Created November 2002. This page emphasizes survey articles and recent empirical work using cross-country data. Some of these papers give references to historical analyses and a broader variety of empirical work. See also the references on ethnic diversity.
Introductory reading
Bloom, David E. and Sachs, Jeffrey D. (1998). Geography, demography, and economic growth in Africa. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 207-73.
Collier, Paul and Gunning, Jan Willem (1999). Why has Africa grown slowly? Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer, 13(3), 3-22.
Collier, Paul and Gunning, Jan Willem (1999). Explaining African economic performance. Journal of Economic Literature, March, 37(1), 64-111.
Easterly, William and Levine, Ross (1997). Africa’s growth tragedy: policies and ethnic divisions. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, November, 1203-1250.
Freeman, Richard B. and Lindauer, David L. (1999). Why not Africa? NBER working paper no. 6942.
Sachs, Jeffrey D. and Warner, Andrew M. (1997). Sources of slow growth in African economies. Journal of African Economies, October, 6(3), 335-76.
Further reading
Block, Steven A. (2001). Does Africa grow differently? Journal of Development Economics, August, 65(2), 443-67.
Easterly, William and Levine, Ross (1998). Troubles with the neighbours: Africa’s problem, Africa’s opportunity. Journal of African Economies, March, 7(1), 120-42.
Hoeffler, Anke E. (2002). The augmented Solow model and the African growth debate. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, May, 64(2), 135-58.
Temple, Jonathan (1998). Initial conditions, social capital, and growth in Africa. Journal of African Economies, 7(3), 309-347.