Some disconnected thoughts and resources for those of you writing an answer for question 1 - Africa is well-placed to achieve rapid and sustainable development in the decade ahead. Do you agree?
* Is "Africa" a sensible unit of analysis? Is it useful to aggregate economies like South Africa and Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Malawi, Egypt and Congo? Might some countries grow rapidly and others slowly? Which countries and why (e.g. oil exporters vs importers)?
* How have the recently-industrialised Asian economies like S Korea, Singapore and Malaysia (or the BRIC) achieved their economic growth? Can Africa learn lessons?
* Primary product dependency can be a problem. However, Saudi Arabia managed to create sustainable economic growth from its oil dependency by a system of centrally-planned five year plans that invested the proceeds of oil sales in infrastructure, industry and education. Can some African countries do the same?
* To what extent does economic growth depend on peace and political stability? What are the prospects?
* What role might Chinese investment in, and trading links with, Africa help (or hinder)?
* How important is a stable, transparent and effective legal framework? What about corruption and the informal sector?
* AIDS has seriously damaged some African countries' human capital. Will this improve?
* African productivity is very low - can productivity gains fuel sustainable growth?
Some resources .....
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Whats_driving_Africas_growth_2601
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4985858.stm (quite old)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13984044
http://blogs.odi.org.uk/blogs/main/archive/2010/09/10/africa_economic_growth_state_business_relations.aspx
GOOD LUCK! Remember, the closing date is in two weeks time (Monday April 30th).
Use this link to apply:
https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/res-young-economist-of-the-year-2012/
