Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model

Africa’s recent economic growth is at a historical high, the patterns associated with this growth appear to be quite different from the Asian experiences where rapid growth was fueled by labor intensive, export-oriented manufacturing. Because this pattern differs with our typical view of structural...

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Autores principales: Diao, Xinshen, McMillan, Margaret S.
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150482
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author Diao, Xinshen
McMillan, Margaret S.
author_browse Diao, Xinshen
McMillan, Margaret S.
author_facet Diao, Xinshen
McMillan, Margaret S.
author_sort Diao, Xinshen
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Africa’s recent economic growth is at a historical high, the patterns associated with this growth appear to be quite different from the Asian experiences where rapid growth was fueled by labor intensive, export-oriented manufacturing. Because this pattern differs with our typical view of structural transformation, a heated debate has begun over the sustainability of Africa’s growth. In our view, Africa’s recent growth is still not well understood and thus it is difficult to say much that is meaningful about future prospects for growth on the continent. Against this background, we adapt Lewis’s (1954) dual-economy model to the economies of Africa to better understand the role that the “in-between” sector as defined by Lewis (1979) has played in Africa’s recent growth. Our framework incorporates the coexistence of a closed and an open modern economy and takes into account the diversity and heterogeneity of the activities that characterize modern African economies.
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spelling CGSpace1504822025-11-06T05:37:31Z Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model Diao, Xinshen McMillan, Margaret S. structural adjustment economic growth mathematical models economic development econometric models Africa’s recent economic growth is at a historical high, the patterns associated with this growth appear to be quite different from the Asian experiences where rapid growth was fueled by labor intensive, export-oriented manufacturing. Because this pattern differs with our typical view of structural transformation, a heated debate has begun over the sustainability of Africa’s growth. In our view, Africa’s recent growth is still not well understood and thus it is difficult to say much that is meaningful about future prospects for growth on the continent. Against this background, we adapt Lewis’s (1954) dual-economy model to the economies of Africa to better understand the role that the “in-between” sector as defined by Lewis (1979) has played in Africa’s recent growth. Our framework incorporates the coexistence of a closed and an open modern economy and takes into account the diversity and heterogeneity of the activities that characterize modern African economies. 2014 2024-08-01T02:52:02Z 2024-08-01T02:52:02Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150482 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150433 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151474 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150419 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Diao, Xinshen and McMillan, Margaret S. 2014. Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1380. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150482
spellingShingle structural adjustment
economic growth
mathematical models
economic development
econometric models
Diao, Xinshen
McMillan, Margaret S.
Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title_full Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title_fullStr Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title_full_unstemmed Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title_short Towards understanding economic growth in Africa: A reinterpretation of the Lewis Model
title_sort towards understanding economic growth in africa a reinterpretation of the lewis model
topic structural adjustment
economic growth
mathematical models
economic development
econometric models
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150482
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