Africa's Choices: After Thirty Years of the World Bank (Penguin economics)

by Michael Barratt Brown (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.24

  This book reflects the author's conviction that it is time for agronomists, politicians and economists in the North to realize that their solutions to problems are not necessarily of universal application, and that they should listen to the voices of Africans themselves. The World Bank and IMF have pursued policies that have led to a collapse in African earnings, and at the same time the destruction of many of the traditional strengths of African societies. Africa's choices begin with the need for food security, but also the need to develop indigenous industries that meet the needs of Africans. The North must cancel African debts, remove protective trade tariffs and control actions by transnational companies that deprive African producers of the true value of their produce. The choice facing the North is between economic development that offers its short-term advantages but marginalizes the South, and the recognition that North and South share a world in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all .