The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics Volume 2: Policies and Practices

A popular myth about the travails of Africa holds that the continent's long history of poor economic performance reflects the inability of its leaders and policymakers to fulfill the long list of preconditions to be met before sustained growth can be achieved. These conditions are said to vary from the necessary quantity and quality of physical and human capital to the appropriate institutions and business environments. While intellectually charming and often elegantly formulated, that conventional wisdom is actually contradicted by historical evidence and common sense. It also suggests a form of intellectual mimicry that posits a unique path to prosperity for all countries regardless of their level of development and economic structure. In fact, the argument underlining that reasoning is tautological, and the policy prescriptions derived from it are fatally teleological: low-income countries are by definition those where such ingredients are missing. None of today's high-income countries started its growth process with the "required" and complete list of growth ingredients. Unless one truly believes that the continent of Africa-and most developing countries-are ruled predominantly if not exclusively by plutocrats with a high propensity for sadomasochism, the conventional view must be re-examined, debated, and questioned. This volume-the second of the ^lOxford Handbook of Africa and Economics-reassesses the economic policies and practices observed across the continent since independence. It offers a collection of analyses by some of the leading economists and development thinkers of our time, and reflects a wide range of perspectives and viewpoints. Africa's emergence as a potential economic powerhouse in the years and decades ahead amply justifies the scope and ambition of the book.

1 - African Growth Strategies: The Past, Present, and Future
2 - Africa's Quiet Revolution
3 - Monetary Policy Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa
4 - The Future of African Monetary Geography
5 - The CFA Franc Zone: A Biography
6 - African Monetary Unions: An Obituary
7 - Challenges of Central Banking in Africa
8 - Fiscal Policy in Africa
9 - African Debt and Debt Relief
10 - Savings, Capital Flight, and African Development
11 - Regional Integration in Africa: Challenges and Prospects
12 - Natural Resources: Utilizing the Precious Boon
13 - Rediscovering Structural Change: Manufacturing, Natural Resources and Industrialization
14 - Innovation Capabilities for Sustainable Development in Africa
15 - Land Tenure and Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa
16 - Agriculture, Growth, and Development in Africa: Theory and Practice
17 - Capacity Development for Transformation
18 - Gold Mining and Economic and Social Change in West Africa
19 - The Economic Impacts of New Technologies in Africa
20 - Infrastructure in Africa
21 - Financial Inclusion in Africa : Obstacles and Opportunities
22 - Financial Markets Development in Africa: Reflections and the Way Forward
23 - Islamic Finance in North Africa
24 - Regulatory Reform for Closing Africa's Competitiveness Gap
25 - School Enrollment, Attainment, and Returns to Education in Africa
26 - Mobility, Human Capital, Remittances, and Economic Transformation
27 - Health, Growth, and Development in Africa
28 - The Economics of Malaria in Africa
29 - An Empirical Analysis of the Economics of Marriage in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia
30 - Economics, Women, and Gender: The African Story
31 - Gender, Economic Growth, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
32 - Gender Economics in North Africa
33 - The Economics of the African Media
34 - What Do Development NGOs Achieve?
35 - Trade Unions in South Africa
36 - African Development Banks: Lessons for Development Economics
37 - The Political Economy of Aid in North Africa
38 - Aid to Africa: The Changing Context
39 - Remittances to Africa and Economics
40 - Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Lessons for Economics
41 - International Capital Flows to Africa
42 - The Three Phases/Faces of China in Independent Africa: Reconceptualizing China-Africa Engagement
43 - Aid to Africa: Emerging Trends and Issues
44 - China-Africa Cooperation in Structural Transformation: Ideas, Opportunities, and Finances
45 - China's Rise and Structural Transformation in Africa: Ideas and Opportunities
46 - Economics and Policy: Some Lessons from Africa's Experience
47 - The Prospects for an Imminent Demographic Dividend in Africa: The Case for Cautious Optimism
48 - Africa's Demographic Transition and Economic Prospects

Célestin Monga is Vice-President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank Group. He previously served as Managing Director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and Senior Economic Adviser-Director at the World Bank. He is also a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Peking University. Dr. Monga has published extensively on various dimensions of economic and political development. His books have been translated into several languages and are widely used as teaching tools in academic institutions around the world. His most recent works include Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries (Princeton University Press, 2017), with Justin Yifu Lin; and Nihilism and Negritude: Ways of Living in Africa (Harvard University Press, 2016). Dr. Monga holds graduate degrees from MIT, Harvard University, the Universities of Paris and Pau. Justin Yifu Lin is Councillor of the State Council and Professor and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. He was the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, 2008-2012. Prior to this, Professor Lin served for 15 years as Founding Director and Professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. He is a member of the Standing Committee, Chinese People's Political Consultation Conference, and Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for Developing World.