African Econ Dev class

These are some of the readings I assign for my African Economics Development class. (Some of them are gated and require a campus IP address.)

Understanding why African political and economic institutions that promote investment and hence development are weak

• Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. “Why is Africa Poor?“, Economic History of Developing Regions  25, no. 1 June 2010 (2010): 21-50 .
• Jerven, Morton. “African Growth Recurring: An Economic History Perspective On African Growth Episodes, 1690-2010“, Economic History of Developing Regions
• Nunn, Nathan and Leonard Wantchekon. 2009,  “The Slave Trade And The Origins Of Mistrust In Africa” NBER Working Paper 14783.

Importance of human capital, financial capital, and new technology for growth: randomized micro trials

• Mano, Yukichi, Alhassan Iddrisu, Yutaka Yoshino, Tetsushi Sonobe, 2011, “How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training” and see published version here.
• Ashraf, Nava, Xavier Giné, Dean Karlan, 2008, “Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya“
• Fafchamps, Marcel, David McKenzie, Simon Quinn, Christopher Woodruff, 2012, “When is capital enough to get female microenterprises growing? Evidence from a randomized experiment in Ghana“

Here are links to some general interest books on African economic development that are good places to start.

• Duflo, Esther, and Abhijit Banerjee, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
• Miguel, Edward, and Ray Fisman. Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations
• Collier, Paul.  The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It

Spending time in an African village?  Try these:

• Holloway, Kris. Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali
• Robertson, A.F. Community of Strangers: A Journal of Discovery in Uganda
  (one of my all-time favorite books)