Relevance of the Nordic Model for African Development

Nordic Model, African lessons, Development, Social compassion

What have we learned from a decade of manufacturing enterprise surveys in Africa ?

In the early 1990s the World Bank launched the Regional Program on Enterprise Development in several African countries, a key component of which was the collection of manufacturing firm-level data. In this paper the authors review the research based on the data sets generated by these and subsequent firm surveys in Africa, with a special view to what they think are the most important policy implications. The authors survey the research on the African business environment, focusing on market size, risk, access to credit, labor, and infrastructure. They cover the research on how firms choose to organize themselves and how firms do business. They review the research on firm performance, including firm growth, investment and technology acquisition, and exports. They conclude with an extended discussion of the policy lessons.Economic Theory&Research,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Labor Markets,Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise

Smallholder Income Diversification in Zambia: The Way Out of Poverty?

1) One can achieve poverty reduction in rural areas of Zambia by both growth and inequality reduction, but growth must be the main driver; 2) Rural income growth does not come from agriculture alone so options to diversify income are very important and should be pursued; 3) But careful attention is required to focus on improved endowments and reduced constraints facing households trying to improve agriculture directly as well as trying to improve possibilities of income diversification away from agriculture; and 4) Land per labourer, education, and location (market access and infrastructure) are key dimensions to understand and figure out how to improve.food security, food policy, Zambia, small holder, poverty, income, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Q20,

Prospects for 'Pro-Poor' Growth in Africa

pro-poor growth, Africa, Millennium Development Goals, income distribution, poverty

Dynamics of Poverty in Ethiopia

poverty dynamics, vulnerability, households, duration

Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty: A Review

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.Growth; income distribution; poverty; economic policy

Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty: A Review

Pro-poor growth, Income distribution, Poverty, Survey

Distribution and development: a survey of empirical evidence

The paper is a survey of the literature analysing the development of income distribution in the less developed countries. First, a number of cross-section studies are reviewed. Then the results from a number of studies concerning the development of inequality in Latin American, Asia, and African countries are presented. It was found that income distribution had deteriorated in a number of countries. Finally, the factors which have been shown to determine the development of income distribution are summarized. These concern institutions, structural change, functional distribution, asset distribution, financial markets, human capital, labour market, social stratification, market imperfections, trade policy, domestic policy, spatial factors, trade unions, and demographic factors

Relevance of the Nordic model for African development

Can African countries learn from the development experiences of other regions? Or are the continent’s development challenges unique? This paper looks at the development experience of the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, from the nineteenth century and discusses the extent to which the observed patterns of development could have relevance for Africa. The paper argues that poverty is not immutable. Nordic countries were for centuries a poor agrarian outpost at the European periphery and yet via the development of institutions, establishment of a culture of political inclusion and social compassion have managed to raise the welfare of their population to among the highest in the world. The paper also argues that the ability to develop internal capacities for administration as well as institutional flexibility have been crucial for Nordic prosperity

Dimensions of African inequality

This paper discusses dimensions of inequality in sub-Saharan Africa and their causes. It starts with a review of the empirical evidence about inequality during the colonial period as well as the post-independence era. Then it discusses the forces that determine inequality change, focusing on factor accumulation and structural change. Next it considers the relationship between inequality and growth, the role of agriculture in the development process, the relationships between ethnicity and social stratification and governance, and external influences on inequality. The paper concludes with some comments on what policy interventions can do to reduce inequality