Suchergebnisse

This study examines the structural transformation-inclusive growth nexus for Ghana. The data cover the post-independence period for Ghana and are phased into three periods: the post-independence period to the start of the economic recovery programme (ERP) and structural adjustment programme (SAP) (1957-83), the ERP/SAP period to the start of oil production (1984-2010), and the start of oil production to date (2010-17). The paper finds that structural transformation has been generally weak and also associated with limited inclusive growth. In part, the legacy problem relating to political settlements, and with its roots in the immediate post-independence policies, has been important in shaping these outcomes. The paper concludes by noting that there is potential for the country to move to a path where structural transformation will be more impactful for inclusive growth. However, the risk of adverse political settlements still mitigating this potential impact remains.

The concept of embeddedness plays a central role in the segment of economic sociology and social theory which is inspired by the works of Karl Polanyi. But to the extent that embeddedness is understood in a substantialist manner, implying the existence of a unitary lifeworld, the desire for embeddedness is an impossible aspiration under modern conditions. Throughout the modern era it is however possible to observe the emergence of complex societal stabilization mechanisms, which serve as substitutes to traditional forms of embeddedness. The emergence of function specific cultures, in the form of, for example, legal, political and scientific cultures, establishing a 'second nature' in the Hegelian sense, is one example of this. Other examples are (neo-)corporatist institutions which fulfilled a central stabilising role in classical modernity and the kind of network based governance arrangements which fulfil a similar position in today's radicalised modernity.