This monograph examines the failure of the Portuguese Escudo Monetary Zone and the birth of new monetary and financial systems in Portuguese-speaking African countries. Examining colonial and post-colonial times, Mata analyses the decision to build a Portuguese monetary area in the early 1960s and mid-1970s when the decolonisation process was peaking. This book offers some important lessons regarding the functioning and dismantling of monetary areas, and on the importance of central-banks’ co-operation.
Drawing on official, archival, and published sources, this book explores how the formative history of the European nation-state was embedded within economic globalization and associated with conceptions of the world overseas. With a particular focus on France, Germany, Italy, and Britain, this research investigates how overseas relationships shaped state governance. The argument departs from conventional histories by linking together the analysis of economic relationships and political cultures, examining the ways in which state agency formed in different areas such as national economy building, the organization of overseas raw material and food supplies, labour, migration, and national identity. Spanning over a century, the book discusses the changing role of overseas colonies in European national development. Once a means to complete economic liberalization, colonies were then envisaged as tools of crisis management before, in the mid-twentieth century, complementarities in imperial-colonial economies shifted away from empire. This volume covers neglected aspects of the transnational history of European nation-states and is an ideal resource for students and researchers interested in the ties between Europe, Africa, and Asia, as well as connections between political, economic, and social relations and their conceptualizations.
This book assesses the dynamics, challenges and achievements of the development processes of three Portuguese-speaking Small Island Developing States (PSSIDS) - Cabo Verde, São Tome and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste. Important lessons are drawn from those processes, which are relevant for policymakers, as well as for their bilateral and multilateral development partners, including international organizations such as United Nations or the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. To that end, the book includes contributions to the academic literature about SIDS, an area of research that has been significantly overlooked. The conclusions would be of interest to readers as a lead up to the fiftieth anniversary of their independence.
This book uses money as a lens through which to analyze the social and economic impact of colonialism on African societies and institutions. It is the first book to address the monetary history of the colonial period in a comprehensive way, covering several areas of the continent and different periods, with the ultimate aim of understanding the long-term impact of colonial monetary policies on African societies. While grounding an understanding of money in terms of its circulation, acceptance and impact, this book shows first and foremost how the monetary systems that resulted from the imposition of colonial rule on African societies were not a replacement of the old currency systems with entirely new ones, but were rather the result of the convergence of different orders of value and monetary practices. By putting histories of people using money at the heart of the story, and connecting them to larger imperial policies, the volume provides a new and fresh perspective on the history of the establishment of colonial rule in Africa. This book is the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project that has received funding by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The contributors are both junior and senior scholars, based at universities in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US, who are all specialists on the history of money in Africa. It will appeal to an international audience of scholars and educators interested in African Studies and History, Economic History, Imperial and Colonial History, Development Studies, Monetary Studies.
OECD's 1972 Economic Survey of Portugal examines trends in domestic economic activity, foreign trade and balance of payments, and economic policy before drawing a series of conclusions.
Africa is working toward the goal of creating a common currency that would serve as a symbol of African unity. The advantages of a common currency include lower transaction costs, increased stability, and greater insulation of central banks from pressures to provide monetary financing. Disadvantages relate to asymmetries among countries, especially in their terms of trade and in the degree of fiscal discipline. More disciplined countries will not want to form a union with countries whose excessive spending puts upward pressure on the central bank's monetary expansion. In T he Monetary Geography of Africa, Paul Masson and Catherine Pattillo review the history of monetary arrangements on the continent and analyze the current situation and prospects for further integration. They apply lessons from both experience and theory that lead to a number of conclusions. To begin with, West Africa faces a major problem because Nigeria has both asymmetric terms of trade—it is a large oil exporter while its potential partners are oil importers—and most important, large fiscal imbalances. Secondly, a monetary union among all eastern or southern African countries seems infeasible at this stage, since a number of countries suffer from the effects of civil conflicts and drought and are far from achieving the macroeconomic stability of South Africa. Lastly, the plan by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to create a common currency seems to be generally compatible with other initiatives that could contribute to greater regional solidarity. However, economic gains would likely favor Kenya, which, unlike the other two countries, has substantial exports to its neighbors, and this may constrain the political will needed to proceed. A more promising strategy for monetary integration would be to build on existing monetary unions—the CFA franc zone in western and central Africa and the Common Monetary Area in southern Africa. Masson and Pattillo argue that the goal of a creating a s
