Using newly collected national and sub-national data, and historical case studies, this paper argues that differences in innovative capacity, captured by the density of engineers at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution, are important to explaining present income differences, and, in...

In this study, we analyse extended periods of growth in Africa based on panel estimations from 27 African countries during the 1960-1996 period. Only a dozen of such rapid growth episodes are observable in Africa since 1960, and several of them eventually came to an end. We use all existing...

. Political commitment is the key ingredient needed for economic take-off and long-term growth. Poor countries will be unable to escape the vicious circle of poverty unless they and the international community join forces. . Inappropriate financial policies can lead to a decline in and poor...

Emerging Africa is based on the fundamental conviction that, unless growth resumes, poverty cannot be reduced in the least developed countries. This study analyses the factors underlying the renewed dynamism of certain African economies in the 1990s. Several countries are, indeed, trying to meet...