African Successes, Volume I: Government and Institutions (Volume 1) (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

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 raise living standards. Yet Africa has made considerable progress in the past decade, with a 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: Governments 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. Intro -- Contents -- Series Introduction / Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil -- Volume Introduction / Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil -- I. Political Economy and Conflict -- 1. Healing the Wounds: Learning from Sierra Leone's Postwar Institutional Reforms / Katherine Casey, Rachel Glennerster, and Edward Miguel -- 2. The Political Economy of Government Revenues in Postconflict Resource-Rich Africa: Liberia and Sierra Leone / Victor A.B. Davies and Sylvain Dessy -- 3. Does Decentralization Facilitate Access to Poverty-Related Services? Evidence from Benin / Emilie Caldeira, Martial Foucault, and Grégoire Rota-Graziosi -- 4. Demographic Pressure and Institutional Change: Village-Level Response to Rural Population Growth in Burkina Faso / Margaret S. McMillan, William A. Masters, and Harounan Kazianga -- 5. New Tools for the Analysis of Political Power in Africa / Ilia Rainer and Francesco Trebbi -- II. Government Regulation and Basic Institutions -- 6. Deals versus Rules: Policy Implementation Uncertainty and Why Firms Hate It / Mary Hallward-Driemeier, Gita Khun-Jush, and Lant Pritchett -- 7. The Unofficial Economy in Africa / Rafael La Porta and Andrei Shleifer -- 8. State versus Consumer Regulation: An Evaluation of Two Road Safety Interventions in Kenya / James Habyarimana and William Jack -- III. Long-Run Assessments -- 9. Fifteen Years On: Household Incomes in South Africa / Murray Leibbrandt and James Levinsohn -- 10. Is Tanzania a Success Story? A Long-Term Analysis / Sebastian Edwards -- Contributors -- Author Index -- Subject Index 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 raise living standards. Yet Africa has made considerable progress in the past decade, with a 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: Governments 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.