The conventional wisdom in Africa is that economic reforms may have stimulated economic growth, but the benefits of this growth have been uneven, favoring urban households and farmers with good market access. This idea, although quite plausible, has rarely been tested empirically. In this paper,...

Economic reforms in Tanzania have resulted in low inflation and solid economic growth, but many observers question whether the standard of living of ordinary Tanzanians has improved. Furthermore, there is a strong suspicion that the benefits have been concentrated among the urban population and...

Prepared for the Comesa policy seminar on “Variation in staple food prices: Causes, consequence, and policy options”, Maputo, Mozambique, 25-26 January 2010 under the African Agricultural Marketing Project (AAMP)