Asia and Africa in the Global Economy

Julius Court and Toru Yanagihara suggest strategy alternatives for African countries in a world of globalisation "...Most countries in Africa are small and poor, making an inward looking strategy unattractive. Significant advances in economic development in Africa in the future will depend in no small part on the success with which countries can exploit the opportunities and avoid the risks presented by globalisation. A viable outward oriented strategy for countries in Africa will have to reflect the structure of the economy and endowments relative to other parts of the world. On the first point, the primary sector dominates most economies in Africa. On the second, Africa has low levels of human capital in comparison to other regions. The familiar proposition seems to hold – for most countries in Africa comparative advantage lies in primary production and unskilled labour-intensive primary processing...Given the long gestation period of investments in human capital, this is likely to remain the situation for many years to come..."