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.

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.

Africa is a diverse continent. But is there a pattern to the diversity? Are there commonalities across the countries? And what does economics tell us about the diversity and the commonalities? The Oxford Companion to the Economics of Africa is a definitive and comprehensive account of the key issues and topics affecting Africa's ability to grow and develop. It includes 53 thematic and 48 country perspectives by a veritable who's who of more than 100 leading economic analysts of Africa. The contributors include: bright new African researchers based in Africa; renowned academics from the top Universities in Africa, Europe and North America; present and past Chief Economists of the African Development Bank; present and past Chief Economists for Africa of the World Bank; present and past Chief Economists of the World Bank; African Central Bank governors and finance ministers; and four Nobel Laureates in Economics.

Africa is a diverse continent. But is there a pattern to the diversity? Are there commonalities across the countries? And what does economics tell us about the diversity and the commonalities?
The Oxford Companion to the Economics of Africa is a definitive and comprehensive account of the key issues and topics affecting Africa's ability to grow and develop. It includes 53 thematic and 48 country perspectives by a veritable who's who of more than 100 leading economic analysts of Africa. The contributors include: bright new African researchers based in Africa; renowned academics from the top Universities in Africa, Europe and North America; present and past Chief Economists of the African Development Bank; present and past Chief Economists for Africa of the World Bank; present and past Chief Economists of the World Bank; African Central Bank governors and finance ministers; and four Nobel Laureates in Economics.

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.

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.