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: Using cross-country and panel regressions, this paper investigates to what extent gender inequality in education and employment may reduce growth and development. The paper finds a considerable impact of gender inequality on economic growth which is robust to changes in specifications and controls for potential endogeneities. The results suggest that gender inequality in education has a direct impact on economic growth through lowering the average quality of human capital. In addition, economic growth is indirectly affected through the impact of gender inequality on investment and population growth. Point estimates suggest that between 0.4-0.9 % of the differences in growth rates between East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East can be accounted for by the larger gender gaps in education prevailing in the latter regions. Moreover, the analysis shows that gender inequality in education prevents progress in reducing fertility and child mortality rates, thereby c...

Africa’s disappointing economic performance, the East Asian financial crisis, and the weak record of the former Soviet Union have focused attention on the role of institutions in determining a country’s economic growth. This article critically reviews the literature that tries to link quantitative measures of institutions, such as civil liberties and property rights, with growth of gross domestic product across countries and over time. An important distinction is made between indicators that measure the performance or quality of institutions and those that measure political and social characteristics and political instability. The evidence suggests a link between the quality of institutions and investment and growth, but the evidence is by no means robust. I wish to assert a much more fundamental role for institutions in societies; they are the underlying determinant of the long-run performance of economies. North 1990: 107 The role of institutions in promoting growth in developing and emerging economies has sparked renewed interest in recent years (World Bank 1993, 1997; Stiglitz 1998). A burgeoning literature thus seeks to determine the extent to which the quality of public and private economic institutions, the particular structure of governance, and the extent of social capital (or civic engagement) affect growth. Evidence from global cross-country econometric studies is potentially important because the paucity and weakness of both macroeconomic and institutional data for many developing countries preclude robust policy interpretations on a country-by-country basis (Srinivasan 1995; Lal and Myint 1996). If there is clear evidence that weak political and economic institutions significantly hamper growth, policymakers might propose measures that strengthen institutions in particular ways or that encourage more appropriate political structures

Abstract1 This paper examines how relationships and networks affect market exchange in Sub-Saharan Africa. After noting that market exchange arguably plays a larger role in Africa than in developed economies, we show that the presence of transactions costs naturally leads market participants to enter in long-term trading relationships. These relationships form business networks that shape market outcomes. We argue that network segmentation can have large efficiency and equity costs, particularly in international trade. Because of network externalities, groups and countries that are familiar with a particular activity tend to continue investing in that activity. The presence of networks and non-convex transactions costs also complicates the analysis of market competition. Implications for future research are briefly discussed.

In this paper we apply an econometric model of civil war to the analysis of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. We show that Africa has had a similar incidence of civil conflict to that of other developing regions, and that, with minor exceptions, its conflicts are consistent with the global pattern of behavior. However, the structure of risk differs considerably from other regions. Africas economic characteristics have made it more vulnerable to conflict, but this has been offset by social characteristics which make its societies atypically safe. We then analyze the contrasting trends of conflict: rising in Africa and declining in other regions. We show that these trends are predicted by the model. Africas rising trend of conflict is due to its atypically poor economic performance. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) stated recently that Africa is the most conflict ridden region of the World and the only region in which the number of armed conflicts is on the increase.

We analyse the prospects for greater monetary integration in Africa, in the wake of EMU. We argue that the structural characteristics of African economies are quite different from those of the EMU members but that much can be gained from monetary cooperation, as an external agency of restraint and in promoting stability in the financial sector. EMU has only a marginal impact on the net benefits of monetary cooperation but the euro would be a natural anchor for any African monetary unions. Indeed, the most likely route to new monetary cooperation in Africa is via a common peg to the euro.

Hatton, Kevin O’Rourke, and especially Peter Lindert. I am grateful to all five. I also acknowledge with pleasure financial support from the National Science Foundation SES-0001362. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa at present, the majority of the population is engaged in agriculture, with economies in the very early stages of structural transformation — the process whereby a predominantly agrarian economy is transformed into a diversified and productive economy dominated

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This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty. This generally fails to find any systematic pattern of change in income distribution during recent decades. Neither does it find any systematic link from fast growth to increasing inequality. Some recent empirical evidence has tended to confirm the negative impact of inequality on growth, on the other hand. Others have found that the level of initial income inequality is not a robust explanatory factor of growth, though high inequality in the distribution of assets, such as land, has a significantly negative effect on growth. Possible channels are credit rationing, reduced possibilities for participation in the political process, and social conflicts. Among the strategic elements that contributed to reduced poverty are: an outward-oriented strategy of export-led growth, based on labour-intensive manufacturing; agricultural and rural development, with encouragement of new technologies; investment in physical infrastructure and human capital; efficient institutions that provide the right set of incentives to farmers and entrepreneurs; and social policies to promote health, education, and social capital, as well as safety nets to protect the poor. Countries that have been successful in terms of economic growth are also very likely to be successful in reducing poverty. Poverty can be reduced if there is sufficient economic growth. Growth can be substantial if the policy and institutional environment is right.