Does Africa Grow Differently

This paper argues that understanding the mechanisms of growth requires going beyond the reduced form, and demonstrates important differences in the mechanisms of growth in Africa. Certain policy distortions and exogenous factors are more costly to growth in Africa than elsewhere, while the growth benefits of other reforms and exogenous factors are more limited in Africa than elsewhere. These differences are most apparent in equations which separately explain the explanatory variables common in reduced form growth equations. An expanded growth accounting framework shows that many of the differences in Africa's growth mechanisms are also quantitatively significant in explaining Africa's slow growth.

[1]  David N. Weil,et al.  Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond , 1998 .

[2]  Peter E. Kennedy.  A Guide to Econometrics , 1979 .

[3]  P. Lane,et al.  Power, growth, and the voracity effect , 1996 .

[4]  Robert J. Barro,et al.  Losers and Winners in Economic Growth , 1993 .

[5]  D. Rodrik,et al.  Trade Policy and Economic Growth: A Skeptic's Guide to the Cross-National Evidence , 1999, NBER Macroeconomics Annual.

[6]  S. Appleton.  The Impact of Public Services on Health Care and Illness: A Treatment Effects Model with Sample Selectivity , 1998 .

[7]  R. Levine,et al.  A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions , 1991 .

[8]  Jonathan R.W. Temple,et al.  The New Growth Evidence , 1999 .

[9]  W. Easterly,et al.  Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions , 1997 .

[10]  Alan M. Taylor.  On the Costs of Inward-Looking Development: Price Distortions, Growth, and Divergence in Latin America , 1998, The Journal of Economic History.

[11]  D. Rodrik.  Where Did All the Growth Go? External Shocks, Social Conflict, and Growth Collapses , 1998 .

[12]  P. Collier,et al.  On economic causes of civil war , 1998 .

[13]  Jonathan R.W. Temple,et al.  Initial Conditions, Social Capital and Growth in Africa , 1998 .

[14]  Robert H. Bates,et al.  Markets and States in Tropical Africa. The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies , 1981 .

[15]  David N. Weil,et al.  Population, Technology, and Growth: From the Malthusian Regime to the Demographic Transition , 1998 .

[16]  D. Rodrik.  The Rush to Free Trade in the Developing World: Why so Late? Why Now? Will it Last? , 1992 .

[17]  G. Becker.  A Treatise on the Family , 1982 .

[18]  R. Barro,et al.  International Comparisons of Educational Attainment , 1993 .

[19]  K. Schmidt-Hebbel.  Fiscal Adjustment and Growth: In and Out of Africa , 1995 .

[20]  Jan Willem Gunning,et al.  Explaining African Economic Performance , 1999 .

[21]  J. Sachs,et al.  Geography, demography, and economic growth in Africa. , 1998, Brookings papers on economic activity.

[22]  Christina H. Paxson,et al.  The Revenues and Expenditures of African Governments: Modalities and Consequences , 1996 .

[23]  A. Wood,et al.  Exporting manufactures: Human resources, natural resources, and trade policy , 1997 .

[24]  R. Barro.  Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study , 1996 .

[25]  J. Sachs,et al.  Sources of Slow Growth in African Economies , 1997 .

[26]  Patterns of Economic Growth: Hills, Plateaus, Mountains, and Plains , 1998 .

[27]  D. Romer,et al.  Does Trade Cause Growth , 1999 .

[28]  Alan M. Taylor.  On the Costs of Inward-Looking Development: Historical Perspectives on Price Distortions, Growth, and Divergence in Latin American from 1930s - 1980s , 1996 .

[29]  L. Winters,et al.  Africa's Role in Multilateral Trade Negotiations , 1997 .

[30]  T. C. Edens,et al.  Economic Growth , 1957, The Journal of Economic History.

[31]  J. Sachs,et al.  Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration , 1995 .