African Development Successes

December 18-19, 2012
Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil, Organizers
Policy-Oriented Conference: Meeting the Next Macroeconomic Challenges in Africa
Zanzibar, Tanzania

photo by: Epimacus A. Mikuza

Photo credit Epimacus Mikuza

Sponsored by the NBER Africa Project, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The NBER Africa Project was launched in fall 2007 to study economic success stories in Africa. The primary goal of the project is to support high quality research that identifies and analyzes African economic development successes, ultimately to inform policy making at both the national and international levels. Of particular interest are the positive economic experiences in a number of African countries over the last decade. What are the roots of these developments? To what extent are they sustainable and transferable to other African countries?

This policy-oriented conference was a forum for monetary and fiscal policymakers in eastern Africa and leading economists from the US and Europe to discuss how to meet the next macroeconomic challenges in Africa. Special appreciation is extended to the Bank of Tanzania, which co-hosted the meeting. The following topics were discussed, including East African monetary union, the global financial crisis, and managing resource booms.

    Christopher Adam, Oxford University, "East African Transport Costs in the Short-run and the Long-run"

    Andrew Berg, IMF, "The Macroeconomic Management of External Resources"

    Jeffrey Frankel, Harvard University and NBER, "Dealing with the Resource Curse: How Can Commodity Exporters Reduce Procylicality?"

    Simon Johnson, MIT and NBER, "The Next Financial Crisis"

    Robert Lawrence, Harvard University and NBER, "Regional Integration: What Does Europe Teach Us?"

    Stephen O'Connell, Swarthmore College, "Fiscal Foundations for Monetary Union in East Africa"

    Alan Taylor, University of Virginia and NBER, "The Great Leveraging"

    S. Kal Wajid, IMF, "Financial Integration in the East African Community"