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Paper - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

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24<br />

The Commission <strong>for</strong> Africa included a heavy representation of African policy makers<br />

and sought to mobilize increased aid, less conditionality and an eclectic policy agenda in<br />

support of a more ambitious growth ef<strong>for</strong>t <strong>for</strong> Africa. The JICA report was prepared in<br />

the context of the fourth Tokyo International Conference on Development (TICAD IV) in<br />

2008, where there was also renewed interest in accelerating growth in Africa and the<br />

lessons <strong>for</strong> Africa from Asian experiences.<br />

Our focus in this book is more narrow and selective on some key overarching issues<br />

<strong>for</strong> Africa’s growth agenda, especially (i) the appropriate role of “industrial policy” (or<br />

more accurately learning, industrial and technology policies); and (ii) governance.<br />

VI. The State and the Market: <strong>Policy</strong> Options <strong>for</strong> Africa<br />

VI.1 Learning, Industrial and Technology (LIT) Policies<br />

In the 50 odd years since Solow showed that the bulk of growth in the advanced<br />

economies was accounted <strong>for</strong> by productivity increases, very little work had been done<br />

on learning, especially how societies learn in the process of development and how that<br />

can be accelerated. 41 This neglect is in marked contrast to the attention given to<br />

allocation of resources; and the neglect is particularly significant in policy analyses.<br />

41 In the years immediately after Solow’s classic study, there were a number of studies analyzing<br />

“endogenous” determinants of the rate of technical progress and the allocation of resources to research and<br />

development. These include Arrow (1962a, 1962b), Uzawa, Shell, Nordhaus, Atkinson and Stiglitz, and<br />

Stiglitz (1975). In the late 70s, there was a resurgence of interest in these topics, and Schumpeterian<br />

innovation theory more generally, focusing on integration of growth theory with the theory of industrial<br />

organization, with work of Mansfield ( ), Stiglitz (1978, published 198 ), and Dasgupta and Stiglitz<br />

(1980a, 1980b). A second revival occurred with the work of Roemer ( ). Much of this work, though,<br />

was focused on innovation in advanced industrial countries. The process of learning and adaptation facing<br />

developing countries remained relatively undeveloped (See, e.g. Sah and Stiglitz, 1985).<br />

Arrow, Kenneth J. (1962a), "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing". Review of Economic<br />

Studies 29: 155–73.<br />

Arrow, Kenneth J. (1962b), Economic welfare and the allocation of resources <strong>for</strong> innovation. In: R.R.<br />

Nelson, Editor, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, Princeton University Press, Princeton (1962),<br />

pp. 609–625.<br />

Uzawa, Hirofumi (1965) "Optimum Technical Change in An Aggregative Model of Economic Growth"<br />

International Economic Review Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan., 1965), pp. 18-31<br />

Shell, Karl (ed) (1967) Essays on the Theory of Optimal Economic Growth, MIT Press.<br />

Nordhaus, William D, (1969) "An Economic Theory of Technological Change," American Economic<br />

Review, vol. 59(2), pages 18-28, May.<br />

Atkinson, Anthony B & Joseph E Stiglitz (1969) "A New View of Technological Change," Economic<br />

Journal, vol. 79(315), pages 573-78, September.<br />

Mansfield, Edwin (1980), "Basic Research and Productivity Increase in Manufacturing," American<br />

Economic Review, vol. 70(5), pages 863-73, December.<br />

Joseph E. Stiglitz, (1987) "Technological Change, Sunk Costs, and Competition," Brookings <strong>Paper</strong>s on<br />

Economic Activity, vol. 18(1987-3), pages 883-947.<br />

Partha Dasgupta & Joseph Stiglitz (1980a) "Uncertainty, Industrial Structure, and the Speed of R&D," Bell<br />

Journal of Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-28, Spring.<br />

Dasgupta, Partha & Stiglitz, Joseph (1980b). "Industrial Structure and the Nature of Innovative Activity,"<br />

Economic Journal, vol. 90(358), pages 266-93, June.

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