Economist article on Africa's Economic Issues

[Danks81]

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3758983

The Commission for Africa set up by the British prime minister, Tony Blair, has released its long-awaited report. It contains some good ideas on what rich countries can do to help the continent. But Africa will remain poor until its own people tackle corruption and poor governance.

FAT documents crafted by committees rarely make for racy reading, and the 461-page final report of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa is no exception. It could have been cut by 90% without losing any meat. Do we really need to be told, for example, that “Africa is poor, ultimately, because its economy has not grown”? The report promises to be “blisteringly honest”, but when it complains that corrupt and oppressive regimes are holding Africa back, it stops short of naming any.

Discuss

[Quango]

This is a decent article. It points out the general problems on both sides of Africa's poverty. I think for foreign (i.e. Western) countries, elimination of farm subsidies is a must. It simply isn't fair to expect struggling, undeveloped nations to adopt free-market economics when the playing field is grossly unfair to products they can produce.

Smarter and more focused loans and grants from foreign lenders would help as well. I think this is something that has improved a great deal since the end of the Cold War, but economic development is still an evolving discipline, so there is still a great deal to learn.

The underlying argument, that Africans need to get rid of corrupt government's, is spot on, but a lot easier said than done. Rulers like Mugabe in Zimbabwe are not going to go quietly. They will continue to rig elections and keep their corrupt regimes in power.

Thanks for posting the article, though. I hadn't caught it in the latest issue I received. Q

[352klr]

This is a decent article. It points out the general problems on both sides of Africa's poverty. I think for foreign (i.e. Western) countries, elimination of farm subsidies is a must. It simply isn't fair to expect struggling, undeveloped nations to adopt free-market economics when the playing field is grossly unfair to products they can produce.

Smarter and more focused loans and grants from foreign lenders would help as well. I think this is something that has improved a great deal since the end of the Cold War, but economic development is still an evolving discipline, so there is still a great deal to learn.

The underlying argument, that Africans need to get rid of corrupt government's, is spot on, but a lot easier said than done. Rulers like Mugabe in Zimbabwe are not going to go quietly. They will continue to rig elections and keep their corrupt regimes in power.

Thanks for posting the article, though. I hadn't caught it in the latest issue I received. Q


Excellent points. As for your statement about smarter and more focused loans and grants, have you read any of Peter Bauer's work?

[Quango]

Excellent points. As for your statement about smarter and more focused loans and grants, have you read any of Peter Bauer's work?

I don't think so. I'm a couple years removed from my year back in school to study African Econ Development, so I may have, but just don't remember. What does he say? Q

[352klr]

Bauer argued that the development of third world nations was hindered by the imposition of 1st-world nations’ economic practices and norms. The large scale bureaucracies imposed upon 3rd-world nations prevented their own economic development due to any profits being funnelled into the state as opposed into companies and further economic development. This also inhibited the actions of the entrepreneur, who Bauer believed to be the true driving force in economic development not just in 3rd world nations but also in 1st. Regarding economic aid to 3rd world nations from 1st world nations, Bauer argued that economic aid programs allowed 1st world nations to continue their interventionist policies in 3rd world nations. The aid also led to widespread corruption in the governments of 3rd nations by subverting aid money into private accounts. To prevent this, Bauer proposed complete transparency in all accounting regarding aid money as well as giving aid packages directly to small and mid-sized businesses to promote entrepeneurship.

If you're interested, here's his books offered on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Peter%20T.%20Bauer/102-9565204-2866549

Here's a good obituary written about him after he died in 2002.
http://www.atlasusa.org/reports/liggio_peter_bauer.php