African Successes
Volume I: Government and Institutions
Volume II: Human Capital
Volume III: Modernization and Development
Volume IV: Sustainable Growth
Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil, editors
The University of Chicago Press, 2016
$110.00 each (cloth)
Studies of African economic development frequently focus on the daunting challenges the continent faces. From recurrent crises to ethnic conflicts and long-standing corruption, a raft of deep-rooted problems has led many to regard the continent as facing many hurdles to raising living standards.
Yet Africa has made considerable progress in the past decade, with the GDP growth rate exceeding five percent in some regions. The African Successes series looks at recent improvements in living standards and other measures of development in many African countries with an eye toward identifying what shaped them and the extent to which lessons learned are transferable and can guide policy in other nations and at the international level.
The first volume in the series, African Successes: Government and Institutions considers the role governments and institutions have played in recent developments and identifies the factors that enable economists to predict the way institutions will function.
The second volume, African Successes: Human Capital turns the focus toward Africa's human capital deficit, measured in terms of health and schooling. It offers a close look at the continent's biggest challenges, including tropical disease and the spread of HIV.
The third volume, African Successes: Modernization and Development looks at the rise in private production in spite of difficult institutional and physical environments. The volume emphasizes the ways that technologies, including mobile phones, have made growth in some areas especially dynamic.
The fourth volume, African Successes: Sustainable Growth combines informative case studies with careful empirical analysis to consider the prospects for future African growth.