Trade and development in sub-Saharan Africa /

This volume is timely given the deteriorating position of Africa's trade relative to other lesser developed areas and the world as a whole. Drawing on six case studies, contributors attempt to explain why sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) performed so dismally in the postindependence period. Internal and external factors are examined utilizing detailed statistics and econometric techniques. Although they recognize some political constraints and distributional consequences, most contributing authors heavily favor liberalization, largely blaming SSA's export malaise on faulty government policies (e.g., overvalued exchange rates, low producer prices, protectionist measures). The book contains detailed and useful information in areas such as tariff and nontariff trade barriers against African exports to developed countries, but breaks little new ground on a theoretical level. It does not deal seriously with important questions like Africa's enormous debt, which will continue to constrain improvements on the current account, nor does it really address how Africa can move from its problematic reliance on primary exports toward more lucrative manufacturing exports. Adjustment or Delinking? The African Experience ed. by Azzam Mahjoub (1989) offers a rather different perspective on some of these issues. Recommended for specialized collections on Africa.-H. Stein, Roosevelt University