The road oft traveled: developmental policies and majority state ownership of industry in Africa
According to the author most African countries after independence opted for state owned enterprises in the export-producing sectors that led to inward-looking policies of economic development. He tries to show from case studies with data from 1960 to 1986 that this was the reason for poor economic growth in most African countries. For him state ownership is negatively related to income. Insinuating that his analysis applies to present-day Africa the author ignores that most countries were forced by IMF and the World since mid-1980s to privatise parastatals and to follow outward-looking economic policies - without convincing results in the growth and poverty-reducing field. (GIGA-Sbd)