Did Africa's first choices matter? Growth legacies of leaders at independence

Arbeitspapier

We explore the potential effects of the first leaders of Sub-Saharan Africa. We first outline a set of theoretical reasons for why leaders may matter particularly at the critical juncture of African independence and why this influence may be persistent. In an unbalanced panel from 40 African countries observed since independence, we find evidence of strongly persistent effects of the education of African leaders. Only military coups seem able to break the persistent negative influence of this characteristic.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 1090

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Institutions and Growth ; Economywide Country Studies: Africa ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
• Subject: Africa ; leaders ; institutions ; development

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Jørgensen, Christina Mangaard ; Bjørnskov, Christian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/129649
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET