The role of capital accumulation, adjustment and structural change for economic take-off:: Empirical evidence from African growth episodes

In this article, we analyze extended periods of growth in Africa based on panel estimations from 27 African countries during 1960-96. Our main conclusion is that sustainable growth needs to be based on a balanced mix of capital accumulation, macroeconomic adjustment and structural change. In addition to more commonly used determinants of total factor productivity (TFP), we construct a measure for the effect of labor reallocation as well as an index of economic diversification and estimate the impact of the latter on long-term growth. Further we propose a framework for the analysis of extended growth periods. in view of assessing their sustainability. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.