First published in 1994, this volume’s seeks to evaluate the impact of trade restrictions and other forms of government intervention on the development of manufacturing industries in Zimbabwe in the 1980s. The study focuses on the period after independence in Zimbabwe up to 1989. The emphasis of the study is on (a) the extent and levels of effective protection afforded the industries by the system and (b) the efficiency of all industries created by the system of protection. This research seeks to assess the extent of protection created by managed trade and other forms of government intervention, and the resultant efficiency of manufacturing sector industries, using single period effective rate of protection (ERP) and domestic resource cost (DRC) estimates. The aim is to show the structure of incentives and efficiency implications of intervention for sample firms and the whole manufacturing sector.
In Zimbabwe, trade has been a driver of economic growth, rising incomes, and progressive empowerment of Zimbabweans through rising standards of living and the promise of better jobs. Since 1980, through good years and bad years, increases in exports have been positively associated with increases in national income. Zimbabwe's location and resource base, together with a low-cost but relatively well educated labor force, have endowed it with a naturally high trade ratio built on a diversified base that facilitates using trade as an engine of growth. While trade volumes have rebounded smartly from the deep recession of 2007-2008, these do not offset other worrisome longer-term trends: • Export growth during the last decade has been lacklustre and failed to drive high growth. • Agricultural exports, other than tobacco, have lost their once dominant role in the region, and are no longer a source of diversification. • Manufacturing has withered in a continuing secular decline. • Zimbabwe’s export basket has become less diversified and more dependent on a narrow range of mineral and, to a lesser extent, agricultural products. In short, exports have become less diversified, less-technologically sophisticated, and less labor-intensive - and ever more dependent on a few large mining activities to provide foreign exchange and employment. This report traces the roots of this poor performance to several policy issues: poor predictability of macroeconomic policy and economic governance has created an unfavorable climate for private investment and trade; a tariff structure that dampens export profitability; industrial policies - indigenization policy in particular - that undermine investor confidence and inhibits private investment; and finally, competition-limiting policies toward services that limit connectivity of Zimbabweans and raise trade costs. The good news arising from the study is that the remedies for these policy shortcomings lie in Zimbabwean hands. If the government were to adopt reforms that reconfigure economy-wide incentives and trade and industrial policies, it could promote sustained growth, economic diversification and empowerment of poor people.
Industrial Development in Africa critically synthesizes and reframes the debates on African industrial development in a capability-opportunity framework. It recasts the challenge in a broader comparative context of successive waves of catchup industrialization experiences in the European periphery, Latin America, and East Asia. Berhanu Abegaz explores the case for resource-based and factor-based industrialization in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa by drawing on insights from the history of industrialization, development economics, political economy, and institutional economics. Unpacking complex and diverse experiences, the chapters look at Africa at several levels: continent-wide, sub-regions on both sides of the Sahara, and present analytical case studies of 12 representative countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire. Industrial Development in Africa will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students studying African development, African economics, and late-stage industrialization. The book will also be of interest to policymakers.
The revival of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is all the more welcome for having followed one of the worst economic disasters—a quarter century of economic malaise for most of the region—since the industrial revolution. Six of the world's fastest-growing economies in the first decade of this century were African. Yet only in Ethiopia and Rwanda was growth not based on resources and the rising price of oil. Deindustrialization has yet to be reversed, and progress toward creating a modern economy remains limited. This book explores the vital role that active government policies can play in transforming African economies. Such policies pertain not just to industry. They traverse all economic sectors, including finance, information technology, and agriculture. These packages of learning, industrial, and technology (LIT) policies aim to bring vigorous and lasting growth to the region. This collection features case studies of LIT policies in action in many parts of the world, examining their risks and rewards and what they mean for Sub-Saharan Africa.
This book explores the social and economic development of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi over the course of the twentieth century. These three countries have long shared and interconnected pasts. All three were drawn into the British Empire at a similar time and the formation of the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally linked these countries together for a decade in the mid-twentieth century. This formal political relationship created dynamics that resulted in yet closer economic and social links. After Federation, the economic realities of industry, transport and labour supplies meant that these three countries continued to be intricately interconnected. Yet despite these connected pasts, comparative work on the economic histories of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and how these change over time, is rare. This book addresses the gap by providing the first comprehensive collection of labour and census data across the twentieth century for these three countries. The different economic models and performances of these states offer good comparison, allowing researchers to look at different models of development, and how these played out over the long-term. The book provides data on population growth and change, industrial and occupational structure, and the various shifts in what the economically active population did. It will be useful for historians, economists, development studies scholars and non-governmental organisations working on twentieth-century and contemporary southern Africa.
This book maps the process and political economy of policy making in Africa. It's focus on trade and industrial policy makes it unique and it will appeal to students and academics in economics, political economy, political science and African studies. Detailed case studies help the reader to understand how the process and motivation behind policy decisions can vary from country to country depending on the form of government, ethnicity and nationality and other social factors.
With very few exceptions, industrial development has been central to the process of structural transformation which characterises economic development. Industrial Development for the 21st century examines the new challenges and opportunities arising from globalization, technological change and new international trade rules. The first part focuses on key sectors with potential for developing countries, focussing on two key themes. First, traditional points of entry for late industrializers - like textiles and clothing - have become even more intensely competitive than ever before, requiring more innovative adaptive strategies for success. Second, countries now recognize that manufacturing does not exhaust the opportunities for producing high value-added goods and services for international markets. Knowledge intensity is increasing across all spheres of economic activity, including agriculture and services, which can offer promising development paths for some developing countries. The final section addresses social and environmental aspects of industrial development. Labour-intensive, but not necessarily other patterns of industrial development can be highly effective in poverty reduction though further industrial progress may be less labour-intensive. A range of policies can promote industrial energy and materials efficiency, often with positive impacts on firms' financial performance as well as the environment. Promoting materials recycling and reuse is an effective, if indirect means of conserving resources. Finally, the growth of multinational interest in corporate social responsibility is traced, with consideration given to both the barriers and opportunities this can pose for developing country enterprises linked to global supply chains.
Humanity has extensively exploited natural and physical resources, since the Industrial Revolution in Europe. A geological era, now called the Anthropocene, has been coined in environmental and developmental circles, to mark the increased domination of humanity on Earth and its resources. Today, the ecological footprint on the fragile planet continues to increase. Mass industrialisation, like what China is doing and pushing for, is one of the drivers for increased urbanisation that results in increased demand for land. It is also the stimulus behind increased deforestation, overfishing, and pollution. As the fragility of the Earth increases, global bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are pushing to reduce the Earth’s temperature. Human efforts to manage the problem cascade from a global to a regional, to a national, as well as to much localised scales. Missing though are nuanced contributions at national and community levels, which this book is an attempt to bridge. The nagging sense of responsibility is what this book explores under the label of “sustainability ethic”. As a case study, the book examines the use of sustainability ethic in the management of the physical, infrastructural and natural resources of Zimbabwe. This ethic is built on pillars that include participation of people (households) in their pursuit for sustainable livelihoods, appropriate technology, tools and techniques for environmental protection. It also hinges on stewardship and structures, institutions, policies and processes of governance and sustainability. There are also the aspects of ethics, laws and indigenous technical knowledge for sustainability, capacity building and education plans and programmes for sustainability and population and demographic determinants, processes and outcomes for sustainability. The book is a timely contribution to an urgent global concern and climate change debate.
How can governments support the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This book investigates the contribution of firms to the SDGs, particularly through their core business, taking into account inter-sectoral linkages and global value chains, using novel techniques and data sources.
This volume reflects on the recent political developments in Zimbabwe and their current and future impact on the agrarian sector. Utilising new empirical data gathered across Zimbabwe, the contributors shed light on the liberalisation of agricultural policy after Mugabe. Chapters examine how the adoption of neo-liberal orthodoxy in agrarian policy making will affect the new agrarian structure, looking at issues such as productivity, the impact on vulnerable groups, changing land tenure arrangements, joint ventures and land grabbing. Providing a new way of conceptualising Zimbabwe's agrarian futures, this book will be of interest to researchers, NGOs and policymakers interested in the politics of land and agriculture in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.
