Structural Transformation in South Africa


Book Description

Taking South Africa as an important case study of the challenges of structural transformation, the book offers a new micro-meso level framework and evidence linking country-specific and global dynamics of change, with a focus on the current challenges and opportunities faced by middle-income countries.




Structural Change in Africa


Book Description

Debates on African development continue to downplay the achievement of the continent: economic achievements are diminished and the perception of a conflict prone continent continues. Many of the policy prescriptions externally imposed on African countries have done little to transform the continent largely because they have been conceived and applied without context. Using literature from diverse origins, this book expands our knowledge about Africa and makes practical suggestions as to how successful development in a complex, yet dynamic continent can be achieved. Widening the policy dialogue and providing alternative thinking on the key elements and full extent of opportunities and challenges towards achieving the socio-economic transformation of Africa, the book moves the debate from the rhetoric to reality. As a considered reflection on the ‘Africa’s transformation’ narrative, it outlines the practical pathways necessary for Africa’s sustainable development, providing policy makers and researchers with tested solutions. It will be of interest to all scholars, students and policy professionals working in African development, public policy, international political economy, economic policy and politics.




Industries Without Smokestacks


Book Description

A study prepared by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)




Resurgent Africa


Book Description

‘Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development’ is a study of structural change dynamics in Africa and its effect on job creation, living standards and the efficiency of productive cities through manufacturing productivity growth that benefit the majority. Empirical data from selected African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia, provides in-depth analysis and knowledge of the continent’s diversified economies by establishing relationships between industrialization trends; rates of urbanization; and urban living standards, income growth and employment in Africa. The findings reveal unconventional pathways of structural change, patterns of jobless growth suggesting economic growth that does not necessarily lead to employment, dominance of services at the expense of manufacturing industry explaining the regress in Africa’s industrial sector and occurrence of structural transformation without improvement in labour productivity. These are important concerns for Africa’s long-term development leading to the conclusion that sustainable urbanization and industrialization are not only closely connected but also key drivers of economic change. The book includes recommendations for policymakers to adopt a new approach to development for a resurgent Africa.




Structural Transformation in Employment and Productivity


Book Description

This paper provides the most complete analysis of the structural transformation among low- and low-middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa to date.




Industrial Policy and Economic Transformation in Africa


Book Description

The revival of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is all the more welcome for having followed one of the worst economic disasters—a quarter century of economic malaise for most of the region—since the industrial revolution. Six of the world's fastest-growing economies in the first decade of this century were African. Yet only in Ethiopia and Rwanda was growth not based on resources and the rising price of oil. Deindustrialization has yet to be reversed, and progress toward creating a modern economy remains limited. This book explores the vital role that active government policies can play in transforming African economies. Such policies pertain not just to industry. They traverse all economic sectors, including finance, information technology, and agriculture. These packages of learning, industrial, and technology (LIT) policies aim to bring vigorous and lasting growth to the region. This collection features case studies of LIT policies in action in many parts of the world, examining their risks and rewards and what they mean for Sub-Saharan Africa.




Sustainable Industrialization in Africa


Book Description

Sustainable Industrialization in Africa explores the issues that confront development policy in the context of the MDGs and the post-2015 development agenda from an African perspective. The book argues that development is an ultimate outcome of sustainable, equitable industrialization, and that any development agenda for the future has to ensure that industrialization is fostered in a way that makes economies independent and responsive to the needs of all citizens. Future challenges for sustainable industrialization in Africa, based upon the differences in its current industrialization trajectories, are discussed to ensure that industrial growth results in positive economic and social outcomes in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.




Going Beyond Aid


Book Description

Developing countries have for decades been trying to catch up with the industrialized high-income countries, but only a few have succeeded. Historically, structural transformation has been a powerful engine of growth and job creation. Traditional development aid is inadequate to address the bottlenecks for structural transformation, and is hence ineffective. In this book, Justin Yifu Lin and Yan Wang use the theoretical foundations of New Structural Economics to examine South-South development aid and cooperation from the angle of structural transformation. By studying the successful economic transformation of countries such as China and South Korea through 'multiple win' solutions based on comparative advantages and economy of scale, and by presenting new ideas and different perspectives from emerging market economies such as Brazil, India and other BRICS countries, they bring a new narrative to broaden the ongoing discussions of post-2015 development aid and cooperation as well as the definitions of aid and cooperation.




Governance for Structural Transformation in Africa


Book Description

This book explores how better governance can help Africa to achieve structural transformation (understood to be the reallocation of factors of production across and within sectors to better support inclusive development), which history has shown to be key to sustained, inclusive growth. The book begins with a review of the existing literature on the links between governance and structural transformation and the success or otherwise of various sub regions in achieving structural transformation. It continues with a range of contributors addressing original empirical research on the relationships between different approaches to institutions and trade and industrial policies and structural transformation in Africa. The book makes recommendations for a new approach to governance in Africa that can deliver the structural transformation that the continent needs for Africans to enjoy shared prosperity, poverty reduction and development.




Macroeconomic Policy Framework for Africa's Structural Transformation


Book Description

The main objective of this book is to identify the key sources of growth which have played a significant role in Africa's recent robust growth as well as its efforts towards economic transformation. The book assesses to what extent the existing macroeconomic frameworks among African countries have been streamlined to the countries' development priorities in order to achieve long-term growth and economic transformation. Taking into account the diversity of African countries, the authors establish the economic linkages between relevant macroeconomic policy variables and the key sources of growth and development among the selected African economies, based on both theoretical and empirical underpinnings. Following this, an outline of a macroeconomic framework for Africa’s long-term growth and economic transformation is suggested.