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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | A late twentieth century guide to Africa's twenty-first century problems: a comparative analysis with Latin America, South Asia and East Asia |
Author: | Nwachukwu, Jacinta |
Year: | 2008 |
Periodical: | South African Journal of Economic History |
Volume: | 23 |
Issue: | 1-2 |
Pages: | 122-154 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Subsaharan Africa |
Subjects: | poverty economic conditions 1980-1989 1990-1999 |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/10113430809511209 |
Abstract: | This article provides a descriptive analysis of the structural determinants of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by comparison with those for Latin America, South Asia and East Asia. It examines the trend in poverty levels and the key macroeconomic fundamentals using data from 1980 to 1999 in order to see how past developments in the different developing regions fit within the agenda and direction of the millennium poverty reduction goal. It looks in turn at economic performance, investment and savings, net foreign capital flows, economic structure and international trade. It concludes that the sub-Saharan region of Africa had a rise in its population living in poverty, while the growth rate of its GDP was markedly lower than that of East Asia, South Asia and Latin America. The region also achieved a low score in its rating for economic freedom and for its high income inequality. Gross domestic savings and capital formation were proportionately smaller than in the other developing regions and, on balance, it seems that development aid had an adverse effect on investment. The average ratio of the total external debt to gross national income was the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, yet servicing these loans consumed a smaller proportion of export earnings than it did in the other developing regions. The evidence also suggests that a high proportion of primary products in the composition of exports led to a slightly lower growth rate in GDP. Note, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |