Trade, institutions, income and human development in African Countries

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Abstract

Analysing panel data for the period 1975-2001 from a large group of African countries, we find that trade and institutions (political rights, civil liberties and the rule of law) exert little influence on human development in the form of literacy. Interestingly, income appears to be, by far, the primary determinant of human development, measured by literacy and life expectancy, but with strong diminishing returns. Income also positively affects institutions, although there is a threshold effect, in the cases of political rights and civil liberties. Finally, the paper finds that trade and literacy exercise positive and negative effects, respectively, on political rights. © The author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Journal of African Economies

Volume

22

Issue

2

First Page

323

Last Page

345

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1093/jae/ejs037

ISSN

09638024

E-ISSN

14643723

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