CARLETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
African Economic Development
Prof. A.R.M. Ritter
Spring 2009
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST
Note: Works marked with two Asterisks (**) are required readings. One
asterisk indicates “recommended.” The others are optional but should be
useful for essays written in these areas.
I.
Introduction to the Course
Week 1
1. Administrative Matters
2. Introduction: A Brief Historical and Geographical Sketch
**Emmanuel Nnadozie, Editor, African Economic Development, Boston, MA:
Academic Press, 2003, Chapters 1, 2 and 4
II.
Analysing Africa’s Development Record
Weeks 1 and 2
3. Recent patterns of Economic Experience: Growth and Poverty
**Textbook, Chapter 3, 4, and 5
African Development Bank, African Economic Outlook 2007, Website:
http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,3343,en_2649_15162846_38561046_1_1_1_
1,00.html .
This site includes surveys of individual countries and Statistical Tables
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/22/38570654.pdf
UN Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Report on Africa, 2008, Addis Ababa,
2008
Sachs, Jeffrey D., The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York:
Penguin Press, 2005, Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 10.
III.
Human Resources in Africa
Week 2
1. Demography
Textbook, Chapter 6
2. Poverty and Development
Textbook, Chapter 7
UN Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Report on Africa, Addis Ababa,
2005, Chapter 6 “Harnessing globalization to create decent jobs and reduce
poverty.” http://www.uneca.org/era2005/full.pdf
3. Education
Week 3
Textbook, Chapter 10
4. Health
Textbook, Chapter 9
Mid-Term Exam
June 9
IV.
Week 4
Some Sectoral Issues
5. Agriculture and land Tenure
Textbook, Chapter 15
6. The Informal Sector
7. Natural Resources
Week 4 and 5
**African Development Bank, African Development Report 2007, Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007, Chapters 1, 4, 5, and 6. (Skim chapters 2 and 3)
Pedro, Antonio M. A. Mainstreaming Mineral Wealth in Poverty Reduction
Strategies, ECA Policy Paper No. 1. Addis Ababa: U. N. ECA, 2005
http://www.uneca.org/eca_programmes/sdd/documents/Mainstreaming_miner
al_wealth_policy_paper_FINAL_CT.pdf
V.
Africa and the International Economy
Week 5
8. Trade and Development
**Textbook Chapter 18
Amoako, K. Y., Perspectives on Africa's Development, UN Economic
Commission for Africa, 2000, Part Five: “The Imperatives of Regional
Cooperation and Integration.”
*UN Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Report on Africa, Addis
Ababa, 2005, Chapter 6 “Harnessing globalization to create decent jobs
and reduce poverty.” http://www.uneca.org/era2005/full.pdf
UNDP, HDR 2005, Chapter 4, “International Trade: Unlocking the Potential foe
Human Development”
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_chapter_4.pdf
Stiglitz, J. E., and Andrew Charlton, Fair Trade foe All: How Trade Can Promote
Development, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, Chapters 2, 5
and 6.
9. Regional Economic Integration
**Textbook Chapter 19
Amoako, K. Y., Perspectives on Africa's Development, UN Economic Commission
for Africa, 2000, Part Five: “The Imperatives of Regional Cooperation and
Integration.”
http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/publications/books/perspectives_on_africa_s_developme
nt/default.htm
10. “Globalization and Development
**Textbook Chapter 20
11. Development Assistance (Optional Topic; Inclusion depends upon time)
Canadian International Development Agency, Web Site, on Sub-Saharan Africa;]
The Reality of Aid 2004: Focus on Governance and Human Rights, Part II:
Africa, pp. 37-84 http://www.realityofaid.org/roa.php
Theroux, “The Rock Star’s Burden,” New York Times, December 15, 2005.
12. Migration: International and Domestic (Optional Topic; Inclusion depends on
timing)
Textbook, pp113-115
Solimano, Andres, International Migration and the Global Economic Order: An
Overview, World Bank Working Paper No. 2720, November 2001
International Organization for Migration, World Migration 2005: Costs and
Benefits of International Migration, especially Chapters 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10.
13. The International Recession
Reading to be announced
VI.
Some Political Dimensions of Development
14. Ethnic Diversity
**Textbook, Chapter 8
Week 6
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, (NEPAD) Framework Document
A1. “THE PEACE, SECURITY, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL
GOVERNANCE INITIATIVES,”
http://www.nepad.org/2005/files/documents/inbrief.pdf;
15. Democracy
**Textbook, Chapter 11
Amoako, K. Y., Perspectives on Africa's Development, UN Economic
Commission for Africa, 2000, Part IV, “Governance for a Progressing
Africa,”
Paul Collier Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places. Harper
Collins; 2009 Book Review from The Economist, April 1, 2009
16. Political Instability
**Textbook, Chapter 12
**The Economist, “Failed states: Fixing a Broken World” January 29th 2009
World Bank, Can Africa Claim the 21st Century, Washington D.C.: 2000. Chapter
2, “Improving Governance, Managing Conflict, and Rebuilding States,”
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTAFRICA/Resources/complete.pdf
UNDP, HDR 2005, Chapter 5. “Violent Conflict – bringing the real threat into
focus,”
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_chapter_5.pdf