Understanding total factors productivity growth in Sub Saharan Africa countries

Abstract

This paper assesses factors behind differences in total factor productivity (TFP) across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries over the period 1965-2000. Results show that openness to world trade is conducive to TFP in SSA region only if issues related to supply conditions such as: poor transport and communication infrastructure, erratic supply of electric energy, corruption and bad governance, insufficient education of the labour force, etc. are adequately addressed. Physical capital accumulation is important for TFP; the size of the financial sector matters; and, population growth is conducive for TFP in some SSA countries and negative in others.

Description

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Keywords

ECONOMIC GROWTH, PRODUCTIVITY, DATA ANALYSIS, SOUTH OF SAHARA, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

Citation

DOI