This paper aims to assess the role of instabilities on Africa low rates of growth during the seventies and eighties, using cross-section econometric estimates, on a sample of African and non African countries and two pooled decades. Africa exhibits higher "primary" instabilities (climatic, terms...

This article investigates how financial development is beneficial to the reduction of poverty, on the one hand by promoting growth and on the other hand directly due to the Mac Kinnon “conduit effect”. But simultaneously financial development induces financial instability what is detrimental...

We present here a survey of the monetary integration in West African Monetary Union. We underpin our analysis on the theory of optimal currency union as well as on empirical studies applied to West Africa. The economic benefits of the monetary integration are in one hand the development of...

This article provides a brief history of the institutions of the franc zone. It shows that although the exchange regime of the franc zone has been remarkably stable, its impact on African members countries has greatly evolved. Even if the franc zone is issued from the colonial period, it has...

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This paper considers the effects of a more or less trade and capital openness on the instability of the growth rate. Indicators of outward looking policies are estimated by eliminating the impact of structural factors through a standardization equation. Then indicators of growth instability are...

A dominant trend in the literature maintains that donor assistance should be targeted at poor countries with sound institutions and policies. In this context, donor selectivity refers to what extent aid is allocated according to the principles of this 'canonical' model. This paper shows that it...

This paper questions the line of reasoning followed by several authors, notably Easterly and Levine according to which ethno-linguistic fragmentation, because it leads to poor policies, is the main factor explaining the 'tragedy' of low African growth. A first set of criticism concerns the model...

Why increase the independence of the Central Bank of West African States? The answer can be sought in the monetary and institutional evolution of the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The advantage would be to increase confidence in the value of the currency and to guarantee the...

Why has West-African Central Bank?'s independency to be increased ? The answer may be based on the institutional and monetary history of the West-African Monetary Union. Enhancing the confidence in money value and assessing that monetary and economic integration will persist in the future would...