West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries face a well-known dilemma between the need to provide shock-smoothing mechanisms and the lack of adequate mechanisms to do so. WAEMU countries are subject to frequent and, to a large extent, asymmetric shocks. They have remained poorly...

The paper deals with the development strategies and performances of 12 franc zone African LDCs. Beside the actual rate of growth, the "relative growth performance" is considered; this performance, measured as a residual of a regression on exogenous factors, appears to be close to the average...