What Africa Can Learn from East Asia’s Developmental Success by Joseph E. Stiglitz Ph.D

The nobel laureate writes, poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa is almost the rule not the exception. From 1990 - 2010 the # of people living in poverty (≤ $1.25/day) rose from 300 million to ~425 million and those living <$2/day grew from 390 million to ~600million. However, the proportion of those living in poverty declined from 57% to 49%. From 2007 – 2011 with Ethiopia leading the pack, 5 out of 10 fastest growing countries in the world were in East Africa. Yet, the number of Africans who reached middle class status (making ≥$20K) is no more than India’s middle class.

When zooming in on some of the data in the article, it shows African countries are not optimizing on their resources, the table below shows some difference of how Africans and Asians manage their farmland.  

Region	% of arable & permanent cropland irrigated	Fertilizer use/hectare
Africa	4%	13 Kg
East Asia	29%	190 Kg
South Asia	39%	90 Kg

Prof. Stiglitz advises that, as the wages rise in China, manufacturing will be outsourced and African countries will have the chance to attract this labor-intensive sector. Capitalizing on this opportunity requires balanced policy from African leaders; and to do that effectively, reflecting on the policies followed by the East Asian countries rather than the neo-liberal aka Washington consensus of policy recommendations will be of much beneficial.

Cheers,

Daniel