Malaŵi and MadagascarMalawi and Madagascar are poor, agricultural nations that have had very different degrees of economic success over the past quarter century. The economic ideologies of their governmental leaders have been, respectively, capitalist and socialist; and the two countries have pursued quite different strategies of economic development. This is the first book in the English language focusing on the economic systems and long-term economic policies of either country. Using the framework of the "New Political Economy," it attempts to answer three critical questions: Why have these nations chosen such different types of economic institutions and strategies of development? With what types of policies have these governments tried to realize their different goals? What has been the impact of such policies and their implementation on both economic growth and the distribution of income? The author shows clearly the linkages between agricultural policies designed to accelerate growth and the unintended widening of rural income differentials that resulted in both countries and how these relationships provided the basic mechanism underlying economic performance. The comparison of the experiences of these two nations serves not just to advance our knowledge of Africa, but also to illustrate some general forces linking poverty, equity, and growth in all developing nations. |
Contents
Background to the Economy of Malawi | 21 |
Economic Growth in Malawi | 43 |
x | 67 |
LaborIntensive Approaches | 77 |
Summary and Conclusions | 92 |
Foreign Trade and the Balance of Payments in Malawi | 124 |
Manufacturing and Transportation in Malawi | 146 |
The Government Sector in Malawi | 169 |
Agricultural Prices | 267 |
The Credit Market in the Rural Sector | 276 |
Summary and Conclusions | 282 |
Trade Policies | 292 |
Some Implications | 304 |
xii | 328 |
The Distribution of Income in Malawi | 351 |
The Overall Distribution of Income | 361 |
Background to the Economy of Madagascar | 197 |
Economic Growth in Madagascar | 219 |
Property and Production Policies | 241 |
LaborIntensive Approaches | 247 |
LargeScale Agriculture | 253 |
Product and Factor Markets | 261 |
Common terms and phrases
ADMARC administrative African agricultural production Antananarivo appear areas average annual rate balance of payments capital central chapter Chewa considerable countries crops debt decline DevPol Didier Ratsiraka domestic early economic development economy of Malawi enterprises estate sector estimates ethnic groups exchange rate expenditures exports factor farmers farms financed foreign exchange foreign trade French governmental growth hectares higher impact important income differentials increase independence indirect taxes industrial inputs investment labor land Lilongwe loans maize Malagasy franc Malagasy government Malawi and Madagascar Malawi government Malawian manufacturing ment Merina Ministère Mozambique nations Nyasaland parastatals percent percentage period political population problems profits projects Pryor ratio Region relatively RENAMO rice roughly rural sector share smallholder sector social statistics tariffs taxes tenure terms of trade tion Toamasina transportation Tsiranana Unweighted average various wages workers World Bank