The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics ― Context and Concepts

For a long time, economic research on Africa was not seen as a profitable venture intellectually or professionally-few researchers in top-ranked institutions around the world chose to become experts in the field. This was understandable: the reputation of Africa-centered economic research was not enhanced by the well-known limitations of economic data across the continent. Moreover, development economics itself was not always fashionable, and the broader discipline of economics has had its ups and downs, and has been undergoing a major identity crisis because it failed to predict the Great Recession.

Times have changed: many leading researchers-including a few Nobel laureates-have taken the subject of Africa and economics seriously enough to devote their expertise and creativity to it. They have been amply rewarded: the richness, complexities, and subtleties of African societies, civilizations, rationalities, and ways of living, have helped renew the humanities and the social sciences-and economics in particular-to the point that the continent has become the next major intellectual frontier to researchers from around the world.

In collecting some of the most authoritative statements about the science of economics and its concepts in the African context, this lhandbook (the first of two volumes) opens up the diverse acuity of commentary on exciting topics, and in the process challenges and stimulates the quest for knowledge. Wide-ranging in its scope, themes, language, and approaches, this volume explores, examines, and assesses economic thinking on Africa, and Africa's contribution to the discipline. The editors bring a set of powerful resources to this endeavor, most notably a team of internationally-renowned economists whose diverse viewpoints are complemented by the perspectives of philosophers, political scientists, and anthropologists.

Celestin Monga is Chief Economist and Vice President of Economic Governance and Knowledge Management at the African Development Bank (AfDB), and Managing Director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He previously worked as Senior Advisor for Structural Transformation at the World Bank and has held various board and senior positions in academia and financial services, including as a pro bono member of the advisory boards at the MIT's Sloan School of Management, the Quantam Global Group, and the Official Monetary and Fianancial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). Dr Monga was the Economics editor for the 5-volume New Encyclopedia of Africa (Charles Scribner's, 2007). His published works have been translated into multiple languages.

Justin Yifu Lin is Councillor of the State Council and Professor and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. He was the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, 2008-2012. Prior to this, Professor Lin served for 15 years as Founding Director and Professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. He is a member of the Standing Committee, Chinese People's Political Consultation Conference, and Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for Developing World.