Trade, Exchange Rate, and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Jean-Paul Azam

• ISBN13: 9780521865364
• ISBN10: 0521865360
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this sophisticated yet accessible analysis of the open economies of Sub-Saharan Africa, Jean-Paul Azam analyses international trade, exchange rate issues, and longer-term growth, taking due account of the distinctive features of African economies. In particular, he examines the informal as well as the formal institutional frameworks which prevail in different African countries and which affect their macroeconomic behaviour. Key issues explored include tariffs and quotas, membership of the CFA Zone, and currency convertibility or inconvertibility, as well as smuggling, corruption, parallel markets in goods and currencies, ethnic diversity and redistribution. Case studies of important macroeconomic events are used to establish basic stylized facts from which the theory emerges, and special attention is paid to the consequences of macroeconomic events for the poor, via the food market or traditional redistribution mechanisms.

Author Biography

Jean-Paul Azam is Professor of Economics at the University of Toulouse and the Institut Universitaire de France

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	vi
Preface	xi
List of acronyms and abbreviations	xvi
1 Introduction and overview	1
Part I Unrecorded trade in goods and currencies	9
2 The welfare implications of unrecorded cross-border trade	11
3 Parallel trade and currency convertibility	45
Part II Foreign exchange constraints	67
4 Dollars for sale: inflation and the black market premium	69
5 The public debt constraint in the CFA Zone	105
6 Currency crises, food, and the "Cola nut" effect	134
Part III Longer-term growth in African countries	171
7 Exchange rate, growth, and poverty	173
8 Export crops, human capital, and endogenous growth	197
9 Ethnic rents and the politics of redistribution	213
General conclusion	239
References	240
Index	255