Growth Variability among and within African Countries: An Aspect of Unsustained Development. CDPR Discussion Paper 1801

Weeks, John

Abstract

There is a considerable literature on the growth performance of the subSaharan countries, which tends to focus on average rates of growth over shorter or longer periods. This paper demonstrates that a key characteristic of the countries of the sub-Saharan region is the instability of growth rates, across countries, but, even more, for individual countries over time. The dispersion of country growth rates is not normally distributed; on the contrary, measures of dispersion are negatively correlated with long-term growth rates. It is argued that this instability, greater than in other regions, is the result of underdevelopment. Reducing instability is a task of long-run development policy, rather than short-term macro management. Further, it is probably the case that aspects of market deregulation make very poor countries more prone to instability.

Citation

Weeks, J. (2001, February). Growth Variability among and within African Countries: An Aspect of Unsustained Development. CDPR Discussion Paper 1801. Paper presented at Paper prepared for Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations, Expert Meeting, New York

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Paper prepared for Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations, Expert Meeting
• Start Date: Feb 21, 2001
• End Date: Feb 23, 2001
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2009
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Publisher URL: https://www.soas.ac.uk/economics/research/workingpapers/file28863.pdf
• Additional Information: Event Type : Other