Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée: A Review of Africa's Development in Historical Perspective
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 54,
no. 3, September 2016
(pp. 893-905)
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.Citation
McMillan, Margaret. 2016. "Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée: A Review of Africa's Development in Historical Perspective." Journal of Economic Literature, 54 (3): 893-905. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151293Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F54 Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
- I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
- J11 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: General