"Considering the heterogeneity of the countries of southern Africa and the presence of South Africa and other middle-income countries in the region, southern Africa has a unique opportunity to exploit agricultural potential and regional trade opportunities through regional dynamics and...

"In this paper, the authors analyze the potential economic impacts of avian influenza (AI) in West Africa, taking Nigeria as an example. They find that, depending on the size of the affected areas, the direct impact of the spread of AI along the two major migratory bird flyways would be the loss...

"Rapid growth in the agricultural sector is central to any strategy for slashing poverty and hunger on the African continent. Yet investments aimed at increasing agricultural productivity need to be linked to market opportunities if they are not to depress commodity prices and farm incomes. It...

"This study assesses which agricultural subsectors have the strongest capacity to drive economic growth and poverty reduction in Ethiopia, and what kind of agricultural and nonagricultural growth is needed to achieve the millennium development goal of halving the 1990 poverty rate by 2015. A...

"This paper provides a nuanced perspective on debates about the potential for Africa's smallholder agriculture to stimulate growth and alleviate poverty in an increasingly integrated world. In particular, the paper synthesizes both the traditional theoretical literature on agriculture's role in...

"This study focuses on public investments and policy reforms for leveraging growth spillovers at the African regional level. A conceptual framework that is built on the endogenous growth theory and the new economic geography is presented first to gain a better understanding of the underlying...

"Identifying growth poles in the SSA region, strengthening linkages and generating mutual benefits across African countries is an important part of the strategy to promote agriculture-led growth at the Africa-wide scale. Using agricultural trade data, this study focuses on identifying major...

"While, politically speaking, China has a centralized government structure with strong top-down mandates, under the country’s current fiscal system, local governments are responsible for providing most local public goods and services. Large differences in economic structures and revenue bases...

"Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Despite substantial reform during the 1990s, the economy has remained heavily dependent on urban-based mining. Copper's long-standing dominance led to a strong bias against agriculture, which undermined the sector's growth and export potential....

"Since the early 1990s, Uganda has been one of Africa's fastest growing countries. However, at the sub-national level, growth has been uneven due to civil conflict in the northern region. Using a panel of household and community level data, this paper examines the links between security and...