Analysis of the direction in which Ghana's policy makers will need to steer the economy for Ghana to fulfil the promise of its independence over 50 years ago. As Ghana enters its second half-century there is a widespread perception of failure of the economic and political system in delivering improved living standards to the population. This failure comes despite a solid transition to democracy, despite a recorded recovery from the economic malaise of previous decades and despite a reduction on measured levels of poverty. The contributors in this book analyse the reasons for this failure and sets out an analytical agenda as the basis of the course that the nations' policy makers will have to steer if Ghana is to fulfil the promise of its independence in 1957. ERNEST ARYEETEY is Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social& Economic Research, University of Ghana at Legon; RAVI KANBUR is Professor of Economics at Cornell University. The contributors include: Ernest Aryeetey, Ravi Kanbur, Tony Killick, Augustin Fosu, Charles E. Youngblood,David L. Franklin, Stephen Kyereme, Frank W. Agbola, Susanna Wolf, Daniel Bruce Sarpong, Peter Quartey, Theresa Blankson, Thierry Buchs, Johan Mathiesen, William F. Steel, David O. Andah, Harold Coulombe, Anthony Tsekpo, CharlesD. Jebuni, Andy Mckay, Nii K.Sowa, Kojo Appiah-Kubi, Abena Oduro, Bernadin Senadza, Felix A. Asante, Joseph R.A. Ayee, Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong, Elizabeth N. Appiah, Niels-Hugo Blunch, G.J.M. Van Den Boom, N.N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, and, G.B. Overbosch. Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services(PB)

Title first publishedin 2003. This comprehensive book focuses on the prevailing conditions in Asia and Africa under various macroeconomic and sectoral themes in order to provide in depth explanations for the divergent development experiences of the two regions. Seeking to go further than the simple comparison of policies, the book carefully examines the institutional context for policy implementation within which growth and development have proceeded in the regions.

Title first publishedin 2003. This comprehensive book focuses on the prevailing conditions in Asia and Africa under various macroeconomic and sectoral themes in order to provide in depth explanations for the divergent development experiences of the two regions. Seeking to go further than the simple comparison of policies, the book carefully examines the institutional context for policy implementation within which growth and development have proceeded in the regions.

Financial Integration and Development examines the effects of financial liberalization on development, with particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Looking at the relationship between formal and informal institutions, it focuses on structural features that separate formal and informal segments of the financial system.
The findings are based on field work conducted in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania, and lead the way to a reassessment of the design of financial reform programmes and some proposals for effective institution-building policies.

While many countries may embrace globalization at the conceptual level, the specifics of implementation vary greatly from country to country. Testing Global Interdependence poses such questions as: How is openness exercised? How does a country join the international globalization trend? What mechanisms are available to help societies adjust to globalization? The book draws upon the diverse experiences of multiple countries as they react to the practicalities of globalization and succeeds in discovering the gains resulting from particular trade policies, anti-poverty measures, migration patterns and foreign aid packages. The diverse narratives contained within the book ultimately suggest how to limit globalization's negative aspects and ensure constructive engagement in the global community. This, the first book in the Global Development Network series, brings together the views of researchers from the developing and developed world and provides models of successful research conducted in developing and transition countries. This study will appeal to academics and researchers in political economy, development studies, international economics, migration and globalization as well as public policy. In addressing policy implications, the work will also be of great value to policy-oriented researchers, policymakers and development agencies worldwide.

Dramatic increases in food prices, as witnessed on a global scale in recent years, threaten the food security of hundreds of millions of the rural poor in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. This book focuses on recent food and financial crises as they have affected Africa, illustrating the problems using country case studies, that cover their origins, effects on agriculture and rural poverty, their underlying factors and making recommendations as to how such crises could best be addressed in the future.

This work discusses the economic reforms that have taken place in Ghana since independence in 1957. It includes sections on: structure and growth; fiscal, savings and investment policies; the external sector; factor markets; sectoral performance; socio-economic development; and the future. Since independence in 1957, Ghana has tried a number of approaches to achieving acceptable rates of growth and development. A period of rapid industrialization in the 1960s, then control measures and further state interventions inthe 1970s, was followedby a comprehensive programme from the mid-1980s based on a policy of economic liberalization. However, initial growth and macroeconomic stability has not been sustained beyond the short term. This work discusses the economic reforms that have taken placein Ghana since independence in 1957. It includes sections on: structure and growth; fiscal, savings and investment policies; the external sector; factor markets; sectoral performance; socio-economic development; and the future. North America: Africa World Press; Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services

Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly a rural and agricultural phenomenon. The large majority of all poor are farmers and herders, therefore as long as the poor remain smallholders, alleviation of poverty remains an agricultural task. African Smallholders documents the farm-level effects of agricultural policies, focusing on a variety of themes including micro-credit, infrastructure, cash crop production and food security. To deepen our understanding of agricultural development it discusses staple food production in sub-Saharan Africa and its response to changing geo-political, macro-economic and agricultural policy. It is a useful resource for all those researching or involved with food security, agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa.

The persistence of poverty in many developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the face of increased globalisation and rapid trade liberalisation during the past two decades has inspired considerable debate on the impact of globalisation, in general, and trade liberalisation, in particular, on poverty. In Ghana, as in many other African countries, poverty remains the fundamental problem confronting policy makers in the new millennium as highlighted in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy. Yet, between 1991 and 2006, the headcount index of poverty fell by 23.2 percentage points with the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line falling from 51.7% in 1991/92 to 28.5% in 2005/06. Poverty had fallen in the countryside as well as in the towns, though progress had been more rapid in rural areas. This optimism is, however, tempered by the fact that while poverty declined, inequality increased significantly during the same period. Large reductions in the incidence of poverty have occurred among private sector employees in both the formal and informal sectors, and among public sector wage employees, but export farmers have experienced the largest reduction in consumption poverty. Poverty reduction among the large numbers of food crop farmers, on the other hand, has been modest. Reductions in the incidence of poverty over the period have been smaller also for the non-farm self employed and informal sector wage employees. A recent publication by the World Bank suggests that had there been no change in inequality, the reduction in poverty would have reached 27.5 percentage points, so that Ghana would have achieved the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing poverty by half in relation to its level of 1991/92. This book is one response to the challenge posed by the paucity of recent empirical evidence on the poverty and distributional impacts of trade policy reform in Ghana. The main objective of the study is to contribute to our understanding of the poverty and distributional impact of trade policy reform in Ghana by analyzing how trade liberalisation affects the well-being of households and in particular, if the outcome it generates is pro-poor, with particular interest in the gender-differentiated impact.

As Ghana approaches its 60th birthday, optimism and worries for the future continue to be present in equal measure. Economic growth in the last decade has been high by historical standards. Indeed, recent rebasing of GDP figures has put Ghana over the per capita income threshold into Middle Income Country status. However, structural transformation has lagged behind. Fiscal discipline has also eroded significantly and there is heavy borrowing, especially on the commercial market, while elements of the natural resource curse from oil have already occurred. The question most observers ask is whether the gains from two decades of reforms are being reversed. Given this background, this volume brings together leading established and young economists, from within and outside Ghana, to analyze and assess the challenges facing Ghana's economy as it enters its seventh decade and the nation heads towards three quarters of a century of independence. The chapters cover the major macroeconomic and sectoral issues, including fiscal and monetary policy, trade and industrialization, agriculture and infrastructure. The volume also covers a full range of social issues including poverty and inequality, education, health, gender, and social protection. The book also examines the implications of the oil boom for Ghanaian development, and the role of institutions.