Openness, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: The Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Relative to most of their Asian counterparts, Sub-Saharan African economies have generally performed poorly in meeting their growth objectives since the 1960s. Using individual country time series and panel regressions, the paper investigates the role of the growth of capital stock per worker and openness in the economic growth experience of eleven Sub-Saharan African countries since the mid-60s. While the openness variable was found to have a strong positive effect on the observed pattern of economic growth, the capital-labour ratio paradoxically seems to have made a significant negative contribution to the growth process of the countries studied. Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (EASSRR) VOLUME XVI No. 2 June 2000, pp. 25-4