In general, Sub-Saharan Africa has produced a notable absence of leadership. Authoritarian political traditions, lack of national identity, underdeveloped middle classes, and widespread economic distress are among the sweeping, impersonal forces cited as factors that produce poor leader after...

The current work expands on an earlier paper which had discussed the relationship between economic growth and exchange rate in Kenya. Based on data for the period 1970 to 1996, we analyze the possible direct and indirect relationship between the real and nominal exchange rates and GDP growth.

This paper explores the current state of knowledge about the business interest groups (chambers of commerce, manufactures associations, farmers associations etc.) in economic policy reform in Africa.

Seignorage is the capital gain generated by the creation of reserve money. The literature on seignorage shows that countries with highly developed and deep financial systems generate few resources relative to national income (or government revenue) from seignorage. By contrast, countries with...

Southern Africa is strongly tied to the European economy, but their bilateral trade occurs in the context of a global economy. Any change with respect to one trading partner will have repercussions for other partners. This study aims to inform trade negotiations between South Africa and the...

This paper examines the potential for success for trade-focused regional integration agreements in Sub-Saharan Africa, with particular focus on Southern Africa. The paper surveys the existing literature on regional integration, and attempts to distill the most relevant lessons about success and...

In 1997 the World Bank's two vice-presidents for Sub-Saharan Africa attributed a significant improvement in Africa's growth prospects to the advent of a new generation of leaders, replacing their "once largely statist and corrupt" predecessors. This paper begins by tracing the evolution of...

We develop a framework for thinking about how to restart and sustain growth and development in Africa. The framework has three themes --- politics and institutions, macroeconomic management, and enhancing productivity. We conclude that African governments can begin to overcome regression and...

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...

As efforts at economic integration gain ground at the regional and multilateral level, Africa's trading relations with the United States, the European Union and other partners are under the most comprehensive review since the colonial era. Those African countries in the vanguard will see the...