Economic Transformation for Poverty Reduction in Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Hotez

Abstract Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago, both extreme poverty and parasitic infections and other neglected tropical diseases were highly prevalent. Owing to social development, particularly economic reforms since the 1980s, poverty has since been dramatically reduced, and China became increasingly urbanized and industrialized. In parallel, China’s economic transformation translated into similar and remarkable reductions in neglected tropical diseases. Qian and colleagues report in their review published in Infectious Diseases of Poverty, the elimination or near elimination as a public health problem of lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases. Of note, neglected tropical disease control and poverty reduction each appear to reinforce the other. China’s formula for success in parasitic and neglected tropical disease control might translate to other parts of the world, such as in sub-Saharan Africa through China’s new Belt and Road Initiative.


The chapter describes the planning support systems. It presents the resurgence of development planning and its evolution from focus on poverty reduction to a renewed emphasis on structural economic transformation. What conclusions can be drawn from experiences of countries that have succeeded in transforming their economies? Constraints of the planning are examined with examples of usage of geographic information systems, geospatial data infrastructure, and geospatial decision support system, as support for planning support systems and collaborative spatial decision making. Usages for the design on territorial, urban planning, and selected national public policies are presented.


Author(s):  
Seid Nuru

Investment in infrastructure has a central role in the development agenda and is critical for supporting economic growth and poverty reduction. Infrastructure affects growth through two channels: directly through physical capital accumulation and indirectly through improvement in productivity. Investment in infrastructure enhances private sector activities by lowering the cost of production and opening new markets. Infrastructure investment in power generation, water, sanitation, and housing improves the social well-being of citizens. This chapter examines the pace and scale of infrastructure development in Ethiopia in the post-1991 period. The unparalleled expansion of infrastructure since the EPRDF came to power in 1991 has had a significant influence on the trajectory of Ethiopia’s economic growth. Investment in infrastructure now accounts for more than 15 per cent of GDP annually. Heavy investments in power, roads, rail network, irrigation, aviation, and logistics have helped to unleash the country’s potential both economically and as a major manufacturing hub in Africa.


Author(s):  
Hazel Gray

The terms of debate on the role of institutions in economic development are changing. Stable market institutions, in particular secure private property rights and democratically accountable governments that uphold the rule of law, are widely seen to be a prerequisite for economic transformation in low-income countries. Yet over the last thirty years, economic growth and structural transformation has surged forward in a range of countries where market and state institutions have differed from these ideals, as well as from each other. This book studies the role of the state in economic transformation in two such countries, Tanzania and Vietnam. These were two of the poorest countries in the world in the early 1980s but, over the last thirty years, both have experienced significant changes in the pace and character of economic development. While both countries experienced faster rates of GDP growth, their paths of economic transformation were very different. Vietnam experienced rapid manufacturing growth and poverty reduction while Tanzania’s path of economic change was characterized by the rise of mining and a much slower pace of poverty reduction. Employing a political settlements approach, this book argues that their paths of economic transformation were mediated by the lasting influence of differences in the institutions and distributions of power that had been forged during the socialist period. The comparison generates new insights into the variable relationship between political order and economic outcomes.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Nhemachena ◽  
Luxon Nhamo ◽  
Greenwell Matchaya ◽  
Charity R. Nhemachena ◽  
Binganidzo Muchara ◽  
...  

Agriculture remains important in driving economic transformation, sustainable livelihoods, and development in developing countries. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis and discussion of climate change impacts on water and agriculture sectors and implications for the attainment of developmental outcomes such as food security, poverty reduction, and sustainable development in Southern Africa. The review gives policy messages for coping, adapting, and building resilience of water and agricultural production systems in the face of projected changes in climate and variability. The aim is to guide the region towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Future projections for Southern Africa indicate reduced rainfall, increased temperatures, and high variability for the greater part of the region with severe reductions on the drier and marginal western parts. These impacts have profound implications for agriculture performance and contribution to national and regional developmental goals. The region is projected to experience reductions of between 15% and 50% in agricultural productivity, a scenario that would exacerbate food insecurity in the region. The challenge is to increase productivity on current arable land through efficient and sustainable management of available water and energy, and at the same time reducing pressure on the environment. Affordability and accessibility of innovative adaptation measures on water resources remain critical and these strategies should be part of broader sustainable development efforts. Overall, efforts to enhance agricultural productivity need to emphasise investments in sustainable management and use of water and energy resources in agriculture to achieve sustainable economic growth and livelihoods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ana Lugo ◽  
Chiyu Niu ◽  
Ruslan Yemtsov

Rural poverty in China fell from 96 percent in 1980 to less than 1 percent of the population in 2019. Using PovcalNet data for China and a set of comparable countries, this paper estimates growth-poverty elasticities. It finds that China stands out for its record of sustained, fast growth, rather than because of an unusually high growth-poverty elasticity. In addition, changes in mean consumption, rather than changes in the distribution, drive poverty reduction. Furthermore, until 2010, changes in inequality attenuated the impact of growth on poverty. The paper also studies which channels mattered the most for rural poverty reduction by applying a decomposition framework to multiple rounds of Chinese Household Income Project surveys conducted in 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2013, and 2018. The findings show that broad-based, labor-intensive growth in agriculture was initially the main driving force for rural poverty reduction, followed by the expansion of non-agriculture sectors. As the country’s poverty rate approached 10 percent by 2007, transfers from migrant workers and, later, public transfers became the major drivers of further rural poverty reduction. Throughout the period, the fall in the demographic dependency rate also played a significant role. As China’s living standards continue to rise, the official definition of poverty will have to adjust to the higher minimum. Continued structural transformation and the inclusive growth agenda retain crucial importance for sustained poverty reduction. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)


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