Overview

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Unevenness and inequalities form a central fact of African economic experiences. This book challenges conventional wisdoms about economic performance and possible policies for economic development in African countries, using the striking variation in economic performance as a starting point. African Economic Development: Evidence, Theory, and Policy highlights not only difference between countries, but also variation within countries. It focuses on issues relating to gender, class, and ethnic identity, such as neo-natal mortality, school dropout, and horticultural and agribusiness exports. Variations in these areas point to opportunities for changing perfomance, reducing reducing inequalities, learning from other policy experiences, and escaping the ties of structure and the legacies of a colonial past. African Economic Development rejects teleological illusions and Eurocentric prejudice, criticizing a range of orthodox and heterodox economists for their cavalier attitude to evidence. Instead, it shows that seeing the contradictions of capitalism for what they are - fundamental and enduring - may help policy officials protect themselves against the misleading idea that development can be expected to be a smooth, linear process, or that it would be if certain impediments were removed. Drawing on decades of research and policy experience, this book combines careful use of available evidence from a range of African countries with economic insights to make the policy case for specific types of public sector investment.

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9780198832331

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Reviews

Arguing against both 'African pessimism' and the naive optimism of 'Africa rising', this innovative book makes the case for 'possibilism'. This is not just another economics textbook on Africa: it is deeply interdisciplinary and draws not only on history, politics, anthropology, and soil science, but strikingly too on the world of art and literature. The authors offer an unmistakeably progressive political economy, unafraid to challenge weak arguments of radical 'left' economists as much as the worn-out narratives of the mainstream. * Vishnu Padayachee, Distinguished Professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics, School of Economics and Finance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg * Africa is a fascinating continent, and this superb book provides the depth of insight that is often missing in other commentary which tends to the extremes of pessimism or over-optimism based on simplistic notions of how economies function and evolve * Tony Addison, Chief Economist/Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER * Cramer, Sender and Oqubay offer us in this book not only their deep knowledge of African economies and their challenges -with their inherent diversity-, but also of other development experiences. Based on the evidence that these experiences provide, as well as an interdisciplinary framework, they put forwards an ambitious agenda for investment and structural change for African development that overcomes the over-pessimism but also the over-optimism of many alternative proposals. * Jose Antonio Ocampo, Professor Columbia University, and Chair of the UN Committee for Development Policy * In this remarkable book, Cramer, Sender, and Oqubay present a view of Africa unlike anything we have seen. Facing head on the brutality of capitalism in Africa - as elsewhere - they show how nonetheless it has brought about significant, if uneven, progress in human welfare. Analysing trends in structural transformation, they never lose sight of the welfare of ordinary people. Acknowledging the weight of history, they show how a country's prospects are mainly shaped by what a country does, not what it is and has. They offer realistic optimism for a continent where policies have too often been crippled by fatalism. It is one of those very rare books that make you see the world differently after you have read it. * Ha-Joon Chang, teaches economics in the University of Cambridge and author of books including: Kicking Away the Ladder and Economics: the User's Guide. * African policy makers generally struggle to find evidence to support initiatives they would like to pursue. Pressure on them to find such evidence has grown as the number of 'stakeholders' interested in the outcomes has grown. This book on economic development in Africa is designed to help them in their pursuit of what is good economics, relevant and more easily manageable. It is a great complement to the recent volumes on African development, offering a refreshingly different approach that appeals to common sense and the new realities of the region. * Ernest Aryeetey, Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana * Cramer, Sender and Arkebe do an excellent job of looking at the theories of economic development from a refreshing perspective. And I highly welcome their belief in African policymakers to make good decisions when presented with robust evidence. Development practitioners around the world will benefit immensely from this book, as it challenges accepted economic theory, while providing intriguing alternatives. * K.Y. Amoako, Founder and President, African Center for Economic Transformation, and former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa * Somewhere between a bird's eye view of Africa's development dilemmas and a pragmatic assessment of the intricacies of policy making the authors of this book found a superb niche: to guide us through what is essential because it is often different from the common views. A masterful undertaking that will become essential reading for African policy makers eager to deepen their thoughts. * Carlos Lopes, Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town * This is a stunningly good book: historically grounded, rich with evidence and examples, skeptical of the conventional wisdom, and infused with a realistic 'bias for hope' that counters the over-pessimistic and over-optimistic analyses of many far less thoughtful writers. Read it and be inspired. * Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Director of SAIS China Africa Research Initiative, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) *

