L. Hatzenbuehler & George Mavrotas, 2021. "Combining household and price data to target food marketing interventions in Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(2), pages 493-505, April.
    4. Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Luis A. Gil-Alana & Maria Jesus Gonzalez-Blanch, 2021. "Fractional persistence in income poverty in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 563-581, June.
    5. Naudé, Wim & Tregenna, Fiona, 2023. "Africa's Industrialization Prospects: A Fresh Look," IZA Discussion Papers 16043, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brian McCaig & Margaret S. McMillan & Iñigo Verduzco-Gallo & Keith Jefferis, 2015. "Stuck in the Middle? Structural Change and Productivity Growth in Botswana," NBER Working Papers 21029, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Kym Anderson & Anna Strutt, 2012. "Agriculture and Food Security in Asia by 2030," Macroeconomics Working Papers 23309, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    3. Razafindrakoto, Mireille & Roubaud, François & Rua, Linda, 2021. "Hyper-elites and network: Capturing the powerful upper tail in Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Chilosi, David & Federico, Giovanni, 2015. "Early globalizations: The integration of Asia in the world economy, 1800–1938," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-18.
    5. Allen, Robert C., 2012. "Backward into the future: The shift to coal and implications for the next energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 17-23.
    6. John Wong, 2006. "China's Economy in 2005: At a New Turning Point and Need to Fix Its Development Problems," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(2), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Kym Anderson & Anna Strutt, 2014. "Emerging economies, productivity growth and trade with resource-rich economies by 2030," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(4), pages 590-606, October.
    8. Seccareccia, Mario, 1991. "Salaire minimum, emploi et productivité dans une perspective post-keynésienne," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 67(2), pages 166-191, juin.
    9. Codrina Rada, 2007. "A growth model for a two-sector economy with endogenous productivity," Working Papers 44, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    10. Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Unreal Wages? Real Income and Economic Growth in England, 1260–1850," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2867-2887.
    11. Nuno Palma & André C. Silva, 2024. "Spending A Windfall," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(1), pages 283-313, February.
    12. Robert C. Allen, 2015. "The high wage economy and the industrial revolution: a restatement," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Fanti, Lucrezia & Pereira, Marcelo C. & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2024. "The agents of industrial policy and the North-South convergence: State-owned enterprises in an international-trade macroeconomic ABM," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1491, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Michi Nishihara & Takashi Shibata, 2014. "Preemption, leverage, and financing constraints," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 75-89, April.
    15. Suenaga, Keiichiro, 2019. "The emergence of technological paradigms: The case of heat engines," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 135-141.
    16. Chu, Angus C. & Furukawa, Yuichi & Wang, Xilin, 2022. "Rent-seeking government and endogenous takeoff in a Schumpeterian economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Lipschitz, Leslie & Rochon, Céline & Verdier, Geneviève, 2011. "A real model of transitional growth and competitiveness in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 267-283, August.
    18. Mendez-Guerra, Carlos, 2017. "Labor productivity, capital accumulation, and aggregate efficiency across countries: Some stylized facts," MPRA Paper 82461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Michael Tribe & Andrew Sumner, 2006. "Development economics at a crossroads? Introduction to a policy arena," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(7), pages 957-966.
    20. Cappelli, Gabriele & Baten, Joerg, 2021. "Numeracy development in Africa: New evidence from a long-term perspective (1730–1970)," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F54 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:54:y:2016:i:3:p:893-905. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.