Economics Research Covered by The Economist

A recent paper on the economic development prospects of Africa in the 21^st Century has been covered by The Economist Nov. 3^rd. In joint work with Marlous van Waijenburg (University of Michigan), Ewout Frankema (RHI, Section Economics) shows that the priority SDG of zero poverty in 2030 will be very hard to achieve for Africa as it requires emulating ‘Chinese-record speed’ poverty reduction. Frankema and van Waijenburg explore the pathways open to African economies to underpin sustained growth with investments in labour-intensive manufacturing export industries from a historical perspective and conclude that after the Asian Renaissance, labour cost competition will be a treacherous strategy. Industrialization focussing on domestic consumer markets offers a more viable prospect for the coming decades. Their paper in African Affairs is available in open access here: https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/117/469/543/5038419