Economies of Africa

This book brings together structural and analytical studies of seven single African countries, together with two studies of groups of countries which, although politically separate have in the past had close economic links. The single countries are Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Sudan. The groups are East Africa, comprising Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania; and Central Africa, comprising Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia.
The countries have been chosen to bring out the main economic issues arising in the efforts of the newly independent African States to achieve economic growth. They are accordingly representative of the great diversity of stages of economic development, size, structure, institutions and policies which are to be found in Africa today. The authors are well known economists. The non-African contributors have lived and worked in the countries they are writing about and nearly all have experience of other developing countries. A number of the authors have participated in the formation of economic policies in African countries and this experience has given them a special insight into problems of African economic policy. The different studies have been built around a common framework and will therefore be par ticularly useful as comparative studies. But al though certain key issues of widespread interest receive discussion in each case, the special features of the individual countries are brought out clearly. The editors provide an introductory chapter which co-ordinates some of the principal data available and discusses the main problems confronting economic policy in Africa today. It thus provides a brief but comprehensive over view of the current situation.
This will be an invaluable handbook for students and for practising economists concerned with Africa and the developing economies generally. Even specialists in some of the areas concerned will find interest and value in the studies of countries with which they are not so familiar.