Synopses & Reviews
Zambia's economy is one of the worst performing in Africa. Despite fortuitous beginnings in 1964, the country's GDP per capita has grown slower than that of any other peaceful African nation. This study examines the contribution of institutional quality to Zambia's economic performance, specifically how institutional exclusivity has restrained economic growth by discouraging foreign investment.
The study presents previously unpublished archival evidence to show how President Kaunda steadily raised political and economic exclusivity in Zambia in the early years of Zambia's independence, and how this retarded capital investment by raising policy uncertainty. Despite formal reforms and a new government in the 1990s, this institutional mechanism, established more than 20 years earlier, still dominates and constrains Zambia's political economy today.
Synopsis
The study presents archival evidence to show how President Kaunda raised political and economic exclusivity in Zambia in the early years of Zambia's independence, and how this retarded capital investment. Despite formal reforms and a new government, this institutional mechanism still dominates and constrains Zambia's political economy today.
About the Author
Stuart John Barton is a Chartered Financial Analyst and member of the Centre for Financial History at the University of Cambridge, UK. Before completing his PhD in Cambridge, Dr Barton worked as a derivatives trader for Barclays Capital and HSBC in New York and Hong Kong.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Background
2. What the Literature Already Tells Us
3. Control - Responsibility and Risk (1964-1970)
4. Exclusion - Centralization and Contradiction (1970-1974)
5. Crisis - Decline and Denial (1975-1981)
6. Conditionality - Inertia and Adjustment (1981-1991)
7. Reform - Building Trust and Raising Capital (1991-2005)
8. Inclusion - Stability and Growth (2005-2014)
9. Zambia's 50 Year Relationship with Foreign Capital