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Collier, Paul, and
Jan Willem Gunning. 1999. "Explaining African Economic Performance."
,
37(1): 64-111.
Show Article Details
DOI: 10.1257/jel.37.1.64
Abstract:Africa has had slow growth and a massive exodus of capital. In many respects it has been the most capital-hostile region. We review and interpret the aggregate-level and microeconomic literatures to identify the key explanations for this performance. There is a reasonable correspondence of the two sets of evidence, pointing to four factors as being important. These are a lack of openness to international trade; a high-risk environment; a low level of social capital; and poor infrastructure. These problems are to a substantial extent attributable to government behavior, and the paper includes a review of the political economy literature addressing that behavior.
Authors:
Collier, Paul (World Bank and Centre for the Study of African Economies, U Oxford)
Gunning, Jan Willem (Centre for the Study of African Economies, U Oxford)
JEL Classifications:
O55: Economywide Country Studies: Africa
O57: Comparative Studies of Countries
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