Explaining cross-country differences in growth rates requires not only an understanding of the link between growth and public policies, but also an understanding of why countries choose different public policies. This paper shows that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial systems, distorted foreign exchange markets, high government deficits, and insufficient infrastructure. Africa's high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics.

https://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/17_easterly_levine_africasgrowthtragedy_prp.pdf

Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions

How does a state's natural resource wealth influence its economic development? For the past fifty years, versions of this question have been explored by both economists and political scientists. New research suggests that resource wealth tends to harm economic growth, yet there is little agreement on why this occurs. This article reviews a wide range of recent attempts in both economics and political science to explain the “resource curse.” It suggests that much has been learned about the economic problems of resource exporters but less is known about their political problems. The disparity between strong findings on economic matters and weak findings on political ones partly reflects the failure of political scientists to carefully test their own theories.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0043887100008200

The Political Economy of the Resource Curse

Africa has had slow growth and a massive exodus of capital. In many respects it has been the most capital-hostile region. We review and interpret the aggregate-level and microeconomic literatures to identify the key explanations for this performance. There is a reasonable correspondence of the two sets of evidence, pointing to four factors as being important. These are a lack of openness to international trade; a high-risk environment; a low level of social capital; and poor infrastructure. These problems are to a substantial extent attributable to government behavior, and the paper includes a review of the political economy literature addressing that behavior.

Explaining African Economic Performance

Africa has had slow growth and a massive exodus of capital In many respects it has been the most capital-hostile region We review and interpret the aggregate-level and microeconomic literatures to identify the key explanations for this performance There is a reasonable correspondence of the two sets of evidence, pointing to four factors as being important These are a lack of openness to international trade; a high-risk environment; a low level of social capital; and poor infrastructure These problems are to a substantial extent attributable to government behaviour and the paper includes a review of the political economy literature which addresses that behaviour

/pdf/explaining-african-economic-performance-w6vw7mzskn.pdf

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w2999/w2999.pdf

Policy uncertainty and private investment in developing countries

Sources of stagnation in sub-Saharan Africa

Basic needs fulfillment and economic growth: A simultaneous model

In broad outline, the emerging dynamics in the world automotive industry look similar to those in electronics. Three features of the current competitive environment are particularly noteworthy. First, microelectronics are having a powerful impact on production technologies in the industrial countries. Possibilities for labor-saving mass production or flexible custom assembly are expanding rapidly. Secondly, product innovation continues at a rapid pace. Microelectronics and new materials are beginning to have a pronounced impact on automotive products. Some current models incorporate high-strength plastic body components and radically new transmission and steering systems. The next few years will witness replacement of metal by ceramics in major engine components; replacement of traditional wiring by single-cable communications systems linking smart power chips; and the advent of computer mapping and first-generation vehicle guidance systems.

The Automobile Industry

Four new cross-conjugated small molecules based on a central benzo[1,2-d:4,5-d′]bisoxazole moiety possessing semi-independently tunable HOMO and LUMO levels were synthesized and the properties of these materials were evaluated experimentally and theoretically. The molecules were thermally stable with 5% weight loss occurring well above 350 °C. The cruciforms all exhibited blue emission in solution ranging from 433–450 nm. Host–guest OLEDs fabricated from various concentrations of these materials using the small molecule host 4,4′-bis(9-carbazolyl)-biphenyl (CBP) exhibited deep blue-emission with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.17, 0.05 ≤ y ≤ 0.11), and maximum luminance efficiencies as high as ∼2 cd A−1. These results demonstrate the potential of benzobisoxazole cruciforms as emitters for developing high-performance deep blue OLEDs.

/pdf/benzobisoxazole-cruciforms-a-tunable-cross-conjugated-4h93io6pd1.pdf

David Wheeler

Papers

Sources of stagnation in sub-Saharan Africa

Basic needs fulfillment and economic growth: A simultaneous model

The Automobile Industry

Benzobisoxazole cruciforms: a tunable, cross-conjugated platform for the generation of deep blue OLED materials

Towards a vanishing middle: Competition in the world garment industry