Arguing against both 'African pessimism' and the naive optimism of 'Africa rising', this innovative book makes the case for 'possibilism'. This is not just another economics textbook on Africa: it is deeply interdisciplinary and draws not only on history, politics, anthropology, and soil science, but strikingly too on the world of art and literature. The authors offer an unmistakeably progressive political economy, unafraid to challenge weak arguments of radical 'left' economists as much as the worn-out narratives of the mainstream. * Vishnu Padayachee, Distinguished Professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics, School of Economics and Finance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; life-Fellow of the Society of Scholars, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and Washington DC. * Africa is a fascinating continent, and this superb book provides the depth of insight that is often missing in other commentary which tends to the extremes of pessimism or over-optimism based on simplistic notions of how economies function and evolve * Tony Addison, Chief Economist/Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER * Cramer, Sender and Oqubay offer us in this book not only their deep knowledge of African economies and their challenges -with their inherent diversity-, but also of other development experiences. Based on the evidence that these experiences provide, as well as an interdisciplinary framework, they put forwards an ambitious agenda for investment and structural change for African development that overcomes the over-pessimism but also the over-optimism of many alternative proposals. * Jose Antonio Ocampo, Professor Columbia University, and Chair of the UN Committee for Development Policy * In this remarkable book, Cramer, Sender, and Oqubay present a view of Africa unlike anything we have seen. Facing head on the brutality of capitalism in Africa - as elsewhere - they show how nonetheless it has brought about significant, if uneven, progress in human welfare. Analysing trends in structural transformation, they never lose sight of the welfare of ordinary people. Acknowledging the weight of history, they show how a country's prospects are mainly shaped by what a country does, not what it is and has. They offer realistic optimism for a continent where policies have too often been crippled by fatalism. It is one of those very rare books that make you see the world differently after you have read it. * Ha-Joon Chang, teaches economics in the University of Cambridge and author of books including: Kicking Away the Ladder and Economics: the User's Guide. * African policy makers generally struggle to find evidence to support initiatives they would like to pursue. Pressure on them to find such evidence has grown as the number of 'stakeholders' interested in the outcomes has grown. This book on economic development in Africa is designed to help them in their pursuit of what is good economics, relevant and more easily manageable. It is a great complement to the recent volumes on African development, offering a refreshingly different approach that appeals to common sense and the new realities of the region. * Ernest Aryeetey, Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana * Cramer, Sender and Arkebe do an excellent job of looking at the theories of economic development from a refreshing perspective. And I highly welcome their belief in African policymakers to make good decisions when presented with robust evidence. Development practitioners around the world will benefit immensely from this book, as it challenges accepted economic theory, while providing intriguing alternatives. * K.Y. Amoako, Founder and President, African Center for Economic Transformation, and former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa * Somewhere between a bird's eye view of Africa's development dilemmas and a pragmatic assessment of the intricacies of policy making the authors of this book found a superb niche: to guide us through what is essential because it is often different from the common views. A masterful undertaking that will become essential reading for African policy makers eager to deepen their thoughts. * Carlos Lopes, Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town * This is a stunningly good book: historically grounded, rich with evidence and examples, skeptical of the conventional wisdom, and infused with a realistic 'bias for hope' that counters the over-pessimistic and over-optimistic analyses of many far less thoughtful writers. Read it and be inspired. * Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Director of the SAIS China Africa Research Initiative, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) *

Author Information

Christopher Cramer is Professor of the Political Economy of Development at SOAS, University of London. He is a vice-chair of the Royal African Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and chairs the Scientific Committee of the African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics based in South Africa. He is the author of Civil War is Not a Stupid Thing: Accounting for Violence in Developing Countries (2006, C. Hurst) and worked on the Fairtrade, Employment, and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia and Uganda research project funded by the UK Department for International Development. He co-edited The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy (2019, OUP) and The Oxford Handbook on Industrial Policy (2020, OUP). John Sender is an Emeritus Professor of Economics, SOAS, University of London. He began rural fieldwork in the 1970s, while working at the University of Dar es Salaam. Later jobs included: Director of the African Studies Centre, University of Cambridge; Visiting Professor of Political Economy, Witwatersrand University; Senior Research Fellow, African Studies Centre, Leiden. He advised Mandela's Presidential Commissions on Labour and on Rural Credit; Economic Commission for Africa; Federal Government of Nigeria and Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; and he has worked with the Governments of Mozambique, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Early books include: Imperialism (1980, Verso); The Development of Capitalism in Africa (2010, Routledge); Poverty Class and Gender in Africa (2012, Routledge). Many journals publish his work, including: Feminist Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, World Development, Cambridge Journal of Economics, and African Affairs. Arkebe Oqubay is a Senior Minister and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and has been at the centre of policymaking for over twenty-five years.He is an ODI Distinguished Fellow and holds a PhD in development studies from SOAS, University of London. He is the former mayor of Addis Ababa and winner of the ABN Best African Mayor of 2006, and finalist for the World Mayor Award 2006, for transforming the city. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. His work includesMade in Africa (2015, OUP); How Nations Learn (2019, OUP); The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy (2019, OUP); China-Africa and an Economic Transformation (2019, OUP); The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development (2020, OUP); and The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Policy (2020, OUP). He was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2016, and a 'leading thinker on Africa's strategic development' by the NewAfrican.

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