Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and Institutions to Promote Efficiency

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1550-8

Publication:
Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and Institutions to Promote Efficiency

dc.contributor.author	Calderon, Cesar
dc.date.accessioned	2022-01-03T17:58:07Z
dc.date.available	2022-01-03T17:58:07Z
dc.date.issued	2022-01-03
dc.description.abstract	This book documents the productivity trends in Sub-Saharan Africa in three different dimensions, assessing productivity at the aggregate level, the sectoral level, and the establishment level. It characterizes the evolution of productivity in the region relative to other countries and regions, as well as country groups in Africa, classified by their degree of natural resource abundance and condition of fragility. The volume suggests that the persistence of the productivity gap in Africa vis-à-vis the technological frontier can be attributed to the slow accumulation of physical and human capital relative to the region’s growing population, as well as the poor allocation of these resources. These allocative inefficiencies are the outcome of policies and institutions that introduce distortions in the decision-making process of individuals. Hence, the volume assesses the implications of production decisions across agricultural farms and manufacturing firms. It presents evidence on aggregate productivity from the perspective of production units, using recent household surveys for farmers and firm-level surveys for select countries, as well as frontier estimation techniques. It documents the extent of severe resource misallocation across agricultural and manufacturing production units. These distortions decelerate the growth of the production units, disincentivize their adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies, and reduce the ability of their peers to learn new techniques. Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa highlights the adoption of digital technologies to reduce some of these market frictions. Mobile money has increased financial inclusion in several countries, and digital financial technologies have given individuals access to savings instruments and loan products. Enhancing access to credit can help individuals invest in schooling and overcome the costs of formality. The volume discusses further avenues of research that may provide additional insights on the productivity dynamics across countries in the region, and it identifies the different channels of policy transmission to enhance productivity. The empirical work presented can help to guide the design of policy in the region.	en
dc.identifier	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/839471641273086995/boosting-productivity-in-sub-saharan-africa-policies-and-institutions-to-promote-efficiency
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-1550-8
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-4648-1550-8
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/36786
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
dc.subject	FARM PRODUCTIVITY
dc.subject	FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
dc.subject	FRAGILITY
dc.subject	AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY
dc.subject	MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY
dc.subject	POLICY AGENDA
dc.title	Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa	en
dc.title.subtitle	Policies and Institutions to Promote Efficiency	en
dc.type	Book	en
dc.type	Livre	fr
dc.type	Libro	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2021-07
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Publication
okr.guid	839471641273086995
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-1550-8
okr.identifier.report	167495
okr.language.supported	en
okr.region.administrative	Africa
okr.region.administrative	Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE)
okr.region.administrative	Africa Western and Central (AFW)
okr.region.geographical	Sub-Saharan Africa
okr.topic	Agriculture::Agricultural Sector Economics
okr.topic	Industry::Industrial Economics
okr.topic	Macroeconomics and Economic Growth::Economic Growth
okr.topic	Private Sector Development::Private Sector Economics
okr.topic	Social Protections and Labor::Labor Markets
okr.unit	AFRCE Office of the Chief Economist for Africa