Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Channing Arndt, Andy McKay, Finn Tarp

Overview

While the economic growth renaissance in sub-Saharan Africa is widely recognized, much less is known about progress in living conditions. This book comprehensively evaluates trends in living conditions in 16 major sub-Saharan African countries, corresponding to nearly 75% of the total population. A striking diversity of experience emerges. While monetary indicators improved in many countries, others are yet to succeed in channeling the benefits of economic growth into the pockets of the poor. Some countries experienced little economic growth, and saw little material progress for the poor. At the same time, the large majority of countries have made impressive progress in key non-monetary indicators of wellbeing.

Overall, the African growth renaissance earns two cheers, but not three. While gains in macroeconomic and political stability are real, they are also fragile. Growth on a per capita basis is much better than in the 1980s and 1990s, yet not rapid compared with other developing regions. Importantly from a pan-African perspective, key economies-particularly Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa-are not among the better performers.

Looking forward, realistic expectations are required. The development process is, almost always, a long hard slog. Nevertheless, real and durable factors appear to be at play on the sub-continent with positive implications for growth and poverty reduction in future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198744795
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Series:	WIDER Studies in Development Economics
Pages:	500
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Channing Arndt, Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University,Andy McKay, Professor of Development Economics, University of Sussex,Finn Tarp, Chair, Development Economics, University of Copenhagen; Director, UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)

Channing Arndt has more than 20 years of experience in development economics with seven years combined resident experience in Morocco and Mozambique. He has published more than 55 articles in leading academic journals and has taken leadership roles in major policy documents such as the design of a carbon tax for the National Treasury of South Africa, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change for the World Bank, and the Second and Third National Poverty Assessments for the Government of Mozambique. His program of research has focused on agricultural development, poverty measurement, poverty alleviation and growth, market integration, gender and discrimination, the implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, technological change, trade policy, aid effectiveness, infrastructure investment, energy and biofuels, climate variability, and the implications of climate change.

Andy McKay is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Sussex where he teaches masters and PhD students in different fields of development economics. He has recently become managing editor of the Review of Development Economics; and is closely associated with the African Economic Research Consortium as a resource person and as co-coordinator of their collaborative project on the growth-poverty nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa. He was associate director of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre from 2005-2011; he recently obtained research grants for two projects looking at female labour supply in relation to poverty reduction, much of this in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Finn Tarp is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Copenhagen and Director of the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). He has more than 35 years of experience in academic and applied development economics, including 20 years of work in some 35 developing countries. He is a leading international expert on issues of development strategy and foreign aid and he was appointed to the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) advising the Chief Economist of the World Bank in 2013.

Table of Contents

1. Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, Channing Arndt, Andy McKay, and Finn Tarp2. Synthesis: Two Cheers for the African Growth Renaissance (but not three), Channing Arndt, Andy McKay, and Finn TarpGROUP 1: Rapid Growth and Rapid Poverty Reduction3. Poverty in Ethiopia, 2000-11: Welfare Improvements in a Changing Economic Landscape, David Stifel and Tassew Woldehanna4. Ghana: Poverty Reduction over Thirty Years, Andy McKay, Jukka Pirttila, and Finn Tarp5. Did Rapid Smallholder-led Agricultural Growth Fail to Reduce Rural Poverty? Making Sense of Malawi's Poverty Puzzle, Karl Pauw, Ulrik Beck, and Richard Mussa6. Growth, Poverty Reduction, and Inequality in Rwanda, Andy McKay and Marijke Verpoorten7. Poverty and its Dynamics in Uganda: Explorations using a New Set of Poverty Lines, Bjorn Van Campenhout, Haruna Sekabira, and Dede Houeto AduayomGROUP 2: Rapid Growth but Limited Poverty Reduction8. Burkina Faso: Shipping Around the Malthusian Trap, Michael Grimm, Claude Wetta, and Aude Nikiema9. Mozambique: Off-track or Temporarily Sidelined?, Channing Arndt, E. Samuel Jones, and Finn Tarp10. Spatial and Temporal Multidimensional Poverty in Nigeria, Olu Ajakaiye, Afeikhena T. Jerome, Olanrewaju Olaniyan, Kristi Mahrt, and Olufunke A. Alaba11. Growth and Poverty Reduction in Tanzania, Channing Arndt, Lionel Demery, Andy McKay, and Finn Tarp12. Assessing Progress in Welfare Improvements in Zambia: A Multidimensional Approach, Gibson Masumbu and Kristi MahrtGROUP 3: Uninspiring/Negative Growth and Poverty Reduction13. Slow Progress in Growth and Poverty Reduction in Cameroon, Samuel Fambon, Andy McKay, Joseph-Pierre Timnou, Olive Stephanie Kouakep, Anaclet Desire Dzossa, and Romain Tchakoute Ngoho14. The Fall of the Elephant: Two Decades of Poverty Increase in Cote d'Ivoire, 1988-2008, Denis Cogneau, Kenneth Houngbedji, and Sandrine Mesple-Somps15. Incomes, Inequality, and Poverty in Kenya: A Long-Term Perspective, Arne Bigsten, Damiano Kulundu Manda, Germano Mwabu, and Anthony Wambugu16. Utility-Consistent Poverty in Madagascar, 2001-10: Snapshots in the Presence of Multiple Economy-Wide Shocks, David Stifel, Tiaray Razafimanantena, and Faly Rakotomanana17. Poverty, Inequality, and Prices in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Murray Leibbrandt, Arden Finn, and Morne OosthuizenGROUP 4: Low Information Countries18. Growth and Poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo: 2001-13, Kristi Mahrt and Malokele Nanivazo

Editorial Reviews

"This book provides the appropriate balance in the analysis of the links between two decades of growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Relying on very comprehensive and excellent country studies, it is able to show a lot more clearly than others the mainly positive effects of the recent African growth experience. The book brings together good country data, excellent analyses, and solid understanding of local contexts."

— Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana

"Africa has been a puzzle for development specialists for well over half a century. From the post-Independence euphoria, when sub-Saharan Africa outperformed Southeast Asia, to the grim reality of failed industrialization strategies and the pain of structural adjustment during the commodity bust of the 1980s and 1990s, to the resurgence of growth after the turn of the Millennium, the Continent has resisted easy answers to even simple questions: are living standards rising or falling? Is economic growth finally having an impact on rural poverty? This volume provides the best possible answers to these questions."

— C. Peter Timmer, Harvard University, Emeritus

"This book masterfully combines macroeconomic, microeconomic, and case study approaches in analyzing the complex relationship between growth and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. It avoids the all-too-common simplistic characterizations of the continent, and instead weaves a balanced, nuanced, and informative narrative of where things have gone relatively well, where they have not, and the multiple forces behind these trends. This book is a must read for all serious scholars and analysts of economic development in Africa."

— Steven Radelet, Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development and Director of the Global Human Development Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

From the Publisher