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African Economic Growth 1900-50: Historical National Accounts for British Colonial Africa

Jerven, Morten LU (2019) In African Economic History Working Paper Series
Abstract
The study of growth in African economies during the 20th Century is hampered by the lack of historical GDP estimates. There has been some backward projections, and country case studies, but despite the available data historical national accounts has not yet been assembled. This paper provides GDP estimates for some former British colonies between 1900 – 1950. The estimates indicate faster growth and economic expansion compared to the previous estimates that have been based on backward extrapolations. It further brings support to the argument that if we observe economic growth in many economies from the 1890s to the 1970s and then only interrupted from 1975s to 1995s, writing about the 20th century for Africa as a growth tragedy may be a... (More)
The study of growth in African economies during the 20th Century is hampered by the lack of historical GDP estimates. There has been some backward projections, and country case studies, but despite the available data historical national accounts has not yet been assembled. This paper provides GDP estimates for some former British colonies between 1900 – 1950. The estimates indicate faster growth and economic expansion compared to the previous estimates that have been based on backward extrapolations. It further brings support to the argument that if we observe economic growth in many economies from the 1890s to the 1970s and then only interrupted from 1975s to 1995s, writing about the 20th century for Africa as a growth tragedy may be a mistake, caused by lack of data. New time series data on economic growth may foster a research agenda devoted to the study of different growth trajectories on the continent. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Africa, economic growth, national accounts, GDP
in
African Economic History Working Paper Series
issue
2019:50
ISBN
978-91-981477-9-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
834264ba-7e37-452b-987b-590cd3746c54
alternative location
https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/afekhi/2019_050.html
date added to LUP
2019-12-04 18:20:19
date last changed
2019-12-05 14:29:52
@misc{834264ba-7e37-452b-987b-590cd3746c54,
  abstract     = {{The study of growth in African economies during the 20th Century is hampered by the lack of historical GDP estimates. There has been some backward projections, and country case studies, but despite the available data historical national accounts has not yet been assembled. This paper provides GDP estimates for some former British colonies between 1900 – 1950. The estimates indicate faster growth and economic expansion compared to the previous estimates that have been based on backward extrapolations. It further brings support to the argument that if we observe economic growth in many economies from the 1890s to the 1970s and then only interrupted from 1975s to 1995s, writing about the 20th century for Africa as a growth tragedy may be a mistake, caused by lack of data. New time series data on economic growth may foster a research agenda devoted to the study of different growth trajectories on the continent.}},
  author       = {{Jerven, Morten}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-981477-9-7}},
  keywords     = {{Africa; economic growth; national accounts; GDP}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2019:50}},
  series       = {{African Economic History Working Paper Series}},
  title        = {{African Economic Growth 1900-50: Historical National Accounts for British Colonial Africa}},
  url          = {{https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/afekhi/2019_050.html}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}