Our Continent, Our Future


Book Description

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.




Imf and World Bank Sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs in Africa


Book Description

This title was first published in 2001: Bringing together geographers, planners, political scientists, economists, rural development specialists, bankers, public administrators and other development experts, this volume questions the benefits of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). It critically assesses the impact of SAPs from a wider perspective than a purely economic one, highlighting concerns about impacts of adjustments on the more vulnerable elements of society such as social welfare, the environment, labour, gender and agriculture. Revealing both the costs and benefits of the economic restructuring programme, the book also suggests alternatives to current development models, and how SAPs can be made more sustainable. An original and comprehensive addition to the collections of both students and practitioners of development.




Structural Reforms and Economic Performance in Advanced and Developing Countries


Book Description

This volume examines the impact on economic performance of structural policies-policies that increase the role of market forces and competition in the economy, while maintaining appropriate regulatory frameworks. The results reflect a new dataset covering reforms of domestic product markets, international trade, the domestic financial sector, and the external capital account, in 91 developed and developing countries. Among the key results of this study, the authors find that real and financial reforms (and, in particular, domestic financial liberalization, trade liberalization, and agricultural liberalization) boost income growth. However, growth effects differ significantly across alternative reform sequencing strategies: a trade-before-capital-account strategy achieves better outcomes than the reverse, or even than a "big bang"; also, liberalizing the domestic financial sector together with the external capital account is growth-enhancing, provided the economy is relatively open to international trade. Finally, relatively liberalized domestic financial sectors enhance the economy's resilience, reducing output costs from adverse terms-of-trade and interest-rate shocks; increased credit availability is one of the key mechanisms.




Adjustment in Africa


Book Description







Structural Adjustment, the Environment and Sustainable Development


Book Description

This is a pioneering study which should serve as a model for future research and will to a wide audience' Dharam Ghai, Director United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Structural Adjustment and the Environment (Earthscan, 1992) was the first book to fully examine the effects of 'structural adjustment programmes the economic reform policies required by the World Bank and IMF as part of their lending operations with borrowing countries. To widespread Critical acclaim it exposed the damaging environmental and social effects of structural adjustment policies, and called for a thorough revision of the then-current development policy. This new work; Structural Adjustment, the Environment and sustainable Development is a major step forward in the study of structural adjustment policies. It looks in detail at new research and analysis into their effects, and incorporates recent studies by a wide range of academics and policy-makers, leading experts and institutes. Focusing on nine in-depth case studies, the book examines the complex links between macroeconomic policies, social impacts and environmental outcomes, and takes a forward-looking perspective in outlining the alternatives to current structural adjustment policies. Review quotes for Structural Adjustment and the Environment 'Should be essential reading for all students of development' Third World Planning Review 'Breaks new ground in the debate on structural adjustment generally. and in the environment/development debate' International Affairs 'The most substantial contribution to date to what is undoubtedly an important area' Development and Change David Reed is director of the Macroeconomics for Sustainable Development Programme of WWF International, and editor of Structural Adjustment and the Environment (Earthscan, 1992). Originally published in 1996




The Effect of International Monetary Fund and World Bank Programs on Poverty


Book Description

There is some evidence that IMF and World Bank adjustment lending smooths consumption for the poor, reducing the rise in poverty for any given contraction of the economy but also reducing the fall in poverty for any given expansion. Adjustment lending plays a similar role as inequality, reducing poverty's sensitivity to the economy's aggregate growth rate.




Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa


Book Description

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries price subsidies are common, especially on food and fuels. However, these are neither well targeted nor cost effective as a social protection tool, often benefiting mainly the better off instead of the poor and vulnerable. This paper explores the challenges of replacing generalized price subsidies with more equitable social safety net instruments, including the short-term inflationary effects, and describes the features of successful subsidy reforms.




The Growth Report


Book Description

The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.




Structural Reforms, Productivity and Technological Change in Latin America


Book Description

In the last ten to fifteen years, profound structural reforms have moved Latin America and the Caribbean from closed, state-dominated economies to ones that are more market-oriented and open. Policymakers expected that these changes would speed up growth. This book is part of a multi-year project to determine whether these expectation have been fulfilled. Focusing on technological change, the impact of the reforms on the process of innovation is examined. It notes that the development process is proving to be highly heterogenous across industries, regions and firms and can be described as strongly inequitable. This differentiation that has emerged has implications for job creation, trade balance, and the role of small and medium sized firms. This ultimately suggests, amongst other things, the need for policies to better spread the use of new technologies.