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Working Paper 298 - Governance and Development in Africa: A Review Essay

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  • Augustin Fosu

Abstract

Given the increasing importance of governance in economic development and the yearning for Africa to catch up, the present paper provides a concise review of the literature relevant to the region. First, it presents stylized facts showing that Africa as a region, since about the late 1990s, substantially improved its growth and economic outcomes in the form of per capita income, human development, and poverty. Second, it shows that both economic governance and political governance have improved considerably since about the late 1980s to early 1990s. Economic governance is measured by economic freedom and political governance by the index of electoral competitiveness, executive constraint and polity 2, and by indicators of political stability. Finally, the paper flags the challenge of the likely disequilibrium between the economic and political equilibria under multiparty democracy, with adverse implications for fiscal allocation.JEL classification: O11, O15, O43, O55. Keywords: Governance, economic development, human development, poverty

Suggested Citation

  • Augustin Fosu, 2018. "Working Paper 298 - Governance and Development in Africa: A Review Essay," Working Paper Series 2425, African Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:adb:adbwps:2425
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    2. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian & Francesco Trebbi, 2004. "Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 131-165, June.
    3. Easterly, William, 2001. "Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic Conflict?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(4), pages 687-706, July.
    4. Margaret S. McMillan & Kenneth Harttgen, 2014. "What is driving the 'African Growth Miracle'?," NBER Working Papers 20077, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Margaret McMillan & Kenneth Harttgen, 2014. "Working Paper - 209 - What is driving the African Growth Miracle," Working Paper Series 2145, African Development Bank.
    6. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2000. "On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 215-241, June.
    7. Humphreys, Macartan & Bates, Robert, 2005. "Political Institutions and Economic Policies: Lessons from Africa," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(3), pages 403-428, July.
    8. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion? A Review of the World Bank's Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 973-987, December.
    9. Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2006. "Ethnicity, Governance and the Provision of Public Goods," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(1), pages 62-99, April.
    10. Maxim Pinkovskiy & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2014. "Africa is on time," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 311-338, September.
    11. Erik Thorbecke, 2013. "The Interrelationship Linking Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(suppl_1), pages -48, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Espoir, Delphin Kamanda & Bannor, Frank & Sunge, Regret, 2021. "Intra-Africa agricultural trade, governance quality and agricultural total factor productivity: Evidence from a panel vector autoregressive model," EconStor Preprints 235617, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    governance; economic development; human development; poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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