Closing the Development Gap in Africa

Abstract

A major conclusion from this book is that the economic performance of African countries has been impressive in the past decade, compared to the 1980s and 1990s. Although it is uncertain whether this performance will be sustained, it is clear that the African economic landscape is changing in unprecedented ways. While regaling in Africa’s growth performance, a crucial question must be posed: given the region’s abundant resources, demographic profile, rich culture, and untapped potentials, can it do better? Trivializing this question runs the risk of making African countries seem complacent about the need to maximize their performance. As a matter of fact, Africa does suffer from a “development gap.” A development gap exists when a country’s economic performance falls short of what can be expected, given its resources and the performance of peers. Many African countries are still far inside their “development frontiers.” Indeed, with the appropriate policy and institutiona