Geography and Regional Cooperation in Africa WIM NAUDÉ
Africa’s relatively poor economic performance remains a cause for concern. In a comprehensive recent review of this performance, Ndulu and others (2007a) describe four “policy syndromes” as central to Africa’s problems: state controls, adverse redistribution, intertemporally unsustainable spending, and state breakdown. This paper departs from this view by positing that, in addition to these policy syndromes, “geographic syndromes” are also central to Africa’s poor economic performance. Two elements of this are a “proximity gap” (the cumulative result of long distances to markets, being landlocked, and suboptimal patterns of agglomeration) and a “health gap” (the result of tropical diseases and adverse climatic and soil conditions). This paper focuses on Africa’s “proximity gap,” conveying the message that much can be done to reduce it, particularly through regional cooperation.
Proximity and African Development Productivity in Africa is low because of insufficient proximity between economic agents. This has two dimensions: a lack of proximity (a) between African countries and international markets and (b) between economic agents within Africa due to insufficient agglomeration (Naudé and Krugell 2006; Venables 2006). Low productivity limits industrialization and urbanization. Africa’s lack of proximity is due to adverse geography (Naudé 2004). Firstnature geography limits development through geographic isolation, a disease burWim Naudé is a Senior Research Fellow at UNUWIDER in Finland. Berlin Workshop Series 2009 © 2009 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Policy Workshop on Spatial Disparities and Development Policy in Preparation of the World Development Report 2009, Berlin, Germany, October 2, 2007. The author is grateful to the participants for their constructive comments. An extended version of this paper is available as a World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University discussion paper at http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/discussion-papers/2007/en–GB/dp2007-03/.
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