African Economic Development

Reviews / Votes

The text offers much to consider regarding the policy decisions still needed for development in African countries. * J. E. Weaver, CHOICE * Examines conventional wisdom about economic performance and possible policies for economic development in African countries, highlighting differences between and within countries around distinctions of gender, class, and ethnic identity. * Journal of Economic Literature * It is many years since the subject of African economic development has been treated with the best insights and methods that modern social science has to offer. Cramer, Sender, and Oqubay have set a new standard in this respect. * David Booth, African Affairs * they clearly argue that successful development must be state-led and evidence-driven, while both the optimal mix and the possible mixes of state and private sector actors vary not only by country but by sector, and by other contingent factors. The book was written prior to the current Covid-19 pandemic, but their call for adapting policy to evidence and to unexpected changes remains just as relevant, if not more relevant, in the period ahead. * William Minter, AfricaFocus Bulletin * ... if this book were read and acted upon, prospects for development economics and for economic development for Africa would be significantly brighter. * Ben Fine, The Developing Economies * This is a stunningly good book: historically grounded, rich with evidence and examples, skeptical of the conventional wisdom, and infused with a realistic 'bias for hope' that counters the over-pessimistic and over-optimistic analyses of many far less thoughtful writers. Read it and be inspired. * Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Director of SAIS China Africa Research Initiative, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) * Somewhere between a bird's eye view of Africa's development dilemmas and a pragmatic assessment of the intricacies of policy making the authors of this book found a superb niche: to guide us through what is essential because it is often different from the common views. A masterful undertaking that will become essential reading for African policy makers eager to deepen their thoughts. * Carlos Lopes, Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town * Cramer, Sender and Arkebe do an excellent job of looking at the theories of economic development from a refreshing perspective. And I highly welcome their belief in African policymakers to make good decisions when presented with robust evidence. Development practitioners around the world will benefit immensely from this book, as it challenges accepted economic theory, while providing intriguing alternatives. * K.Y. Amoako, Founder and President, African Center for Economic Transformation, and former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa * African policy makers generally struggle to find evidence to support initiatives they would like to pursue. Pressure on them to find such evidence has grown as the number of 'stakeholders' interested in the outcomes has grown. This book on economic development in Africa is designed to help them in their pursuit of what is good economics, relevant and more easily manageable. It is a great complement to the recent volumes on African development, offering a refreshingly different approach that appeals to common sense and the new realities of the region. * Ernest Aryeetey, Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana * In this remarkable book, Cramer, Sender, and Oqubay present a view of Africa unlike anything we have seen. Facing head on the brutality of capitalism in Africa - as elsewhere - they show how nonetheless it has brought about significant, if uneven, progress in human welfare. Analysing trends in structural transformation, they never lose sight of the welfare of ordinary people. Acknowledging the weight of history, they show how a country's prospects are mainly shaped by what a country does, not what it is and has. They offer realistic optimism for a continent where policies have too often been crippled by fatalism. It is one of those very rare books that make you see the world differently after you have read it. * Ha-Joon Chang, teaches economics in the University of Cambridge and author of books including: Kicking Away the Ladder and Economics: the User's Guide. * Cramer, Sender and Oqubay offer us in this book not only their deep knowledge of African economies and their challenges -with their inherent diversity-, but also of other development experiences. Based on the evidence that these experiences provide, as well as an interdisciplinary framework, they put forwards an ambitious agenda for investment and structural change for African development that overcomes the over-pessimism but also the over-optimism of many alternative proposals. * Jose Antonio Ocampo, Professor Columbia University, and Chair of the UN Committee for Development Policy * Africa is a fascinating continent, and this superb book provides the depth of insight that is often missing in other commentary which tends to the extremes of pessimism or over-optimism based on simplistic notions of how economies function and evolve * Tony Addison, Chief Economist/Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER * Arguing against both 'African pessimism' and the naive optimism of 'Africa rising', this innovative book makes the case for 'possibilism'. This is not just another economics textbook on Africa: it is deeply interdisciplinary and draws not only on history, politics, anthropology, and soil science, but strikingly too on the world of art and literature. The authors offer an unmistakeably progressive political economy, unafraid to challenge weak arguments of radical 'left' economists as much as the worn-out narratives of the mainstream. * Vishnu Padayachee, Distinguished Professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics, School of Economics and Finance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg *