Should Africa Protect Its Farmers to Revitalize Its Economy?

Abstract

"All is not well in Africa south of the Sahara. Western experts are looking for the causes in bad governance and insufficient social capital. At present, donors only support those administrations that endorse governmental and market-oriented reform. Results however are disappointing. In this paper I argue that domestic liberalisation is not enough to revitalise the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers must also be protected from cheap imports. To explain why, I refer to the historical interaction between Africa and the world economy."