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CATEGORIES:African Economic History Seminar
SUMMARY:‘From Oil Shocks to Structural Adjustment in Two A
 frican Beverage-Crop Economies: Ghana and Kenya Co
 mpared\, 1973-1983’ - Gareth Austin\, King's Colle
 ge\, Cambridge
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20210126T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20210126T190000
UID:TALK155953AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/155953
DESCRIPTION:This paper offers a bilateral comparative approach
  to understanding the marked inter-country variati
 ons within the history of economic growth in post-
 independence Africa. It focusses on the critical p
 eriod from the OPEC oil-price shocks to the adopti
 on of Structural Adjustment\; the former has often
  been seen as a cause of the latter. Rather than t
 he now customary cross-country-regression approach
  to comparison\, the paper aims to examine in more
  depth\, using both quantitative and qualitative s
 ources\, two former British colonies which shared 
 enough to make their differences analytically sign
 ificant. Among their similarities\, Ghana and Keny
 a specialized in exporting beverage crops\, whose 
 world prices boomed in 1976-1978\, offsetting the 
 first oil shock. Yet\, within the range of “Afro-p
 essimistic” stories\, their trajectories contraste
 d. Kenyan income p.c.\, up a third over 1963-1972\
 , stagnated during 1973-1983 overall\; much worse\
 , Ghanaian income had stagnated in 1963-1972\; and
  fell a third by 1983. During these economic trans
 itions\, respectively\, from expansion to stagnati
 on\, and from stagnation to decline\, Kenya had on
 e change of government\, Ghana four\, including tw
 o junior-ranks “revolutions”.\nThe paper argues\, 
 first\, that the proximate cause of the contrast i
 n growth performance was not government interventi
 on in general\, but a specific difference in the e
 xtent and form of state intervention. Second\, it 
 explores the reasons for this policy difference\, 
 in the process testing two theoretical approaches 
 which paid particular attention to Kenya and/or Gh
 ana in the period under review: the Dependency-Mar
 xist controversy about the nature of African capit
 alisms in the 1970s\, and Batesian rational-choice
  analysis. It is argued that\, while both ‘structu
 ral’ explanations take us part of the way\, a full
  explanation has to take seriously both ideology a
 nd contingency.
LOCATION:Zoom: to receive link please register at https://w
 ww.hist.cam.ac.uk/event-series/african-economic-hi
 story
CONTACT:Gareth Austin
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